Structural Properties of the Anterior Longitudinal Ligament: Correlation With Lumbar Bone Mineral Content

The relationship between the amount of bone in the lumbar spine and ligamentous properties has not been studied. This article reports the tensile structural properties of bone-ligament-bone preparations of the anterior longitudinal ligament from 15 human lumbar spine segments. Significant correlations were found between the vertebral bone mineral content expressed as BMC(g/cm) and BMA (g/cm2) and BMD (g/cm3) and the structural properties of the vertebral bone-anterior longitudinal ligament-bone complex determined at yield and failure. These findings suggest that the amount of bone tissue in the spine may be functionally related to structural properties of the spinal ligaments.