M. Biggemann

TL;DR: The new measurement protocols for disc height, vertebral height and sagittal plane displacement, together with the database of normative age-related values, permit quantitative assessment of the prevalence of pathological morphological changes in the human lumbar spine.

TL;DR: The new protocol measures segmental motion with high precision and corrects for radiographic distortion, variation in stature and alignment errors of patients, and allows segmental hypo-, normal or hypermobility to be quantified.

TL;DR: The results show that a linear relationship exists between the compressive strength and the product of bone density and endplate area, which allows an in vivo prediction of vertebral body strength using a noninvasive method.

TL;DR: The new protocol in conjunction with the normal database enables future studies detecting or monitoring morphological effects of, for example, trauma, long-term high mechanical loading, disc degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, fusion or other surgical interventions.

TL;DR: This study demonstrates, for the first time, objectively and quantitatively that spinal loading in certain industrial workplaces can result in damage to lumbar discs and suggests that existing ergonomic guidelines are justified to reduce the risk of irreversible spinal damage.