ReviewEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2008
The myth of lumbar instability: the importance of abnormal loading as a cause of low back pain.
Review in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 76 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Critical Review of Trunk and Hip Exercise Prescription: Applying Evidence for a Modern Approach.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2025Article
- Traction Spurs in the Lumbar Spine: A Historical Overview and Future Perspectives.Spine surgery and related research · 2024Review
- Robot for Ligament Tensioning and Assessment of Spinal Stability.Global spine journal · 2022Article
- Correlation between kinematic sagittal parameters of the cervical lordosis or head posture and disc degeneration in patients with posterior neck pain.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2021Article
- Schmorl Node-A Cause of Acute Thoracic Pain: A Case Report and Pathophysiological Mechanism.International journal of spine surgery · 2020Article
- The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European spine journal review: a survey of the "surgical and research" articles in European spine journal, 2019.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020Review
- The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European Spine Journal review: a survey of the "surgical and research" articles in the European Spine Journal, 2018.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2019Article
- Radiographic Incidence of Lumbar Spinal Instability in Patients with Non-spondylolisthetic Low Backache.Cureus · 2018Article
- The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European Spine Journal Review: a survey of the "surgical and research" articles in the European Spine Journal, 2016.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2017Review
- Mechanical role of the posterior column components in the cervical spine.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2016Article
- Article
- The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European Spine Journal Review: a survey of the "surgical research" articles in the European Spine Journal 2014.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2015Review
- A combined numerical and experimental technique for estimation of the forces and moments in the lumbar intervertebral disc.Computer methods in biomechanics and biomedical engineering · 2013Article
- Late infections after dynamic stabilization of the lumbar spine with Dynesys.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2012Article
- Pelvic incidence and lumbar spine instability correlations in patients with chronic low back pain.Asian journal of sports medicine · 2012Article
- In vivo preclinical evaluation of the influence of osteoporosis on the anchorage of different pedicle screw designs.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2011Article
- The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European Spine Journal Review: a survey of the "medical" articles in the European Spine Journal, 2010.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2011Review
- Radiographic parameters of segmental instability in lumbar spine using kinetic MRI.Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society · 2009Article
- Lumbar rocking test: A new clinical test for predicting lumbar instability.Journal of craniovertebral junction & spineArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Spinal fusion became what has been termed the "gold standard" for the treatment of mechanical low back pain, yet there was no scientific basis for this. Operations of fusion for low back pain were initially done at the beginning of the last century for back pain thought to be related to congenital abnormalities or for past spinal infection. The recognition of the disc as a cause of sciatica, commonly associated with back pain, and the recognition that a degenerate disc led to abnormal movement suggested the concept that this abnormal movement was the cause of pain, and this abnormal movement came to be called "instability". Much biomechanical expertise confirmed the fact that degenerate discs led to abnormal movement, there were many hypothesis as to why this caused pain. However clinical results of fusion for back pain were unpredictable. The failure of pedicle screws and cage fusion to improve the clinical results of fusion despite near 100% fusion success, and the introduction of "flexible stabilization" and artificial discs, which demonstrated that despite the often unpredictable movement permitted by of these devices, clinical success was similar to fusion, directed attention to the other role of the disc, that of load transfer, which these devices also affected. Abnormal load transfer was already known to be critical in other joints in the body and had led to the use of osteotomy to realign joints. The relevance of load transfer to the future design of spinal implants used in the treatment of low back pain is discussed, and some finite element studies are reported demonstrating the likely effect of abnormal loading beneath an incompletely incorporated plate of an artificial disc, perhaps explaining in part the somewhat disappointing clinical results to date of the implantation of artificial discs.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.