J Korean Orthop Assoc.
1979 Mar;14(1):159-169. 10.4055/jkoa.1979.14.1.159.
Statistical Study of the Lumbosacral Angles in Low Back Pain Patients
- KMID: 2460658
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.4055/jkoa.1979.14.1.159
Abstract
- The lumbosacral joint is an unstable area from an anatomical yiewpoint, while it is also a very mobile area in ordinary life, so that clinically major causes of low back pain originate in this joint The purpose of this study is to assess the differences in the efiicacy of the lumbosacral angles among low back pain patients. The following lumbosacial angles were measured and evaluated in 65 patients with only low back pain, in 70 patients with spondylolysis, and in 51 patients with spondylolisthesis. 1. Ferguson angle. 2. Sacrovertebral angle. 3. L-5 horizontal angle. 4. Meschan angle. 5. Line of weight bearing. 6. Wedging of the lumbar spine. 7. Interrelationship between slipping and wedging of the lumbar spine. The results are as follows: 1. The Ferguson angle was increased in spondylolisthesis, 2. The L-5 horizontal angle was increased in spondylolisthesis, meaning unstability of the lumbosacral joint. 3. There was no interrelationship between stability of the lumbosacral joint and the sacro-vertebral angle. 4. The Meschan angle indicated high sensitivity in spondylolisthesis, but the changes were also observed in some of the other back pain patients. 5. Most of the cases showed instability when judged by the line of weight bearing. This was especially true in spondylolisthesis. 6 The lumbar index was in 92.7% of simple low back pain patients, 82.2% in spondylolysis, and 80.2% in spondylolistheysis, The average wedging of the L-5 vertebra was significantly greater in spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis than in patients without slipping of the vertebral body. 7. The degrees of wedging and of slipping showed a statistically valid correlation, although their etiological relationship remains to be further investigated.
