Article2007

Schmorl's nodes: clinical significance and implications for the bioarchaeological record

77 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology

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Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology Paleopathology and ancient diseases

Abstract

Abstract Back pain is one of the major contributors to disability and loss of productivity in modern populations. However, osteological correlates of back pain are often absent or, as yet, unidentified. As bioarchaeologists depend on osteological evidence to interpret quality of life in the past, back pain, with its profound effects on modern populations, is largely overlooked in archaeological samples. This study addresses this shortcoming in bioarchaeological analysis by exploring the relationship between a defined vertebral osteological lesion, the Schmorl's node, and its effect on quality of life in a clinical population. Using patient insight, healthcare practitioner diagnoses and MR imaging analyses, this study investigates: (1) Schmorl's nodes and sociodemographic factors; (2) the number, location and quantitative aspects (e.g. length, depth, area) of Schmorl's nodes, and how these influence the reporting of pain; (3) the dynamic effects of Schmorl's nodes, in combination with other variables, in the reporting of pain; and (4) the perception and impact of pain that patients attribute to Schmorl's nodes with regard to quality‐of‐life issues. The results of this study indicate that Schmorl's nodes located in the central portion of the vertebral body are significantly associated with patient reporting of pain, and that the presence of osteophytes, in the affected vertebral region, may increase the likelihood that an individual will report pain. This finding provides bioarchaeologists with an osteological correlate to begin interpreting the presence and impact of pain in archaeological populations, with implications for scoring Schmorl's nodes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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References

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2012Vertebral morphology influences the development of Schmorl's nodes in the lower thoracic vertebrae 2019Osteobiography: The History of the Body as Real Bottom-Line History 2015The early colonial atlantic world: New insights on the African Diaspora from isotopic and ancient DNA analyses of a multiethnic 15th–17th century burial population from the Canary Islands, Spain 2011Schmorl’s Nodes in an American Military Population: Frequency, Formation, and Etiology*,†

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