ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2018
The effect of muscle ageing and sarcopenia on spinal segmental loads.
Article 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, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Advances in Musculoskeletal Modeling of the Thoraco-Lumbar Spine: A Comprehensive Systematic Review.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of iatrogenic alterations on adjacent segment degeneration after lumbar fusion surgery: a systematic review.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Postoperative outcomes of multilevel versus single-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion in patients with sarcopenia: a matched cohort study.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2026Article
- Abdominal wall tension after spinal deformity correction compromises postoperative biomechanics and may contribute to proximal junctional kyphosis.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 · 2026Article
- Effects of paraspinal muscle atrophy and fatty degeneration on segmental kyphosis after conservative treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) in postmenopausal women.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 · 2026Article
- Biomechanical assessment of vertebral fracture risk incorporating the effect of paraspinal muscles.Medical & biological engineering & computing · 2026Article
- Analysis of the association between lumbar paraspinal muscle atrophy, facet joint degeneration, and degenerative lumbar scoliosis.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Subject-Specific Musculoskeletal Modeling: The Future of Predicting and Preventing Proximal Junctional Failure in Adult Spinal Deformity.JOR spine · 2025Article
- Implant density reduction to avoid proximal junctional failure in adult spine surgery: Computer models and simulations.North American Spine Society journal · 2025Article
- Progressive Loss of Muscle Strength: The Effects of Ageing and Sarcopenia on Muscle Function in Older Females.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Association Between Sarcopenia and the Long-Term Risk of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Article
- Research progress on sarcopenia in the musculoskeletal system.Bone research · 2025Review
- Correlation analysis between multifidus muscle atrophy and the severity of degenerative scoliosis retrospective, cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Biomechanical effects of altered multifidus muscle morphology on cervical spine tissues.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Prediction of Subsequent Vertebral Fracture After Acute Osteoporotic Fractures from Clinical and Paraspinal Muscle Features.Calcified tissue international · 2024Article
- Fatty Infiltration of Multifidus Muscles: An Easily Overlooked Risk Factor for the Severity of Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures.Orthopaedic surgery · 2024Article
- Characteristics of paraspinal muscle fat infiltration in asymptomatic Chinese adults: a cross-sectional study.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2023Article
- Multibody Models of the Thoracolumbar Spine: A Review on Applications, Limitations, and Challenges.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Association between sagittal alignment and loads at the adjacent segment in the fused spine: a combined clinical and musculoskeletal modeling study of 205 patients with adult spinal deformity.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 · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThe interrelations between age-related muscle deterioration (sarcopenia) and vertebral fractures have been suggested based on clinical observations, but the biomechanical relationships have not been explored. The study aim was to investigate the effects of muscle ageing and sarcopenia on muscle recruitment patterns and spinal loads, using musculoskeletal multi-body modelling.
methodsA generic AnyBody model of the thoracolumbar spine, including > 600 fascicles representing trunk musculature, was used. Several stages of normal ageing and sarcopenia were modelled by reduced strength of erector spinae and multifidus muscles (ageing from 3rd to 6th life decade: ≥ 60% of normal strength; sarcopenia: mild 60%, moderate 48%, severe 36%, very severe 24%), reflecting the reported decrease in cross-sectional area and increased fat infiltration. All other model parameters were kept unchanged. Full-range flexion was simulated using inverse dynamics with muscle optimization to predict spinal loads and muscle recruitment patterns.
resultsThe muscle changes due to normal ageing (≥ 60% strength) had a minor effect on predicted loads and provoked only slightly elevated muscle activities. Severe (36%) and very severe (24%) stages of sarcopenia, however, were associated with substantial increases in compression (by up to 36% or 318N) at the levels of the upper thoracic spine (T1T2-T5T6) and shear loading (by up to 75% or 176N) along the whole spine (T1T2-L4L5). The muscle activities increased for almost all muscles, up to 100% of their available strength.
conclusionsThe study highlights the distinct and detrimental consequences of sarcopenia, in contrast to normal ageing, on spinal loading and required muscular effort. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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Registered trials
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