BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is a silent and asymptomatic disease that leads to thoracic hyperkyphosis, which can interfere with the normal function of the paraspinal musculature and balance control. There is no evidence regarding the effect of the anatomical posture control (APC) orthosis in older people with osteoporotic thoracic hyperkyphosis. This study aimed to examine the effects of this novel orthosis on the electromyography (EMG) of the erector spinae (ES) and balance control in this group of patients.
METHODS: In total, 22 elderly osteoporotic subjects with thoracic hyperkyphosis were enrolled in this study. The participants used the orthosis for 4 weeks. The clinical balance assessment scales assessing fall risk and surface EMG (sEMG) signals were recorded from the erector spinae muscles bilaterally before and after the use of orthosis. The marginal model was used with the generalized estimating equation analysis for investigating the effect of this orthosis on the sEMG of the paraspinal muscles and the balance control in this longitudinal study.
RESULTS: The normalized root mean square of sEMG of the lumbar and thoracic ES muscles reduced significantly (P<0.05), and significant improvement was observed (P<0.05) in the balance control test when the participants used this new-designed orthosis (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: APC orthosis can decrease the activity of ES muscles during static standing and improve the static and dynamic balance in the hyperkyphotic osteoporotic subjects.