The lumbar multifidus muscle in polysegmentally innervated
Wu, P.B.; Date, E.S.; Kingery, W.S.
Electromyography and Clinical Neurophysiology 40(8): 483-485
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0301-150X PMID: 11155540 Document Number: 522469
We conducted a prospective case study to determine whether the lumbar multifidus muscle is polysegmentally innervated. A 49-year-old man with chronic mechanical low back pain underwent bilateral percutaneous radiofrequency neurotomy of the medial branches of the L3 dorsal rami. Electromyography (EMG) examination was performed in the L2-5 multifidi both prior to and 3 weeks after the procedure. Positive sharp waves and fibrillations appeared in the L3-L5 multifidi after the neurotomy. This study provides electrophysiological evidence in the human lumbar spine that the medial branch of the lumbar root innervates the multifidus muscle at multiple levels, i.e., the lumbar multifidus muscle is polysegmentally innervated. As a result, electromyography of the multifidus cannot identify a specific level of lumbar radiculopathy.