The key barrier to effective prevention and treatment of low back pain is the current lack of understanding of the underlying causes, which may arise through lifting injury, disc degeneration or chronic disease, which may initiate tissue-level structural changes to the lumbar intervertebral discs. One of the regions in the annulus at highest risk of failure initiation is at the boundary between lamellae, which is referred to as the inter-lamellar matrix (ILM). Circumferential disruption of the ILM has been observed as a likely pathway for the nucleus pulposus material to follow during repetitive or high lifting loads. This research will investigate the effects of chronic disease (diabetes) on the micromechanical properties of the ILM.
