Journal of Pain Research (Jul 2022)

From Mechanobiology to Mechanical Repair Strategies: A Bibliometric Analysis of Biomechanical Studies of Intervertebral Discs

  • Zhang D,
  • Feng M,
  • Liu W,
  • Yu J,
  • Wei X,
  • Yang K,
  • Zhan J,
  • Peng W,
  • Luo M,
  • Han T,
  • Jin Z,
  • Yin H,
  • Sun K,
  • Yin X,
  • Zhu L

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 2105 – 2122

Abstract

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Dian Zhang,1,2,* Minshan Feng,1,* Wei Liu,3,* Jie Yu,1 Xu Wei,1 Kexin Yang,1 Jiawen Zhan,1 Wei Peng,1,2 Mingyi Luo,1,2 Tao Han,1 Zhefeng Jin,1 He Yin,1 Kai Sun,1 Xunlu Yin,1 Liguo Zhu1 1Department of Spinal Surgery, Wangjing Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Wangjing Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Nursing, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xunlu Yin; Liguo Zhu, Department of Spine, Wangjing Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100102, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Neck pain and low back pain are major challenges in public health, and intervertebral disc (IVD) biomechanics is an important multidisciplinary field. To date, no bibliometric literature review of the relevant literature has been performed, so we explored the emerging trends, landmark studies, and major contributors to IVD biomechanics research. We searched the Web of Science core collection (1900– 2022) using keywords mainly composed of “biomechanics” and “intervertebral disc” to conduct a bibliometric analysis of original papers and their references, focusing on citations, authors, journals, and countries/regions. A co-citation analysis and clustering of the references were also completed. A total of 3189 records met the inclusion criteria. In the co-citation network, cluster #0, labeled as “annulus fibrosus tissue engineering”, and cluster #1, labeled as “micromechanical environment”, were the biggest clusters. References by MacLean et al and Holzapfel et al were positioned exactly between them and had high betweenness centrality. There existed a research topic evolution between mechanobiology and mechanical repair strategies of IVDs, and the latter had been identified as an emerging trend in IVD biomechanics. Numerous landmark studies had contributed to several fields, including mechanical testing of normal and pathological IVDs, mechanical evaluation of new repair strategies and development of finite element model. Adams MA was the author most cited by IVD biomechanics papers. Spine, the European Spine Journal, and the Journal of Biomechanics were the three journals where the most original articles and their references have been published. The United States has contributed most to the literature (n = 1277 papers); however, the research output of China is increasing. In conclusion, the present study suggests that IVD repair is an emerging trend in IVD biomechanics.Keywords: emerging trend, co-citation, CiteSpace, annulus fibrosus

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