The Biomechanics of Back Pain

Plates 1 6
1. Introduction
2. The Lumbar Vertebral Column and Sacrum
3. Muscles and Fascia of the Lumbar Spine
4. Nerves and Blood Supply to the Lumbar Spine
5. Low Back Pain
6. Epidemiology of Low Back Trouble
7. Biology of Spinal Tissues
8. Growth and Aging of the Lumbar Spine NEW!
9. Forces Acting on the Lumbar Spine
10. Mechanical Function of the Lumbosacral Spine
11. Mechanical Damage to the Lumbar Spine
12. Functional Pathology
13. Spinal Degeneration NEW!
14. Preventing Back Pain
15. Conservative Management of Back Pain NEW!
16. Biomechanics of Spinal Surgery NEW!
17. Surgery for Disc Prolapse, Spinal Stenosis and Back Pain NEW!
18. Medico-Legal Considerations
19. Summary: Spinal Aging, Degeneration and Pain
References
Index

I commenced research into spinal pain, in 1972, when essentially nothing was known about the problem. There being no established groups or departments working on this problem, I forged my own career, using borrowed resources. I commenced in a Department of Anatomy, where I pursued the innervation of the vertebral column as a fundamental element in understanding the sources and mechanisms of spinal pain. Professor Jim Lance fostered this interest, and accommodated my PhD studies. In his department I continued my anatomy studies but was able also to commence clinical applications. I developed and tested new diagnostic and surgical procedures for back pain and for neck pain. While in Professor Lance's Department, I participated in laboratory studies of the mechanisms of migraine. At the University of Queensland I continued to develop and apply the diagnostic and surgical techniques that I started at the University of NSW, serving as an honorary medical officer at the Pain Clinic of Princess Alexandra Hospital. Meanwhile I supervised science and medicine postgraduate students who undertook basic science studies into the biomechanics of the back and neck.
At the University of Newcastle, I had established a reputation sufficient to attract a grant from the Motor Accidents Authority of NSW to investigate the cause and treatment of neck pain after whiplash. The grant supported three PhD students over a six year period. They performed studies that validated the diagnostic procedures and which tested the surgical procedures in a placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial.
Having established an international standing in the development and testing of treatments for spinal pain, I participated in the design and analysis of controlled trials conducted elsewhere in Australia and in the USA. These tested the efficacy of: lumbar radiofrequency neurotomy for back pain, intradiscal electrothermal anuloplasty for back pain, prolotherapy for back pain, exercises for neck pain.