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The Study of the Human Spine and Its Evolution: State of the Art and Future Perspectives

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Spinal Evolution

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Abstract

The vertebral spine is a key element of the vertebrate anatomy and it fulfills two main roles. First, it protects the spinal cord and associated blood vessels. Second, it is a structural column that influences both body posture and locomotion. The study of the evolution of the human spine thus provides information on how the distinct posture and locomotion of our species—striding bipedalism with an upright trunk—developed. In this volume we provide the most updated information on the morphology and evolution of the human spine. This volume mainly focuses on the skeletal aspect and contextualizes it within the evolution of the spine in hominoids, but it also provides orthopedic information as well as an overview of new methodological approaches in study of the spine. The objective of this introductory chapter is to provide an overview of the book, to summarize the state of the art on this subject, and to propose new avenues for future research.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants in the session entitled “The Axial Skeleton: Morphology, Function, and Pathology of the Spine and Thorax in Hominoid Evolution” of the 86th AAPA annual meeting, held in 2017 in New Orleans, LA, as well as to all the participants, authors, and reviewers of this book for very fruitful discussions and for all their work in this volume.

AGO is supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Project: CGL-2015-65387-C3-2-P, MINECO/FEDER), by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (project PGC2018-093925-B-C33) and is part of the Research Group IT1418-19 from the Eusko Jaurlaritza-Gobierno Vasco.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sports Therapy, Faculty of Health Professions, Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel

    Ella Been

  2. Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ella Been

  3. Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain

    Asier Gómez-Olivencia

  4. IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain

    Asier Gómez-Olivencia

  5. Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Avda. Monforte de Lemos, 5, Madrid, Spain

    Asier Gómez-Olivencia

  6. Departments of Anthropology and Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Patricia Ann Kramer

Authors
  1. Ella Been
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  2. Asier Gómez-Olivencia
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  3. Patricia Ann Kramer
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Asier Gómez-Olivencia or Patricia Ann Kramer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sports Therapy, Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Faculty of Health Professions, Ono Academic College, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Kiryat Ono, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ella Been

  2. Departmento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain, Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y, Comportamiento Humanos Avda. Monforte de Lemos, Leioa, Madrid, Spain

    Asier Gómez-Olivencia

  3. Departments of Anthropology and Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Patricia Ann Kramer

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Been, E., Gómez-Olivencia, A., Kramer, P.A. (2019). The Study of the Human Spine and Its Evolution: State of the Art and Future Perspectives. In: Been, E., Gómez-Olivencia, A., Ann Kramer, P. (eds) Spinal Evolution. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19349-2_1

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