Radiographic analysis of the lumbar and sacral region angles in young Turkish adults

To determine the normal angular ranges of the lateral spinal alignments in the lumbar and sacral regions.

This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Kilis State Hospital, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey, from February to August 2017, and comprised patients aged 18-27 years who underwent standardised standing lateral lumbar radiography to eliminate hip and low back disorders. All radiographs were obtained from the hospital database as well as the demographic and contact information of each subject. Patients were invited for an interview and physical examination. Standard standing lateral radiographs of the lumbar spine were obtained from those who had no complaint of back pain and/or lower back problems. Sacro-horizontal angle, lumbosacral joint angle and sacral inclination angle were measured on the radiographic images. SPSS 22 was used to analyse data.

Of the 150 subjects evaluated, 80(53.33%) were women and 70(46.77) were men. There was no statistically significant difference between women and men regarding lumbar lordosis angle, sacro-horizontal angle and lumbosacral angle (p>0.05). Sacral inclination angle and lower limb length in men were greater than in women (p<0.05). A positive correlation was observed between the lumbar lordosis angle, sacral inclination angle and sacro-horizontal angle values, while a negative correlation with the lumbosacral angle (p<0.05). There was no relationship observed between age, weight, height and body mass index, and sacral inclination, sacro-horizontal and lumbosacral angle values (p>0.05). Lumbar lordosis angle increased depending on the increase of the body mass index (p<0.05).

Values identified can be considered as reference values for young healthy Turkish adults.