Effect of Follower Load on Motion and Stiffness of the Human Thoracic Spine with Intact Rib Cage
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Issue Date
2016-10-03Author
Sis, Hadley
Mannen, Erin Mychael
Wong, Benjamin Michael
Cadel, Eileen Sara
Bouxsein, Mary L.
Anderson, Dennis E.
Friis, Elizabeth A.
Publisher
Elsevier
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Researchers have reported on the importance of the rib cage in maintaining mechanical stability in the thoracic spine and on the validity of a compressive follower preload. However, dynamic mechanical testing using both the rib cage and follower load has never been studied. An in vitro biomechanical study of human cadaveric thoracic specimens with rib cage intact in lateral bending, flexion/extension, and axial rotation under varying compressive follower preloads was performed. The objective was to characterize the motion and stiffness of the thoracic spine with intact rib cage and follower preload. The hypotheses tested for all modes of bending were (i) range of motion, elastic zone, and neutral zone will be reduced with a follower load, and (ii) neutral and elastic zone stiffness will be increased with a follower load. Eight human cadaveric thoracic spine specimen (T1-T12) with intact rib cage were subjected to 5 Nm pure moments in lateral bending, flexion/extension, and axial rotation under follower loads of 0 to 400 N. Range of motion, elastic and neutral zones, and elastic and neutral zone stiffness values were calculated for functional spinal units and segments within the entire thoracic section. Combined segmental range of motion decreased by an average of 34% with follower load for every mode. Application of a follower load with intact rib cage impacts the motion and stiffness of the human cadaveric thoracic spine. Researchers should consider including both aspects to better represent the physiologic implications of human motion and improve clinically relevant biomechanical thoracic spine testing.
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Citation
Sis, H. L., Mannen, E. M., Wong, B. M., Cadel, E. S., Bouxsein, M. L., Anderson, D. E., & Friis, E. A. (2016). Effect of follower load on motion and stiffness of the human thoracic spine with intact rib cage. Journal of biomechanics, 49(14), 3252-3259.
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.