Quantitative anatomy of the lumbar musculature

This paper describes the anatomy of the musculature crossing the lumbar spi ne in a standardized form to provide data generally suitable for static bio mechanical analyses of muscle and spinal forces. The muscular anatomy from several sources was quantified and transformed to the mean bony anatomy of four young healthy adults measured from standing stereo-radiographs. The or igins insertions and physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA) of 180 muscl e slips which act on the lumbar spine are given relative to the bony anatom y defined by the locations of 12 thoracic and five lumbar vertebrae, and th e sacrum, and the shape and positions of the 24 nibs. The broad oblique abd ominal muscles are each represented by six vectors and an appropriate propo rtion of the total PCSA was assigned to each to represent the muscle biomec hanics. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.