background: forward head posture (fhp) is recognized as a common postural disorder of modern societies. increase in anterior cervical convexity and anterior displacement of the line of gravity of head in individuals with fhp is assumed to result in altered moment arms and muscle activity on cervical spine. measurement of muscle thickness seems to be an appropriate index for muscle activity. thi...

Purpose: To design a musculo-skeletal dynamic spine model with which we can perform FES effectively as well as the simulation of spinal motion and analysis of stress distribution to the vertebra. Method: The skeletal model was designed from computed tomography (CT) data of a young male healthy volunteer. The muscles, discs and ligaments were attached to the skeletal model correctly as possible ...

Training of spinal cord circuits using sensorimotor stimulation has been proposed as a strategy to improve movement after spinal injury. How sensory stimulation may lead to long-lasting changes is not well understood. We studied whether sensory stimulation might induce changes in the strength of a specific spinal interneuronal circuit: spinally mediated reciprocal Ia inhibition. In healthy huma...

background: exercise is a widely prescribed treatment for chronic low back pain. the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks exercise on pain, disability and endurance of trunk flexor-extensor muscles in female with chronic idiopathic low back pain. methods: this clinical trial study has been done on 12 patients who referred to the arak city clinics. the function o...

A 33 years old male patient presented clinically with a gradual progressive cauda-conus dysfunction and a combination of cauda/cord compression. The history started with paraesthesia at the sole of the left foot, that progressed to weakness and atrophy of L4,L5 muscles. The weakness characteristically increased by walking and the patient had to rest for a while before he can resume walking agai...

The organization of spinal cord motor columns innervating 18 selected macaque forelimb muscles was studied with the technique of retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase. The reliability of the method was evaluated in the cat hindlimb. Motor columns innervating forearm muscles with similar actions on the hand appear to overlap in the anterior horn. Extensor motoneurons are generally posit...

Alternate activation of antagonistic muscles across a joint is essential for movement. A new study, by Talpalar et al., in this issue of Neuron highlights the importance of spinal cord inhibitory interneurons in generating motor activity by showing that they can generate alternating flexor-extensor motor neuron firing in the absence of glutamatergic synaptic input.