Association of Lumbar Sagittal Curvature Profiles with Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Pilot Radiographic Study

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Radiology
• Biomechanical Engineering

Background:

• Altered lumbar sagittal alignment is linked to musculoskeletal disorders.
• Conventional angle measurements may not capture the full picture of spinal curvature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if curvature distribution profiling on lumbar radiographs is associated with lumbar musculoskeletal disorders.
• To explore novel methods for assessing spinal alignment beyond traditional angle-based measurements.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective pilot study of 50 adults with standing sagittal lumbar radiography.
• Manual identification of vertebral body centroids (T12-S1) to create continuous curvature profiles.
• Analysis of curvature deviation patterns and total curvature between disease-positive and disease-negative groups.

Main Results:

• Disease-negative group showed unimodal, symmetric curvature; disease-positive group exhibited greater dispersion at extremes.
• Hypo-lordosis subgroup had consistent deviation; hyper-lordosis subgroup partially overlapped with controls.
• Deviation from central curvature profile, not just lordosis magnitude, appears linked to disorders.

Conclusions:

• Curvature distribution profiling offers complementary information to angle-based assessments.
• Both reduced and exaggerated lumbar curvature patterns are associated with musculoskeletal disorders.
• Larger studies are needed to validate findings and clinical relevance.