The purpose of the current study is to assess the potential difference of multifidus muscle between non-specific chronic low back pain patients and the healthy individuals using DTI and to compare the sensitivity of DTI to conventional lumbar MRI in detecting muscle pathological changes. DTI and conventional MRI parameters were obtained including FA, ADC, MD and tCSA, fCSA, fCSA/tCSA ratio. Compared to the healthy individuals, NCLBP patients demonstrated differences in DTI parameters of bilateral multifidus muscles. We conclude that DTI is more sensitive in detecting paraspinal muscle pathological changes in the early stage of lumbar degeneration than conventional lumbar MRI.
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