A review of biomechanics of the central nervous system—Part I: Spinal canal deformations resulting from changes in posture

Objective: To discuss how the spinal cord deforms as a result of changes in posture or biomechanical alterations of the spine. Data Collection: A hand search of available reference texts and a computer search of literature from the Index Medicus sources were collected, with special emphasis placed o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 227 - 234
Main Authors Harrison, Deed E., Cailliet, Rene, Harrison, Donald D., Troyanovich, Stephan J., Harrison, Sanghak O.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Mosby, Inc 01.05.1999
Subjects
Biomechanical Phenomena
Biomechanics
Humans
Manipulation, Spinal
Posture
Posture - physiology
Space life sciences
Spinal Canal - physiopathology
Spinal Cord
Spinal Cord - physiopathology
Stenosis
Biomechanics
Stenosis
Spinal Cord
Posture
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Objective: To discuss how the spinal cord deforms as a result of changes in posture or biomechanical alterations of the spine. Data Collection: A hand search of available reference texts and a computer search of literature from the Index Medicus sources were collected, with special emphasis placed on spinal canal changes caused by various postural rotations and translations of the skull, thorax, and pelvis. Results: All spinal postures will deform the spinal canal. Flexion causes a small increase in canal diameter and volume as the vertebral lamina are separated. Extension causes a small decrease in canal diameter and volume as the vertebral lamina are approximated. Lateral bending and axial rotation cause insignificant changes in spinal canal diameter and volume in cases without stenosis. Conclusions: Rotations of the global postural components, head, thoracic cage, and pelvis cause changes in the diameter of the spinal canal and intervertebral foramen. These changes are generally a reduction of less than 1.5 mm in extension, compared with a small increase in flexion of approximately 1 mm. These small changes do not account for the clinical observation of patients having increased neurologic signs and symptoms in flexion. (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999;22:227–34)
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-3
content type line 23
ObjectType-Review-1
ISSN:0161-4754
1532-6586
DOI:10.1016/S0161-4754(99)70049-7