Functional Assessment of Lumbar Spine Trough the Optoelectronic ZooMS System: Clinical Application

Radiographic method remains the main imaging techniques for physiological, anatomical and pathological analysis of spine thanks to its easy use, precision and reliability. Despite this, such a method is inadequate for functional and dynamic studies. The aim of this paper is to apply a dedicated non-invasive methodology based on optoelectronic techniques for functional evaluation of the lumbar spine. A reference data set for typical movements of the lumbar spine (i.e. flex/ext, lateral bending, axial rotation) has been developed. Twenty healthy subjects have been recruited (10 males and 10 females) to create the reference data of healthy subjects; one subject who suffers from lumbar spine disease has been analyzed and his mobility has been compared to healthy subjects. Two sets of data have been created: in the former, the entire movement is normalized in time with respect to its duration; in the latter, all movements are classified in characteristic phases and each single phase is normalized to a defined duration. These data sets include both the global movement of the lumbar tract of spine and the movement of the single functional unit (2 vertebrae, intervertebral disk, soft tissues). Moreover, such data sets are divides into males and females according to the natural differences about range of motion and pattern of movement. A clinical application for pathological state is also shown to demonstrate the applicability and usability of this protocol.