JOINT DISTRACTIONS SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE PAIN INCREASE COLLAGEN FIBER UNDULATION IN THE CERVICAL FACET CAPSULAR LIGAMENT IN THE RAT

摘要

Whiplash and its associated disorders are significant societal and health problems with half of affected patients reporting neck pain at one year after injury. The cervical facet joint and its capsule have been identified in both biomechanical and clinical studies as a common site of painful injury during whiplash. Also, in vivo joint distractions, which mimic the facet capsule loading reported in human cadaveric whiplash simulations, can produce behavioral hypersensitivity suggestive of chronic pain symptoms in the rat. Increased laxity and decreased stiffness in the capsule are also produced after both painful joint distractions in the rat and whiplash loading of the neck using cadaveric spines.