Word: annulus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...principal trouble spots are the shock-absorbing disks between the vertebrae and the facet joints, at the back of each vertebrae, that act as brakes to rotation. Each disk is a round ligament, made up of an annulus, which is like a multilayered collagen basket that absorbs rotational stress, and a lighter-density liquid nucleus that absorbs compression. The layers of the annulus are woven for maximum absorption. But it doesn't take much to tear this basket. "You can tear the annulus with no more than 3[degrees] of sudden loaded rotation," Watkins says. "If the disk ruptures into...
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