Skip to main content
Log in

Development of an in vivo method to investigate biomechanical and neurophysiological properties of spine facet joint capsules

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Spine Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Facet joint capsules (FJC) may experience large mechanical deformation under spine motion. There has been no previous quantitative study of the relationship between capsular strain and sensory nerve activation in spine FJC in vivo. Space limitation in the cervical spine makes such a study difficult, as the facet joint must be loaded while simultaneously monitoring nerve discharge from nerve roots immediately adjacent to the loaded tissue. A new methodology was developed to investigate biomechanical and neurophysiological properties of spine facet joint capsules in vivo. The method incorporated a custom-fabricated testing frame for facet joint loading, a stereoimaging system, and a template-matching technique to obtain single afferent response. It was tested by loading goat C5–C6 FJC in vivo with simultaneous nerve root recordings and 3D strain tracking of the capsules. Preliminary data showed that 18 of 23 afferents (78.3%) were found to be mechanosensitive to tensile stretch, and five were not responsive, even under tensile load as high as 27.5 N. Mechanosensitive afferents in goat capsules had tensile strain thresholds of 0.119±0.080. Neural responses of all mechanosensitive units showed statistically significant correlations (all P<<0.05) with both capsular load (r2=0.744±0.109) and local strain (r2=0.868±0.088). This method enables the investigation of the correlation between tissue load, deformation and neural responses of mechanoreceptors in spine facet joint capsules, and can be adapted to investigate tissue loading and neural response of other soft tissues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5a–d
Fig. 6a,b

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Avramov AI, Cavanaugh JM, Ozaktay CA, Getchell TV, King AI (1992) The effects of controlled mechanical loading on group-II, III, and IV afferent units from the lumbar facet joint and surrounding tissue. An in vitro study. J Bone Joint Surg Am 74:1464–1471

    Google Scholar 

  2. Beel JA, Stodieck LS, Luttges MW (1986) Structural properties of spinal nerve roots: biomechanics. Exp Neurol 91:30–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bogduk N (1982) The clinical anatomy of the cervical dorsal rami. Spine 7:319–330

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bogduk N, Marsland A (1988) The cervical zygapophysial joints as a source of neck pain. Spine 13:610–617

    Google Scholar 

  5. Brantigan JW, McAfee PC, Cunningham BW, Wang H, Orbegoso CM (1994) Interbody lumbar fusion using a carbon fiber cage implant versus allograft bone. An investigational study in the Spanish goat. Spine 19:1436–1444

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chen C, Lu Y, Cavanaugh JM, Kallakuri S, Patwardhan A (2004) Neurophysiologic studies of cervical facet joint capsule—experimental setup and characterization of sensory receptors. In: Transactions of the ORS 50th annual meeting

  7. Deng B, Begeman PC, Yang KH, Tashman S, King AI (2000) Kinematics of human cadaver cervical spine during low speed rear-end impacts. Proceedings of the 44th Stapp Car Crash Conference, pp 171–188

  8. Fuller MS, Grigg P, Hoffman AH (1991) Response of joint capsule neurons to axial stress and strain during dynamic loading in cat. J Neurophysiol 65:1321–1328

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ge W, Khalsa PS (2003) Encoding of compressive stress during indentation by group III and IV muscle mechano-nociceptors in rat gracilis muscle. J Neurophysiol 89:785–792

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Grigg P, Hoffman AH (1993) Loading and deformation of the cat posterior knee joint capsule in axial and extension rotations. J Biomech 26:1283–1290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Grigg P (1996) Stretch sensitivity of mechanoreceptor neurons in rat hairy skin. J Neurophysiol 76:2886–2895

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gunzburg R, Fraser RD, Moore R, Vernon-Roberts B (1993) An experimental study comparing percutaneous discectomy with chemonucleolysis. Spine 18:218–226

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hoffman AH, Grigg P (1984) A method for measuring strains in soft tissue. J Biomech 17:795–800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kandziora F, Pflugmacher R, Scholz M et al (2001) Comparison between sheep and human cervical spines: an anatomic, radiographic, bone mineral density, and biomechanical study. Spine 26:1028–1037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Khalsa PS, Hoffman AH, Grigg P (1996) Mechanical states encoded by stretch-sensitive neurons in feline joint capsule. J Neurophysiol 76:175–187

