Movements of the lumbar part of the vertebral column

Fig. 1: Forward and backward inclination of the thorax involve in addition to the lumbar vertebrae nearly always the articulation of the hip as well. Fig. 1a shows maximal backward, fig. 1c maximal forward inclination of the thorax, fig. 1b maximal backwards bending of the lumbar vertebral combined with a forward inclination of the pelvis of about 60 degree.

Fig. 2: The maximal side-inclination of the lumbar vertebral column is about 30 degree. A gesture as shown in fig. 2 involves in addition to the lumbar and cervical vertebrae mostly bending of the knee (arrow fig. 2).

Fig. 3: The rotation in-between thorax and pelvis - presented as two ellipsoid spheres - is limited to about 15 degree.

Similar to the cervical vertebral column, the lumbar vertebral column can be shifted forward, backward and to the side (not shown).