Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2006 , Vol 52 , Num 1

Aging Spine-Lumbar Degeneratio

Ayşegül Çakmak 1
1 İstanbul Tıp İstanbul Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul

The aging of the population in industrialized countries appears to be a non-reversible phenomenon. Increase in life expectancy, due in great part to the improvement of healthcare, combined with a drastic decrease in birth rates has led to this situation. Low back pain is a major public health problem in industrialized societies and strongly associated with degeneration of the intervertebral disc. Lumbar disc degeneration occurs because of a variety of factors and results in a multitude of conditions. Alterations in the vertebral endplate cause loss of disc nutrition and disc degeneration. Aging, apoptosis, abnormalities in collagen, vascular ingrowth, loads placed on the disc, and abnormal proteoglycan all contribute to disc degeneration. Some forms of disc degeneration lead to loss of height of the motion segment with concomitant changes in biomechanics of the segment. Disc herniation with radiculopathy and chronic discogenic pain are the result of this degenerative process.

Keywords : Lumbar spondylosis, aging, osteoarthritis, low back pai