Lumbar spine instability: a biochemicalchallenge

✍ Scribed by M.M. Panjabi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 646 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0268-0890
• DOI: 10.1016/s0268-0890(05)80060-x

✦ Synopsis

Low back pain is a major social problem, costing an estimated sam of 15 to 50 billion dollars per year in the USA. In most cases, the etiology of LBP is unknown. A better understanding of the way the spine functions, and the way it does not, is needed. The spinal system consists of the spinal column, the muscles surrounding the spinal column, and the neuromuscular control unit. Under normal circumstances, spinal stability is maintained by a combination of the spinal column and the muscles. After an injury, disease and[or degeneration of the spinal column, the stability of the system may be compromised. Within certain limits this may be compensated by the muscles. However, if an adequate response is not available, clinical problems, such as low back pain, may eventually arise. Under such circumstances, stability at the level of the individual motion segment (or functional spinal unit) may be restored by spinal fusion.