The Reha Rheinfelden has awarded this year’s research prize to Markus Hildebrandt, Gabriela Fankhauser, André Meichtry and Hannu Luomajoki for their study entitled “Correlation between lumbar dysfunction and fat infiltration in lumbar multifidus muscles in patients with low back pain“.

The research project was chosen by an independent international jury, and the research team was awarded CHF 5,000.

For their study, the researchers from several physiotherapy practices and the ZHAW examined more than 40 people affected by back pain. More than 80% of the patients showed fat infiltration in their lumbar multifudus muscles. Patients with chronic lower back pain were more likely to demonstrate fatty infiltration than patients with acute lower back pain. Increased severity of fat infiltration in the lumbar multifudus muscles correlated with the decreased range of motion of lumbar flexion.