Performance based on sEMG activity is related to psychosocial components: Differences between back and abdominal endurance tests

Abstract The influence of psychosocial components on back and abdominal endurance tests in patients with persistent non-specific low back pain should be investigated to ensure the correct interpretation of these measures. Three-hundred and thirty-two patients (291 men and 41 women) from 19 to 63 years performed an abdominal and back muscle endurance test after completing some psychosocial questionnaires. During the endurance tests, surface electromyography signals of the internal obliques, the external obliques, the lumbar multifidus and the iliocostalis were recorded. Patients were dichotomized as underperformers and good performers, by comparing their real endurance time, to the expected time of endurance derived from the normalized median frequency slope. Independent t -tests were performed to examine the differences on the outcome of the questionnaires. In the back muscle endurance test, the underperformers had significantly lower ( p < 0.05) scores on some of the physical subscales of the SF-36. The underperformers group of the AE test scored significantly higher on the DRAM MZDI ( p = 0.018) and on the PCS scale ( p = 0.020) and showed also significantly lower scores on the SF-36 ( p < 0.05). Back muscle endurance tests are influenced by physical components, while abdominal endurance tests seem influenced by psychosocial components.