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The Bioarchaeology of Back Pain

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Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability

Part of the book series: Bioarchaeology and Social Theory ((BST))

Abstract

Back pain is a major health issue in modern populations, with most people experiencing it at some point in their lives. Spinal lesions are also commonly identified in archaeological populations. However, the association of these lesions with clinical symptoms of pain and disability can be unclear. This chapter provides a brief summary of spinal pathologies commonly identified in bioarchaeological investigations and a discussion of their clinical significance in modern populations. The focus will be on degenerative and traumatic lesions, such as osteoarthritis, spondylosis , disc herniations, and spondylolysis. It is hoped that this chapter will serve as a reference for bioarchaeologists who wish to discuss the possible associations between spinal pathologies, pain, and disability in the past and to interpret how these lesions may have influenced quality of life of the individuals they are studying.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Mark Collard and the Human Evolutionary Studies Program in the Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University for support during the preparation of this chapter. Also, I would like to thank Shannon Wood of the Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University for permission to research and photograph the collections, and Claire Greenlow, Laura Whitehouse, and Rebecca Gilmore for reading early drafts and providing editorial suggestions. And finally, special thanks to the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful and supportive feedback and suggestions.

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  1. Department of Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, 12-14 Abercromby Square, Liverpool, L69 7WZ, UK

    Kimberly A. Plomp

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  1. Kimberly A. Plomp
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Correspondence to Kimberly A. Plomp .

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  1. Division of Social Sciences, University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu, Kapolei, Hawaii, USA

    Jennifer F. Byrnes

  2. Department of Anthropology, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Jennifer L. Muller

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Plomp, K.A. (2017). The Bioarchaeology of Back Pain. In: Byrnes, J., Muller, J. (eds) Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability. Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56949-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56949-9_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56948-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56949-9

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