    Google Scholar 

  16. Khalsa PS, Lamotte RH, Grigg P (1997) Tensile and compressive responses of nociceptors in rat hairy skin. J Neurophysiol 78:492–505

    Google Scholar 

  17. Lord SM, Barnsley L, Wallis BJ, McDonald GJ, Bogduk N (1996) Percutaneous radio-frequency neurotomy for chronic cervical zygapophyseal-joint pain. N Engl J Med 335:1721–1726

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Ono K, Kaneoka K, Wittek A, Kajzer J (1997) Cervical injury mechanism based on the analysis of human cervical vertebral motion and head-neck-torso kinematics during low-speed rear impacts. Proceedings of the 41st Stapp Car Crash Conference, pp 339–356

  19. Pickar JG, McLain RF (1995) Responses of mechanosensitive afferents to manipulation of the lumbar facet in the cat. Spine 20:2379–2385

    Google Scholar 

  20. Rossi A, Rossi B (1985) Characteristics of the receptors in the isolated capsule of the hip in the cat. Int Orthop 9:123–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Schaible HG, Schmidt RF (1983) Activation of groups III and IV sensory units in medial articular nerve by local mechanical stimulation of knee joint. J Neurophysiol 49:35–44

    Google Scholar 

  22. Shealy CN (1976) Facet denervation in the management of back and sciatic pain. Clin Orthop Mar–Apr(115):157–164

    Google Scholar 

  23. Siegmund GP, Myers BS, Davis MB, Bohnet HF, Winkelstein BA (2000) Human cervical motion segment flexibility and facet capsular ligament strain under combined posterior shear, extension and axial compression. Proceedings of the 44th Stapp Car Crash Conference, pp 159–170

  24. Stolker RJ, Vervest AC, Groen GJ (1993) Percutaneous facet denervation in chronic thoracic spinal pain. Acta Neurochir (Wien) 122:82–90

    Google Scholar 

  25. Sunderland S, Bradley KC (1961) Stress-strain phenomena of human spinal nerve roots. Brain 84:120–124

    Google Scholar 

  26. Wilke HJ, Kettler A, Wenger KH, Claes LE (1997) Anatomy of the sheep spine and its comparison to the human spine. Anat Rec 247:542–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Wilke HJ, Kettler A, Claes LE (1997) Are sheep spines a valid biomechanical model for human spines? Spine 22:2365–2374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Winkelstein BA, Nightingale RW, Richardson WJ, Myers BS (1999) Cervical facet joint mechanics: its application to whiplash injury. Proceedings of the 43rd Stapp Car Crash Conference, pp 243–252

    Google Scholar 

  29. Yamashita T, Cavanaugh JM, el Bohy AA, Getchell TV, King AI (1990) Mechanosensitive afferent units in the lumbar facet joint. J Bone Joint Surg Am 72:865–870

    Google Scholar 

  30. Yang KH, King AI (1984) Mechanism of facet load transmission as a hypothesis for low-back pain. Spine 9:557–565

    Google Scholar 

  31. Yoganandan N, Pintar FA, Kumaresan S, Elhagediab A (1998) Biomechanical assessment of human cervical spine ligaments. Proceedings of the 42nd Stapp Car Crash Conference

  32. Zdeblick TA, Cooke ME, Wilson D, Kunz DN, Mccabe R (1993) Anterior cervical diskectomy, fusion, and plating—a comparative animal study. Spine 18:1974–1983

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by CDC Grant no. R49-CCR519751 and a Ford Fellowship provided by Ford Motor Company to the first author. The technical assistance of Anita Singh is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ying Lu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lu, Y., Chen, C., Kallakuri, S. et al. Development of an in vivo method to investigate biomechanical and neurophysiological properties of spine facet joint capsules. Eur Spine J 14, 565–572 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-004-0835-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-004-0835-9

Keywords

Navigation