Background Context

In neutral spinal postures with low loading moments the lumbar spine is not inherently stable. Small compromises in paraspinal muscle activity may affect lumbar spinal biomechanics. Proprioceptive feedback from muscle spindles is considered important for control of muscle activity. Because skeletal muscle and muscle spindles are thixotropic, their length history changes their physical properties. The present study explores a mechanism that can affect the responsiveness of paraspinal muscle spindles in the lumbar spine.

Purpose

This study had two aims: to extend our previous findings demonstrating the history dependent effects of vertebral position on the responsiveness of lumbar paraspinal muscle spindles; and to determine the time course for these effects. Based upon previous studies, if a crossbridge mechanism underlies these thixotropic effects, then the relationship between the magnitude of spindle discharge and the duration of the vertebral position will be one of exponential decay or growth.

Study Design/Setting

A neurophysiological study using the lumbar spine of a feline model.

Methods

The discharge from individual muscle spindles afferents innervating lumbar paraspinal muscles in response to the duration and direction of vertebral position were obtained from teased filaments in the L6 dorsal roots of 30 Nembutal-anesthetized cats. The L6 vertebra was controlled using a displacement-controlled feedback motor and was held in each of 3 different conditioning positions for durations of 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 seconds. Two of the conditioning positions stretched or shortened the lumbar muscles relative to an intermediate conditioning position. Conditioning positions for all cats ranged from 0.9 – 2.0 mm dorsal and ventralward relative to the intermediate position. These magnitudes were determined based upon the displacement that loaded the L6 vertebra to 50–60% of the cat’s body weight. Conditioning was thought to simulate a motion segment’s position that might be passively maintained due to fixation, external load, a prolonged posture, or structural change. Following conditioning positions that stretched (hold-long) and shortened (hold-short) the spindle, the vertebra was repositioned identically and muscle spindle discharge at rest and to movement was compared with conditioning at the intermediate position.

Results

Lumbar vertebral positions maintained for less than 2 seconds were capable of evoking different discharge rates from lumbar paraspinal muscle spindles despite the vertebra having been returned to identical locations. Both resting spindle discharge and their responsiveness to movement were altered. Conditioning vertebral positions that stretched the spindles decreased spindle activity and positions that unloaded the spindles increased spindle activity upon returning the vertebra to identical original (intermediate) positions. The magnitude of these effects increased as conditioning duration increased to 2 seconds. These effects developed with a time course following a first order exponential reaching a maximal value after approximately 4 seconds of history. The time constant for a hold-short history was 2.6 seconds and for a hold-long history was approximately half of that at 1.1 seconds.

Conclusions

Thixotropic contributions to the responsiveness of muscles spindles in the low back are caused by the rapid, spontaneous formation of stable crossbridges. These sensory alterations due to vertebral history would represent a proprioceptive input not necessarily representative of the current state of intersegmental positioning. As such, they would constitute a source of inaccurate sensory feedback. Examples are presented suggesting ways in which this novel finding may affect spinal physiology.

Background Context

Spinal manipulation (SM) is a form of manual therapy used clinically to treat patients with low back and neck pain. The most common form of this maneuver is characterized as a high velocity (duration < 150ms), low amplitude (segmental translation < 2mm, rotation < 4°, and applied force 220-889N) impulse thrust (HVLA-SM). Clinical skill in applying an HVLA-SM lies in the practitioner's ability to control the duration and magnitude of the load (i.e., the rate of loading), the direction in which the load is applied, and the contact point at which the load is applied. Control over its mechanical delivery presumably related to its clinical effects. Biomechanical changes evoked by an HVLA-SM are thought to have physiological consequences caused, at least in part, by changes in sensory signaling from paraspinal tissues.

Purpose

If activation of afferent pathways does contribute to the effects of an HVLA-SM, it seems reasonable to anticipate that neural discharge might increase or decrease in a non-linear fashion as the thrust duration thrust approaches a threshold value. We hypothesized that the relationship between the duration of an impulsive thrust to a vertebra and paraspinal muscle spindle discharge would be non-linear with an inflection near the duration of an HVLA-SM delivered clinically (<150ms). In addition, we anticipated that muscle spindle discharge would be more sensitive to larger amplitude thrusts.

Study Design/Setting

A neurophysiological study of spinal manipulation using the lumbar spine of a feline model.

Methods

Impulse thrusts (duration: 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 ms; amplitude 1 or 2mm posterior to anterior) were applied to the spinous process of the L6 vertebra of deeply anesthetized cats while recording single unit activity from dorsal root filaments of muscle spindle afferents innervating the lumbar paraspinal muscles. A feedback motor was used in displacement control mode to deliver the impulse thrusts. The motor's drive arm was securely attached to the L6 spinous process via a forceps.

Results

As thrust duration became shorter the discharge of the lumbar paraspinal muscle spindles increased in a curvilinear fashion. A concave up inflection occurred near the 100ms duration eliciting both a higher frequency discharge compared to the longer durations and a substantially faster rate of change as thrust duration was shortened. This pattern was evident in paraspinal afferents with receptive fields both close and far from the midline. Paradoxically, spindle afferents were almost twice as sensitive to the 1mm compared to the 2mm amplitude thrust (6.2 vs 3.3 spikes/s/mm/s). This latter finding may be related to the small vs large signal range properties of muscle spindles.

Conclusions

. The results indicate that the duration and amplitude of a spinal manipulation elicits a pattern of discharge from paraspinal muscle spindles different from slower mechanical inputs. Clinically, these parameters may be important determinants of an HVLA-SM's therapeutic benefit.