Table 2:

Facet joint signal-change scores of acute/subacute lumbar levels compared with other levels

Facet Joint Signal-ChangeScorea
Acute/subacute (mean) (SD)2.2 (3.3)2.6 (3.3)3.7 (3.7)4.6 (5.2)4.8 (5.3)
Other (mean) (SD)b0.0 (0.0)0.3 (0.9)1.0 (2.3)1.2 (2.5)0.4 (0.9)
P valuec<.01.01<.01<.01<.01
  • a A vertebral body was considered influenced by an acute or subacute fracture if either the body of interest or an adjacent vertebral body was fractured.

  • b “Other” is used to denote the complement to this case, namely vertebral bodies with no fracture or nearby fracture. Vertebral bodies with a chronic compression fracture could be considered “other” if there were no adjacent acute/subacute fractures.

  • c Wilcoxon rank sum test.