RESUMO
Objectives To investigate the relationship between the degeneration of lumbar multifidus mus-cles and facet joint osteoarthritis(FJOA)by MRI. Methods This retrospective study included 248 patients with low back and leg pain,aged from 55 to 70.MRI was used to measure TCSA,FCSA,fCSA and FI% of the L4~5and L5~S1segments on the both sides of their multifidus muscle in the cross section in T2weighted image.All the cases were divided into three grades:grade 0~1,grade 2 and grade 3 according to their FJOA grades. The relationship between the FJOA grades at the same level and TCSA,FCSA and FI% of both sides was analyzed retrospectively. Results There were significant differences of the FI% of the multifidus muscle between both sides of the two seg-ments(P < 0.05);The TCSA,FCSA and fCSA of the left and right multifidus muscle all showed an increasing trend from L4~5to L5~S1segment and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05);the FI% of two sides of multifidus muscle was negatively correlated with the right FJOA grade at L5~S1segment(P<0.05).There was a re-lationship between females and right FJOA grade at L5~S1segment(all P < 0.05). Whereas,no significant differ-ence was found in other parameters(all P>0.05).Conclusions There is no relationship between the cross-sec-tional area of the multifidus muscle and the FJOA grade. The higher FI% degree of multifidus muscle in the L5~S1 segment is accompanied with a lower grade of FJOA.The degeneration of multifidus muscle occurs earlier than the degeneration of articular process joints,so the earlier exercise of lumbar muscle is recommended.
