Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Bell D, Paraspinal muscles. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 22 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-91096
The paraspinal muscles (PSM) , also known as paravertebral muscles, is a descriptive term given to those muscles that closely surround the spine, primarily the thoracolumbar spine. There has been great research interest in using the cross-sectional area of these muscles as a measure of overall muscle bulk (see sarcopenia) and also as part of assessing cases of low/lumbar back pain 1-3.
It is usually stated to include:
- abdominal muscles
- intrinsic back muscles
However many other back muscles are not usually included in the paraspinal muscle group because they are:
- not truly paraspinal
- small muscles poorly seen on axial spinal imaging of the spine
- cervical spine muscles
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1. Wan Q, Lin C, Li X, Zeng W, Ma C. MRI assessment of paraspinal muscles in patients with acute and chronic unilateral low back pain. (2015) The British journal of radiology. 88 (1053): 20140546. doi:10.1259/bjr.20140546 - Pubmed
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2. Park JH, Kim KW, Youn Y, Kim H, Chung WS, Song MY, Cho JH. Association of MRI-defined lumbar paraspinal muscle mass and slip percentage in degenerative and isthmic spondylolisthesis: A multicenter, retrospective, observational study. (2019) Medicine. 98 (49): e18157. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000018157 - Pubmed
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3. Ploumis A, Michailidis N, Christodoulou P, Kalaitzoglou I, Gouvas G, Beris A. Ipsilateral atrophy of paraspinal and psoas muscle in unilateral back pain patients with monosegmental degenerative disc disease. (2011) The British journal of radiology. 84 (1004): 709-13. doi:10.1259/bjr/58136533 - Pubmed
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