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A history of spine biomechanics

Focus on 20th century progress

Historisches zur Biomechanik der Wirbelsäule

Fortschritte des 20. Jahrhunderts im Fokus

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Abstract

The application of mechanical principles to problems of the spine dates to antiquity. Significant developments related to spinal anatomy and biomechanical behaviour made by Renaissance and post-Renaissance scholars through the end of the 19th century laid a strong foundation for the developments since that time. The objective of this article is to provide a historical overview of spine biomechanics with a focus on the developments in the 20th century. The topics of spine loading, spinal posture and stability, spinal kinematics, spinal injury, and surgical strategies were reviewed.

Zusammenfassung

Die Anwendung mechanischer Prinzipien im Rahmen der Behandlung von Problemen an der Wirbelsäule geht bis in die Antike zurück. Wesentliche Entwicklungen bezogen auf die Wirbelsäulenanatomie und das biomechanische Verhalten durch Gelehrte der Renaissance und Postrenaissance gegen Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts bildeten eine solide Grundlage für die Fortschritte seit dieser Zeit. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, einen historischen Überblick über die Biomechanik der Wirbelsäule zu geben, fokussiert wurde dabei auf die Entwicklungen im 20. Jahrhundert. Die Themen Wirbelsäulenbelastung, Wirbelsäulenhaltung und -stabilität, Wirbelsäulenkinematik, Rückenmarksverletzung und chirurgische Strategien wurden überprüft.

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Professor Manohar Panjabi, Professor Hans-Joachim Wilke, and Mr. Masoud Malakoutian for their constructive comments on the manuscript. In addition, the author thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for long-term research support at the University of British Columbia.

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  1. Departments of Orthopaedics and Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    T.R. Oxland PhD PEng

  2. International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), University of British Columbia, Room 5460-818 West 10th Ave., V5Z 1M9, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    T.R. Oxland PhD PEng

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

This article is part of a supplement sponsored by SIGNUS Medizintechnik GmbH.

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Oxland, T. A history of spine biomechanics. Unfallchirurg 118 (Suppl 1), 80–92 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00113-015-0087-7

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