Spinal Research Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, The Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, University Campus, P.O.B. 39040, 69978, Ramat Aviv, Israel.
Eur Spine J. 2010 May;19(5):768-73. doi: 10.1007/s00586-009-1256-6. Epub 2009 Dec 24.
The lumbar shape in females is thought to be unique, compensating for lumbar hyperlordosis. Yet, the morphological adaptation of various vertebral parameters in the thoracic and lumbar spine to this unique posture in young and adult females has only been partially addressed in the literature. Our aim was to investigate the gender association to vertebral shape in the thoracic and lumbar spine as a possible adaptation to lumbar hyperlordosis in young and adult females. A three-dimensional digitizer was used to measure the vertebral body sagittal wedging, relative spinous process thickness, and relative interfacet width at the T1-L5 level. Two hundred and forty complete, non-pathological skeletons of adults and 32 skeletons of young individuals were assessed. Three major results were found to be independent of age and ethnicity: (a) VB sagittal wedging in females was significantly less kyphotic than males from T9 to L2 (T11 excluded) with a cumulative mean difference of 8.8 degrees ; (b) females had a significantly relatively thinner lumbar spinous processes and (c) females had a relatively wider superior interfacet distance (T9-T10 and L1-L4) than males. We conclude that the combination of less kyphotic VB wedging in the lower thoracic and upper lumbar vertebrae, relatively greater interspinous space and larger interfacet width in the lumbar spine in females are key architectural elements in the lumbar hyperlordosis in females and may compensate for the bipedal obstetric load during pregnancy.
女性的腰椎形状被认为是独特的，可补偿腰椎前凸过度。然而，在年轻和成年女性中，各种胸椎和腰椎的椎体参数的形态适应，对于这种独特的姿势，仅在文献中部分解决。我们的目的是研究胸椎和腰椎的椎体形状与性别之间的关联，这可能是年轻和成年女性腰椎前凸过度的适应。使用三维数字化仪来测量 T1-L5 水平的椎体矢状面楔形、相对棘突厚度和相对关节突间宽度。评估了 240 个完整的、非病理性成人骨骼和 32 个年轻个体的骨骼。有三个主要结果与年龄和种族无关：（a）从 T9 到 L2（不包括 T11），女性的 VB 矢状面楔形明显比男性小，累积平均差异为 8.8 度；（b）女性的腰椎棘突相对较薄；（c）女性的上关节突间距离（T9-T10 和 L1-L4）比男性相对较宽。我们得出结论，女性下胸椎和上腰椎的 VB 楔形较小、腰椎棘突间空间相对较大和关节突间宽度较大的组合，是女性腰椎前凸过度的关键结构元素，可能在妊娠期间补偿双足产科负荷。
