Influence of Active Cervical Paraspinal Musculature on Facet Joint Capsule Strains and Loads

INTRODUCTION Previous work from our group has identified extensive ligamento-muscular reflex pathways between the cervical facet joint capsule (FJC) and the superficial and deep cervical paraspinal musculature, both ipsilateral and contralateral to the stretched FJC, which were activated by physiologic low-rate (0.5 mm/s) [1] and high-rate (100 mm/s) [2] FJC stretch. Since approximately 22% of the FJC is covered with muscle insertions [3], the effects of active physiologic and neuromuscular systems on FJC biomechanics warrants investigation. In this abstract, we report our qualitative observations of the influence of cervical paraspinal muscle activity on FJC strains and loads during mechanical testing in an in-vivo goat model.