الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The vertebral column is a complex anatomical structure that has an extensive range of movement. Biped humans have a greater load on the vertebral column, so they have optimum vertebral curvatures to distribute body load evenly while walking or working in a daily life. Lumbar lordosis, one of vertebral curvatures, is especially known to be an important and decisive factor in the flexibility during different movements. Low back pain (LBP) affects up to 80% of people at some time during their lives. It can be caused by structural pathological conditions of the lumbar vertebrae or by wrong postures or by paraspinal muscle spasms. Therefore, the present study evaluated the angle of the lower lumbar curvature of the vertebral column and the extensor muscle volume (size) in both normal (not complaining of LBP) and pathological (with persistent LBP) individuals in different age groups. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of the lumbar region of the vertebral column of 200 subjects were examined. The subjects were divided according to age into group I (21- 35 years), group II (36-50 years) and group III (above 50 years). Each group was subdivided into normal (not complaining of LBP) and pathological (with persistent LBP) individuals. The curvature was characterised as the angle between the upper border (superior endplates) of L4 and S1. The extensor muscle volume was estimated by multiplying the cross-sectional areas by the effective slice thickness (acquired slice thickness plus slice gap) and summing across the relevant number of slices. The results of this study revealed that the mean angle of the lumbar curvature of group IIa was more than in group Ia while the mean angle of the lumbar curvature was least in age group IIIa. However, the mean angle of the lumbar curvature in LBP subgroups was higher than normal in age group Ib and IIIb and was lower than normal in age group IIb. The mean muscle size in the lower lumbar part of the vertebral column (caudal to L3-L4) in the three age groups with no LBP was least in age group IIIa. While in cases with LBP, all measurements of the muscle size were smaller than normal subjects. The present work showed that there was statistically significant positive correlation between the angle of lumbar curvature and the muscle size in group Ia, IIa , IIIa and IIIb . While in group I b and II b, there was no statistically significant correlation. |