Correlation between paravertebral muscle fat infiltration and pain in patients with chronic low back pain
WANG Weiyi
WANG Guanyi
LEI Xin
LUO Zhuojing
LIU Xiwen
GAO Bo
Abstract：Objective To analyze the correlation of paravertebral muscle parameters,including muscle cross-sectional area(CSA)and fat infiltration rate(FIR),with gender,left and right sides,body mass index(BMI),age,Visual Analogue Scale(VAS)and Oswestry Disability Index(ODI)in patients with chronic low back pain(CLBP).Methods A total of 109 CLBP patients with complete data were collected from Xijing Hospital,Air Force Medical University from April 2023 to December 2023.FIR was calculated by using ImageJ software to measure the fat infiltration area of L2-3,L3-4,L4-5,and L5-S1 multifidus muscle,erector spinae muscle and psoas major muscle,as well as muscle CSA.Gender,BMI,age,VAS,ODI and other information of the patients were obtained from the cases.Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the measured paravertebral muscle of each segment and gender,as well as FIR on both sides of the muscle.Spearman correlation analysis was used to measure the correlation between paravertebral muscle and BMI,age,VAS and ODI.Results ①There was no difference between left and right side of paravertebral muscle FIR in CLBP patients(P＞0.05),but there was a difference between genders(P＜0.05).②There was no significant correlation between paravertebral muscle FIR and BMI in CLBP patients,while multifidus muscle FIR and erector spinae muscle FIR were correlated with age,VAS and ODI.③There was no significant correlation between paravertebral muscle CSA and BMI,age,VAS and ODI in CLBP patients.Conclusion This study excludes some irrelevant factors of paravertebral muscle fat infiltration,explores the group more prone to low back pain,and analyzes the relationship between paravertebral muscle FIR and the degree of low back pain and life impact,providing a new idea for evaluating the degree of low back pain of patients and evaluating the therapeutic effect.
Keywords：fat infiltration ratelow back painparavertebral musclerisk factorschronic pain
Publication Date：2025-10-31
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-26(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 1333-1339 )