Ella Been

Ono Academic College; Tel Aviv Uni. · Sport therapy; Anatomy

Lumbar lordosis is a key postural component that has interested both clinicians and researchers for many years. Despite its wide use in assessing postural abnormalities, there remain many unanswered questions regarding lumbar lordosis measurements. Therefore, in this article we reviewed different factors associated with the lordosis angle based on...

The lordotic curvature of the lumbar spine (lumbar lordosis) in humans is a critical component in the ability to achieve upright posture and bipedal gait. Only general estimates of the lordotic angle (LA) of extinct hominins are currently available, most of which are based on the wedging of the vertebral bodies. Recently, a new method for calculati...

The Middle Paleolithic of Western Asia is one of the more composite time periods in human evolution as it hosted at least two hominin species – early Homo sapiens and Neandertals. The early Homo sapiens originated from Africa whereas Neandertals arrived from Europe. In the Levant, these populations explored the same geographical niches, utilized si...

Trait Sport Confidence Inventory (TSCI(‫שאלון‬ ‫הוא‬ ‫ביטחון-ספורט‬ ‫למדידת‬ ‫מחקר‬ ‫המתורגם.‬ ‫השאלון‬ ‫של‬ ‫מהימנותו‬ ‫את‬ ‫ולבדוק‬ ‫לעברית‬ ‫זה‬ ‫שאלון‬ ‫לתרגם‬ ‫הייתה‬ ‫הנוכחי‬ ‫המחקר‬ ‫לספרות‬ ‫בהלימה‬ ‫תרגום‬ ‫בוצע‬ ‫ובו‬ ‫התרגום‬ ‫תהליך‬ ‫את‬ ‫כלל‬ ‫הראשון‬ ‫החלק‬ ‫חלקים.‬ ‫משני‬ ‫מורכב‬ ‫זה‬ ‫כלל‬ ‫המחקר‬ ‫של‬ ‫השני‬ ‫החלק‬ .TSCI-IL ‫הסופית...

Although the association between balance and hearing thresholds at different frequencies in the right/left ear is crucial, it has received scant empirical attention. Balance is widely ignored when evaluating hearing in adults. This study examined the relative contribution of left versus right ear hearing at different frequencies to balance, and the...

In 1923, Sir Arthur Keith proposed that many common back problems are due to the stresses caused by our evolutionarily novel form of locomotion, bipedalism. In this article, we introduce an updated version of Keith’s hypothesis with a focus on acquired spinal conditions. We begin by outlining the main ways in which the human spine differs from thos...

Back pain has serious impacts on individual people and society, but its causes remain poorly understood. One long-standing hypothesis contends that many common back problems may be due at least partly to the stresses caused by our evolutionarily novel form of bipedalism. This chapter discusses this hypothesis and shows how recent palaeopathological...

The paucity of early Pleistocene hominin fossils in Eurasia hinders an in-depth discussion on their paleobiology and paleoecology. Here we report on the earliest large-bodied hominin remains from the Levantine corridor: a juvenile vertebra (UB 10749) from the early Pleistocene site of ‘Ubeidiya, Israel, discovered during a reanalysis of the faunal...

A report on the skeletons of two individuals from the Malapa cave site in South Africa attributes them both to a new hominin species, Australopithecus sediba. However, our analysis of the specimens’ mandibles indicates that Australopithecus sediba is not a ‘Homo-like australopith’, a transitional species between Australopithecus africanus and Homo....

Cervical spinal injury and neck pain are common disorders with wide physical implications. Neck pain and disability are reported to occur in females more often than in males, and chronic or persistent neck pain after whiplash is twice as common in females. Female athletes also sustain a higher percentage of concussions compared to male athletes. St...

Background: Gait disturbances are common in psychiatric population and in patients with anxiety. Even though people with anxiety show slower walking velocity, the effect of the biophysical factors on their gait characteristics has not been examined. This study examines whether pain, balance, muscle strength and general joint hypermobility (GJH) med...

This paper deals with the development of research tools aimed at assessing the influence of parental involvement on their child’s perceptions from a psycho-sociological perspective. Although the literature regarding parental involvement with youth in general is vast, very little has been written regarding parental involvement in the context of bask...

This paper explores the nature of parental involvement in youth basketball in Israel with regard to parenting style and in the context of dilemmas and ethical issues. It is well established that parental involvement in their child's sporting activity has vast implications on the child's motivation and enjoyment. With reference to Israeli society, o...

The tall and narrow body shape of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved via changes in the thorax, pelvis and limbs. It is debated, however, whether these modifications first evolved together in African Homo erectus, or whether H. erectus had a more primitive body shape that was distinct from both the more ape-like Australopithecus spec...

