Relationship between disc injury and manual lifting: a poroelastic finite element model study

Understanding how failure originates in a lumbar motion segment subjected to loading conditions that are representative of manual lifting is important because it will pave the way for a better formulation of the exposure-injury relationship. The aim of the current investigation was to use a poroelastic finite element model of a human lumbar disc to determine its biomechanical characteristics under loading conditions that corresponded to three different, commonly occurring lifting activities and to identify the most hazardous type of loading with regard to damage to the disc. The current study showed that asymmetric lifting may increase the risk of back injury and pain. Lifting that involved lateral bending (asymmetric lifting) of the trunk was found to produce stresses at a localized area in the annulus, annuluar fibres, end plates, and facet joints that were higher than their respective tissue failure strength. Thus asymmetric lifting, if performed over a large number of cycles, might help to propagate this localized failure of the disc tissue to a larger area, owing to fatigue. The analyses also showed that largest fluid exchange between the nucleus and the end plates occurred during asymmetric lifting. If the fluid exchange is restricted owing to end plate calcification or sclerosis of the subchondral bone, high intradiscal pressure might develop, leading to higher disc bulge causing back pain.