# STRAINS IN THE SPINAL LIGAMENTS IN LUMBAR REGION

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 1989 · $77,010

## Abstract

Abnormal intervertebral motion is considered one of the primary
causes in precipitating symptoms that may lead to low back pain.
This abnormal motion may be the result of injury, cumulative
fatigue damage, or the surgical procedures themselves
undertaken to relieve the patient of current low back pain.
Lumbar fusion is a procedure frequently employed in the surgical
treatment of low back pain.  The main emphasis of this proposal
is to evaluate various internal fixation devices in terms of their
biomechanical responses.  Their performances, we hypothesize,
are functions of (a) the extent of injury inflicted on the spine
prior to their use, and (b) the load history (fatigue) to which the
spinal structures get exposed.  Both of these factors lead to a
decrease in spinal stability.  The present in vitro study proposes
to investigate these hypotheses, using whole lumbar spine
specimens, by comparing the load-deformation behavior of the
normal/fatigued, injured, and stabilized specimens.  The effect
of fatigue in producing instability will be differentiated by
testing specimens in two different groups.  In Group A,
specimens will be tested as received while specimens in Group B
will be subjected to cyclic torsional loads prior to injury and
stabilization.  The injuries to be inflicted at L4-5 and/or L5-S1
(single and multilevel) will mimic discectomy and/or spinal
decompression.  The injured specimens are reduced with a Luque
D-loop or a plate-screw system.

The three-dimensional motion (load-displacement) behavior of
each vertebra of the lumbar spine segment (L1-S1) will be
obtained through the Selspot II System and a servo-controlled
biaxial MTS used to administer fatigue loads.  The points of
insertion of ligaments (morphology) are to be determined by
means of a specially designed digitizer (morphometer).  The
principles of rigid body kinematics are utilized to combine the
load-displacement and morphological data to yield in situ
ligamentous strains.

The purpose of this proposal is to gain knowledge and a better
understanding of the relationship between fatigue, injury,
degeneration and stabilization of the spine and its motion
pattern.  The proposal will also provide, for the first time, a
comparative evaluation of various spinal fixation devices.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3156459
- **Project number:** 5R01AR032954-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** Z1H9VJS8NG16
- **Principal Investigator:** VIJAY K GOEL
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1989
- **Award amount:** $77,010
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1983-04-01 → 1991-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3156459

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3156459, STRAINS IN THE SPINAL LIGAMENTS IN LUMBAR REGION (5R01AR032954-06). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-24 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3156459. Licensed CC0.

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