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Review
. 2011 Oct;42(4):487-99, vii.
doi: 10.1016/j.ocl.2011.07.001.

Biomechanics of intervertebral disk degeneration

Nozomu Inoue  1 , Alejandro A Espinoza Orías
Affiliations
Review

Biomechanics of intervertebral disk degeneration

Nozomu Inoue et al. Orthop Clin North Am. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

Degenerative changes in the material properties of nucleus pulposus and anulus fibrosus promote changes in viscoelastic properties of the whole disc. Volume, pressure and hydration loss in the nucleus pulposus, disk height decreases and fissures in the anulus fibrosus, are some of the signs of the degenerative cascade that advances with age and affect, among others, spinal function and its stability. Much remains to be learned about how these changes affect the function of the motion segment and relate to symptoms such as low back pain and altered spinal biomechanics.

Keywords: biomechanics; degeneration; intervertebral disc.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental test chamber for an unconfined dynamic compression experiment to record viscoelastic properties of a rabbit disc. The bone-disc-bone complex was secured between two porous pucks that prevented friction of the endplates with respect to these structures. Discs can be altered chemically to promote and recover from degeneration. Their dynamic viscoelastic properties can be assessed in this way.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic of a subject’s positioning inside a CT gantry to study torso rotation. Straps hold subject onto a torso rotation apparatus and CT records evidence of coupled motion during torsion. Segmental movements are level dependent and a pattern of the segmental movement is different between healthy subjects and subjec ts with low back pain.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Description of the Volume Merge method for analysis of segmental movement. A vertebral body in the neutral position (a) was virtually rotated and translated toward the rotated position (b). The position was refined with 0.05° and 0.05 mm increments, respectively, until the maximized volume merging was determined (d). A voxel with a dimension of 1.0×1.0×1.0 mm was created for each point of the stationary target. The number of points of the moving vertebra (white dots) that fell within the voxel of the stationary target (yellow dots) was determined and the percentage of volume merge was defined: e) no volume merge, f) volume merge achieved within the voxel region of interest.
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