Circadian Clock and Low Back Pain
According to the National Institutes of Health, circadian rhythms include physical, mental, and behavioral changes that roughly follow a 24-hour cycle, responding largely to environmental light and darkness. Most living things possess this trait including animals, plants, and many microbes. So how does this relate to low back pain? Recent studies reveal that the intervertebral disk (IVD)—the “shock-absorbers” located between our vertebrae in our spine—contain intrinsic circadian clocks that are regulated by age and cytokines and are linked to degeneration. This means we have a 24-hour rhythm producing various changes in an organized way throughout the day in each of the disks in our spine! Researchers have found at least 600 genes with 24-hour patterns of expression representing several essential pathways associated with disk pathology. In experiments on mice, scientists have observed that when the normal expression of these genes is disrupted, disk degeneration may occur....