Purpose: We evaluated the association between cervical lordosis and age, sex, sedentarity, and history of cervical trauma. Methods: CT scans of 206 individuals, 111 with and 95 without a history of cervical trauma were divided into three age groups (18-39, 40-59 and 60+ years). The cervical lordosis measurements [C0-C7 (total), C0-C3 (upper), C2-C7...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered to be the leading cause of disability and death among young people. Up to 30% of mTBI patients report motor impairments, such as altered coordination and impaired balance and gait. The objective of the present study was to characterize motor performance and motor learning changes, in order to achieve a mor...

Background: Mental disorders are among the most common health issues worldwide. Changes in psychomotor behavior can be observed in gross motor skills. Gait is an example of behavior that reflects various levels of nervous system function. In psychiatric conditions, gait disturbances are thought to reflect defective brain function. Patients who suff...

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the fifth carpometacarpal joint is a rare complaint with most cases occurring post-traumatically. The joint's ligament supports have not been described extensively; however we known that the volar and intermetacarpal ligaments acts as the primary stabilizers. The major deforming forces on this joint are the extensor carpi uln...

Background: Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders. Changes in psychomotor behavior can be observed in gross motor skills, with gait disturbances thought to reflect defective brain functions in psychiatric conditions. While balance deficits are well documented in anxiety, only little is known about gait characteristics of people wit...

The vertebral column is the fundamental body part that determines locomotion and function in vertebrates. Understanding spinal posture, kinetics and kinematics is of great importance to the study of the paleobiology of extinct species. When discussing the biomechanics of the spine of extinct hominins, arguments are based solely on osseous material,...

Reconstruction of the spinal curvatures of extinct hominins is essential in order to understand their posture and function. Despite its importance, researchers face many difficulties in reconstructing spinal posture based solely on osseous material due to the absence of soft tissues.

The cervical spine is the most mobile component of the spinal column. Its curvature (lordosis) supports the head above the shoulders, maintaining head position, gaze, and visual field. However, there is considerable variability in the cervical spine curvature of different individuals, generating several unresolved questions: What is a normal cervic...

In this chapter, we summarize the vertebral fossil record for late Homo, including H. antecessor, Middle Pleistocene Homo (except H. naledi), H. neanderthalensis, and fossil H. sapiens. Homo antecessor is represented only by the fossil remains from Gran Dolina-TD6, the Middle Pleistocene vertebral fossil record is sparse both geographically and chr...

The vertebral spine is a key element of the vertebrate anatomy and it fulfills two main roles. First, it protects the spinal cord and associated blood vessels. Second, it is a structural column that influences both body posture and locomotion. The study of the evolution of the human spine thus provides information on how the distinct posture and lo...

Humans are the only living hominoid that habitually stands upright and walks on two legs. The adoption of erect posture as habitual imposed substantial changes on spinal morphology and biomechanics. One of the major morphological changes is the increased curvatures found in the human spine. There is an ongoing debate about whether humans “pay” for...

Pelvic incidence (PI) is a measure of the sagittal orientation of the sacrum relative to the acetabula and is not dependent on posture. In asymptomatic adults, PI correlates with lumbar lordosis. Lumbar lordosis is shown to increase with age following the onset of unassisted bipedal locomotion in children, but to what extent PI changes in relation...

Over the last two decades, much of the recent efforts dedicated to the Levantine Middle Paleolithic has concentrated on the role of open-air sites in the settlement system in the region. Here focus on the site of ‘Ein Qashish as a cases study. Located in present-day northern Israel, the area of this site is estimated to have been >1300 m², of which...

Over the last two decades, much of the recent efforts dedicated to the Levantine Middle Paleolithic has concentrated on the role of open-air sites in the settlement system in the region. Here focus on the site of 'Ein Qashish as a cases study. Located in present-day northern Israel, the area of this site is estimated to have been >1300 m 2 , of whi...

Background and purpose: Postural asymmetries may cause structural pathological conditions and impaired movement pattern. The influence of body position and awareness towards symmetry has not yet been elucidated.The aim of this study was twofold: First, to compare the body positional bilateral symmetry between standing and supine positions, and seco...

Background: Posture represents body segments position in space, at a given point in time. Correct static posture in the frontal plane is considered to be symmetrical. In addition, gravity plays an important role as an extraneous factor. It was shown that when changing the position of patients with scoliosis, from standing to supine, the scoliosis c...

The vertebral spine is a key element of the human anatomy. Its main role is to protect the spinal cord and the main blood vessels. The axial skeleton, with its muscles and joints, provides stability for the attachment of the head, tail and limbs and, at the same time, enables the mobility required for breathing and for locomotion. Despite its great...

The size and shape of the Neandertal thorax has been debated since the first discovery of Neandertal ribs more than 150 years ago, with workers proposing different interpretations ranging from a Neandertal thoracic morphology that is indistinguishable from modern humans, to one that was significantly different from them. Here, we provide a virtual...

