BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE LUMBAR SPINE ON THE FACET JOINT FORCE AND INTRADISCAL PRESSURE— A REALISTIC FINITE ELEMENT STUDY

The lumbar spine often leads to a high incidence of disc diseases, such as herniated disc, sciatica and low back pain. Biomechanical analyses of lumbar spine have been used to explore the related problems using in vitro studies or finite element simulations. Most of the previous FE studies have used simplified models such as a quarter of the vertebrae and discs, a half of the vertebrae, or a simple whole spine model. This study developed and validated an FE model of the lumbosacral spine with a realistic geometric shape to simulate the lumbar spine subjected to several loading conditions. The effects of symmetric postures such as left and right axial rotations on the facet joint forces at various levels of the lumbar spine were compared. In addition, we investigated the effect of postures on the intradiscal pressures in the nuclei pulposi.