{"id":1023,"date":"2018-10-04T14:45:24","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T05:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2018-10-04T14:45:24","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T05:15:24","slug":"slipped-discs-not-bending-twisting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/2018\/10\/04\/slipped-discs-not-bending-twisting\/","title":{"rendered":"Slipped discs \u2013 not all bending and twisting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Dhara Amin with the hexapod robot at Tonsley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some slipped disc injuries might be caused by movements other than the commonly blamed bending and twisting, according to new research by Flinders University.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a finding that will lead to a better understanding of the motions that put people at greatest risk of a slipped disc and help develop more robust guidelines for safe lifting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been assumed that bending and twisting is the mechanism for a slipped disc,\u201d says Dhara Amin,<\/a> a PhD candidate at the Flinders University\u00a0Medical Device Research Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to test this theory in the lab using the more advanced technology we now have access to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slipped discs, which are technically known as lumbar disc herniations, are a common source of sciatica (radiating pain down the legs) in the young and middle-aged.<\/p>\n

The \u2018discs\u2019 are made of an elastic casing around a jelly-like material (called the nucleus), which helps absorb shock and keep our spine stable by slotting between the vertebrae.<\/p>\n

A slipped disc is like squeezing a jam doughnut: the jam oozes out.\u00a0If you pressurise and bend the disc, the nucleus bulges out of its casing, impinging the nerves coming out of the spinal cord and causing radiating pain down the legs and potentially back pain.<\/p>\n

Ms Amin\u2019s team used the University\u2019s robotic hexapod at Flinders at Tonsley, which simulated a year\u2019s worth of \u2018lifting\u2019 a 20kg box, with bending and twisting movements on sections of cadaveric human spine.<\/p>\n

The hexapod robot was able to mimic human movements that previously weren\u2019t possible using the standard mechanical testing devices.<\/p>\n

The biomedical engineering researchers tracked the disc failure patterns and found that only half of the spines failed via slipped discs, while the others failed via bone injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result was interesting. We expected all of the specimens to fail by slipped discs,\u201d\u00a0 says Ms Amin from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis leads us to believe there are other motions that can cause a slipped disc, which may be worse than just bending and twisting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further research on other combinations of motions will help us better understand what causes a slipped disc, she adds.<\/p>\n

Professor Brian Freeman, Head of Spinal Surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, also worked on this project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prevalence of lumbar disc herniation is estimated at three-to-five per cent,\u201d says Professor Freeman.<\/p>\n

\u201cLumbar disc herniation often presents with acute low back pain, followed by severe leg pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese symptoms can persist for some time, resulting in work absence with significant cost to the economy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch like this is crucial if we are to reduce the incidence of disc herniation. It\u2019s important for those involved in manual handling tasks to be educated in safe lifting practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Amin was the South Australian winner of\u00a0Fresh Science<\/a>, a national competition run by Science in Public, which helps early-career researchers find and share their stories of discovery.<\/p>\n

Fresh Science in Adelaide is supported by the South Australian Museum, Flinders University, UniSA and the University of Adelaide.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some slipped disc injuries might be caused by movements other than the commonly blamed bending and twisting, according to new research by Flinders University. It\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":358,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/358"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}