ABSTRACT
As a prevalent spine disorder, Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) has been affecting more than 2 % of the worldwide population and is characterised by uncertain causes and recurring episodes. Studying the brain activity of patients could potentially provide insights into its pathogenesis and significantly enhance therapy. Therefore, we here examined brain function in patients under Spinal Manipulative Therapy (SMT). By analysing regional homogeneity (ReHo) at different frequency bands, we identified the discrepancies in brain activity between LDH patients and healthy people, highlighting the frequency dependence of spontaneous low-frequency oscillations among patients with LDH. Choosing seeds based on the peak ReHo differences helped to elucidate the functional connectivity alterations in the brain regions of LDH. Overall, this study showed that SMT significantly reduced pain, improved dysfunction, and partially rectified aberrant local consistency and functional connection in patients with LDH, not only offering insights into the pathophysiology of LDH from a neurological standpoint, but also providing inspiration for the development of new therapies based on neurobiology.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Investigating the changes of regional homogeneity (ReHo) values and both static and dynamic functional connectivity (FC) before and after Traditional Chinese Manual Therapy (Tuina) in patients with lumbar disk herniation (LDH) through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI). Based on this, we observe the effect of Tuina on the above abnormal changes. Methods: Patients with LDH (n = 27) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 28) were recruited. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning was performed two times in LDH patients, before Tuina (time point 1, LDH-pre) and after the sixth Tuina (time point 2, LDH-pos). And for one time in HCs which received no intervention. The ReHo values were compared between LDH-pre and HCs. The significant clusters detected by ReHo analysis were selected as seeds to calculate static functional connectivity (sFC). We also applied the sliding-window to perform dynamic functional connectivity (dFC). To evaluate the Tuina effect, the mean ReHo and FC values (both static and dynamic) were extracted from significant clusters and compared between LDH and HCs. Results: In comparison to HCs, LDH patients displayed decreased ReHo in the left orbital part middle frontal gyrus (LO-MFG). For sFC analysis, no significant difference was found. However, we found decreased dFC variance between LO-MFG and the left Fusiform, and increased dFC variance in the left orbital inferior frontal gyrus and left precuneus. Both ReHo and dFC values revealed after Tuina, the brain activities in LDH patients were similar to HCs. Conclusion: The present study characterized the altered patterns of regional homogeneity in spontaneous brain activity and those of functional connectivity in patients with LDH. Tuina can reshape the function of the default mode network (DMN) in LDH patients, which may contribute to the analgesic effect of Tuina in LDH patients.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is one of the leading causes of low-back pain and results in a series of clinical symptoms, including pain, reflex loss, and muscle weakness. Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) can relieve pain and promote internal and external stabilization of the lumbar spine. In this study, we investigated whether the brain alterations of LDH patients with SMT were frequency-dependent based on the calculation of Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF). Further, we established a cohort of LDH patients to evaluate the contribution of SMT treatments to brain functional reorganization. Methods: A total of 55 participants, including 27 LDH patients and 28 health controls (HCs), were collected. All LDH patients underwent two fMRI scans (before SMT and after the sixth SMT session). To represent LDH-related brain oscillatory activities, we calculated the ALFF and fALFF in the conventional band (0.01-0.08 Hz), the slow-4 band (0.027-0.073 Hz), and the slow-5 band (0.01-0.027 Hz). Moreover, we extracted ALFF and fALFF values in clusters with significant differences to evaluate the SMT effect. Results: Compared with HCs, the LDH patients before SMT (LDH-pre) exhibited increased fALFF in right lingual gyri in the conventional band, and showed increased fALFF in left Cerebelum_Crus1 in the slow-4 band. We further examined the abnormal brain activities changes before and after the SMT intervention. The ALFF and fALFF values of LDH-pre group were higher than those of the HCs and LDH-pos groups. After SMT, the increased ALFF and fALFF values were suppressed for patients in conventional band and slow-4 band. Conclusion: The present study characterized the altered regional patterns in spontaneous neural activity in patients with LDH. Meanwhile, SMT is an effective treatment of LDH, and we supposed that it might have been involved in modulating dysfunctional brain regions which are important for the processing of pain. The findings of the current study may provide new insights to understand pathological mechanism of LDH.