Evaluation of Lumbosacral Angle as New Parameters in Patients Suffering from Chronic Low Back Pain

Zahra Janamiri^1, , Yousef Moghimi Boldaji² and Fardis Mosayebian¹

¹Department of Radiology Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

²Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

Cite this paper

Zahra Janamiri, Yousef Moghimi Boldaji and Fardis Mosayebian. Evaluation of Lumbosacral Angle as New Parameters in Patients Suffering from Chronic Low Back Pain. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2018; 6(4):65-67. doi: 10.12691/AJMCR-6-4-3

Abstract

Introduction: The lumbar spine consists of five adjacent vertebrae of the mid-lower vertebral column. They participate in the lumbar lordosis, a natural curve in the spine, that is convex anteriorly. We plan to investigate the radiographic parameters of sagittal axis of the spine to assess clinical correlation. Methods: We have prospectively defined three parameters, including lumbar lordotic angle (LLA), lumbosacral angle (LSA) and sacral horizontal angle (SHA). We have enrolled 70 patients with chronic low back pain referred to our neurology clinic in a private hospital in Tehran for radiographical assessment, with 90 cm distant from x-ray tube and further radiological analysis was performed by an expert radiologist to correlate with clinical significance of these patients, compared with 70 otherwise healthy cases in control group. We have used SPSS version 16 and Student T-test and Chi-square test for statistical analysis. Results: Our study group consists of 70 patients with chronic low back pain with mean age of 56.3 years and 70 otherwise healthy patients with no complaint of low back pain, with mean age of 60.1 years old in control group. We have found that LSA angle is statistically significant in both male and female patients of case group. (P value < 0.05) Also, we have found that LLA angle is a single factor which is significantly correlated with low back pain in patients in male patients of case group. (P value < 0.05) However, SHA angle did not exhibit statistically significant correlation in patients with chronic low back pain in both groups. (P value = 0.091). Conclusion: In this prospective study, we have correlated radiographic features of lumbosacral structure of patients suffering from chronic low back pain and we have found statistically significant correlation between LSA in both genders and LLA in male patients and these finding may prompt the importance of further evaluation and investigation of bony structure of spine for better understanding and management of these patients.

Keywords

chronic low back pain, Radiographical Parameters, Lumbosacral

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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