Cargando…
Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study
BACKGROUND: Facet joints play a significant role in providing stability to the spine and they have been associated with low back pain symptoms and other spinal disorders. The influence of a follower load on biomechanics of facet joints is unknown. A comprehensive research on the biomechanical role o...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2016
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791937/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26980002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12891-016-0980-4 |
_version_ | 1782421167286517760 |
---|---|
author | Du, Cheng-Fei Yang, Nan Guo, Jun-Chao Huang, Yun-Peng Zhang, Chunqiu |
author_facet | Du, Cheng-Fei Yang, Nan Guo, Jun-Chao Huang, Yun-Peng Zhang, Chunqiu |
author_sort | Du, Cheng-Fei |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Facet joints play a significant role in providing stability to the spine and they have been associated with low back pain symptoms and other spinal disorders. The influence of a follower load on biomechanics of facet joints is unknown. A comprehensive research on the biomechanical role of facets may provide insight into facet joint instability and degeneration. METHOD: A nonlinear finite element (FE) model of lumbar spine (L1-S1) was developed and validated to study the biomechanical response of facets, with different values of follower preload (0 N,500 N,800 N,1200 N), under loadings in the three anatomic planes. In this model, special attention was paid to the modeling of facet joints, including cartilage layer. The asymmetry in the biomechanical response of facets was also discussed. A rate of change (ROC) and an average asymmetry factor (AAF) were introduced to explore and evaluate the preload effect on these facet contact parameters and on the asymmetry under different loading conditions. RESULTS: The biomechanical response of facets changed according to the loading condition. The preload amplified the facet force, contact area and contact pressure in flexion-extension; the same effect was observed on the ipsilateral facet while an opposite effect could be seen on the contralateral facet during lateral bending. For torsion loading, the preload increased contact area, decreased the mean contact pressure, but had almost no effect on facet force. However, all the effects of follower load on facet response became weaker with the increase of preload. The greatest asymmetry of facet response could be found on the ipsilateral side during lateral bending, followed by flexion, bending (contralateral side), extension and torsion. This asymmetry could be amplified by preload in the bending (ipsilateral), torsion loading group, while being reduced in the flexion group. CONCLUSIONS: An analysis combining patterns of contact pressure distribution, facet load, contact area and contact pressure can provide more insight into the biomechanical role of facets under various moment loadings and follower loads. The effect of asymmetry on facet joint response should be fully considered in biomechanical studies of lumbar spine, especially in post structures subjected to physiological loadings. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12891-016-0980-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4791937 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-47919372016-03-16 Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study Du, Cheng-Fei Yang, Nan Guo, Jun-Chao Huang, Yun-Peng Zhang, Chunqiu BMC Musculoskelet Disord Research Article BACKGROUND: Facet joints play a significant role in providing stability to the spine and they have been associated with low back pain symptoms and other spinal disorders. The influence of a follower load on biomechanics of facet joints is unknown. A comprehensive research on the biomechanical role of facets may provide insight into facet joint instability and degeneration. METHOD: A nonlinear finite element (FE) model of lumbar spine (L1-S1) was developed and validated to study the biomechanical response of facets, with different values of follower preload (0 N,500 N,800 N,1200 N), under loadings in the three anatomic planes. In this model, special attention was paid to the modeling of facet joints, including cartilage layer. The asymmetry in the biomechanical response of facets was also discussed. A rate of change (ROC) and an average asymmetry factor (AAF) were introduced to explore and evaluate the preload effect on these facet contact parameters and on the asymmetry under different loading conditions. RESULTS: The biomechanical response of facets changed according to the loading condition. The preload amplified the facet force, contact area and contact pressure in flexion-extension; the same effect was observed on the ipsilateral facet while an opposite effect could be seen on the contralateral facet during lateral bending. For torsion loading, the preload increased contact area, decreased the mean contact pressure, but had almost no effect on facet force. However, all the effects of follower load on facet response became weaker with the increase of preload. The greatest asymmetry of facet response could be found on the ipsilateral side during lateral bending, followed by flexion, bending (contralateral side), extension and torsion. This asymmetry could be amplified by preload in the bending (ipsilateral), torsion loading group, while being reduced in the flexion group. CONCLUSIONS: An analysis combining patterns of contact pressure distribution, facet load, contact area and contact pressure can provide more insight into the biomechanical role of facets under various moment loadings and follower loads. The effect of asymmetry on facet joint response should be fully considered in biomechanical studies of lumbar spine, especially in post structures subjected to physiological loadings. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12891-016-0980-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2016-03-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4791937/ /pubmed/26980002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12891-016-0980-4 Text en © Du et al. 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Du, Cheng-Fei Yang, Nan Guo, Jun-Chao Huang, Yun-Peng Zhang, Chunqiu Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study |
title | Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study |
title_full | Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study |
title_fullStr | Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study |
title_full_unstemmed | Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study |
title_short | Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study |
title_sort | biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791937/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26980002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12891-016-0980-4 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT duchengfei biomechanicalresponseoflumbarfacetjointsunderfollowerpreloadafiniteelementstudy AT yangnan biomechanicalresponseoflumbarfacetjointsunderfollowerpreloadafiniteelementstudy AT guojunchao biomechanicalresponseoflumbarfacetjointsunderfollowerpreloadafiniteelementstudy AT huangyunpeng biomechanicalresponseoflumbarfacetjointsunderfollowerpreloadafiniteelementstudy AT zhangchunqiu biomechanicalresponseoflumbarfacetjointsunderfollowerpreloadafiniteelementstudy |