The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of posture on morphologic changes on the lumbar spine during various weight bearing postures (sitting, standing, flexion and extension) compared with supine posture. In addition, it was planned to develop a non-invasive method for measuring nucleus pulposus (NP) water content and to apply that method to assessing the influence of the same postures on NP water content. According to the results of the study, adopting each examined posture caused noticeable gross lumbar deformation and several small but significant changes in spinal structures compared with the supine posture. Posture changed the size of IVD foramen and the extent of these changes was greater at the L4-L5 level than other levels. The study also characterised macro and micro anatomic deformations of the IVD in response to adopting posture. The shape and length of IVD and NP changed with spine motion (sitting, standing, flexion and extension). But the CSA of NP did not show statistically significant change. The water content of the NP was affected by adopting posture that would cause a variation in the mechanical properties of the IVD. In general, water content of the NP was sensitive to posture and load while posture had relatively large effects on NP water content. This study showed that sagittal spine balance and anatomic curvature influences postural loading and the load balance of the intervertebral disc in healthy male subjects. The posture affects the way the lumbar spine resists the loads applied to it but has little effect on the magnitude of these loads. This study provides new experimental evidence on the effect of complex postures on the lumbar spine from physiologic and biomechanical point of view and may have clinical implications for the rehabilitation of the back pain patients.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:590953 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Nazari, Jalil |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU222993 |
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