Effect of aging and lumbar spondylosis on lumbar lordosis

• Main Author: Francis Osita Okpala
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2018-01-01
• Series: Acta Medica International
• Subjects: Aging; change; lumbar lordosis; lumbar spondylosis
• Online Access: http://www.actamedicainternational.com/article.asp?issn=2349-0578;year=2018;volume=5;issue=1;spage=14;epage=19;aulast=Okpala

Background: Lumbar lordosis (LL), the anterior convexity of the lumbar spine in the mid-sagittal plane, gives the spine some resilience and helps in protecting it from compressive forces because some of the force is taken by the anterior longitudinal ligaments. In aging and lumbar spondylosis, the intervertebral discs undergo the same degenerative changes though at different rates, and in both, while some authors reported a straightening of LL, others reported no significant change. This morphologic information would hopefully influence therapeutic decision-making, particularly in lumbar spondylosis, which though usually asymptomatic, is a common cause of low back pain. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of aging and lumbar spondylosis on LL. Subjects and Methods: Lumbosacral joint angle (LSJA), an angular measure of LL, was retrospectively measured in 252 normal and 329 spondylotic adolescent and adult supine lateral lumbosacral spine archival radiographs, and data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 (New York, USA). Results: Normal LSJA range was 5°–39°; the mean was 18.7° and showed insignificant variation with gender and aging. Spondylotic range was 5°–40° and the mean (20.8°) differed from the normal mean by about 2°, which probably have inconsequential effect on the lumbar curvature, suggesting that the normal and spondylotic mean values are essentially equal. The spondylotic mean also showed insignificant variation with aging and inconsequential 1° gender difference in favor of females. Conclusion: LL is substantially maintained in aging and lumbar spondylosis.