Spinal muscle cross-sectional area has been highly associated with spinal pathology. Despite the medium-high prevalence of spinal pathology in children, there is very limited knowledge regarding muscle size and growth pattern in individuals younger than 20 years of age. The aim of this study is to analyze the change in size and symmetry of spinal m...

Introduction: The question of when to return to full participation in sports activities after an injury or an operation is one of the most challenging and difficult issues with which athletes and their support teams must contend. To examine this question, a symposium on the subject of return to sport (RTS) after injury was held in September 2016 at...

Background: Posture represents body segments position in space, at a given point in time. Correct static posture in the frontal plane is considered to be symmetrical. In addition, gravity plays an important role as an extraneous factor. It was shown that when changing the position of patients with scoliosis, from standing to supine, the scoliosis c...

The late Middle Palaeolithic (MP) settlement patterns in the Levant included the repeated use of caves and open landscape sites. The fossil record shows that two types of hominins occupied the region during this period—Neandertals and Homo sapiens. Until recently, diagnostic fossil remains were found only at cave sites. Because the two populations...

Here we provide the most extensive metric and morphological analysis performed to date on the Neandertal lumbar spine. Neandertal lumbar vertebrae show differences from modern humans in both the vertebral body and in the neural arch, although not all Neandertal lumbar vertebrae differ from modern humans in the same way. Differences in the vertebral...

Spinopelvic alignment refers to the interaction between pelvic orientation, spinal curvatures, and the line of gravity. In a healthy modern human, this alignment is characterized by reciprocal curves/orientation of the sacrum, lumbar lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, and cervical lordosis. In an economic sagittal posture, these curvatures keep the line...

This narrative review investigated imaging parameters of the paraspinal muscles and their association with spinal degenerative features and low back pain (LBP) found in the literature. Three principal signs of muscle degeneration were detected on imaging: decreased muscle size, decreased radiographic density, and increased fat deposits. Men have a...

Background context: Cervical lordosis is of great importance to posture and function. Neck pain and disability is often associated with cervical lordosis malalignment. Surgical procedures involving cervical lordosis stabilization or restoration must take into account age and gender differences in cervical lordosis architecture to avoid further com...

Spinal posture has vast biomechanical , locomotor and pathological implications in hominins . Assessing the curvatures of the spine of fossil hominins can provide important information towards the understanding of their paleobiology. Unfortunately, complete hominin spines are very rarely preserved in the fossil record. The Neanderthal partial skele...

‘Ein Qashish is a late Mousterian open-air site from the southern Levant bearing evidence of three discrete human fossil remains. One of the fossils, EQH-3, consisted five lower limb bones of a young adult Neandertal male [1] that is the subject of the current paper. One of the ‘unusual’ features of this individual was the narrow distal articular s...

From the time they were discovered, the so-called robust australopiths—Australopithecus robustusand A. boisei —were recognized as too derived to serve as ancestors of modern humans. Robert Broom came to this conclusion in 1936 the moment he placed a pencil across the face of specimen TM 1517 and saw that the specimen’s midface is sunken relative to...

Abstract Background: Mental disorders are common, worldwide health problems. Starting July 1st 2015, mental health treatments in Israel have been incorporated into the "National Health Bill" )passed by the Knesset in 1994(, bringing to an end the 21-year-old questionable division of responsibilities for treatment of body and mind )HMOs responsible...

10:15, A 703/704 During human evolution, different hominin groups present different lumbar lordosis angles. H. sapiens present high lordosis angles while Neandertals present smaller angles. Recently, Wagner et al. demonstrated that lordosis reduces the local joint torques necessary for an equilibrium of the vertebral column. They found that the ven...

Previous work suggests females are evolutionarily adapted to have greater lumbar lordosis than males to aid in pregnancy load-bearing, but no consensus exists. To explore further sex-differences in the lumbar spine, and to understand contradictions in the literature, we conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of sex-differences in lumbar sp...

During human evolution the spinal curvature as well as pelvic and sacral orientation have changed dramatically, from a very small pelvic incidence and spinal curvatures in non human hominoids to large curvatures in modern humans. This change was accompanied by a dramatic shift of the line of gravity and C7 plumb line. In this work we will describe...

Ein Qashish is an open-air, late Middle Paleolithic site located on the bank of the Qishon River, on the eastern piedmont of Mt. Carmel in the Yizra'el Valley, Israel. This location is interesting because it is close to many of the major Middle Paleolithic cave sites in northern Israel, in an area where no open-air sites were previously known. e si...

Researchers are increasingly using computer software and morphometrics to assist with reconstruction of fossil hominin material although the majority of reconstructions focus on a single bone. The Spy II skeleton was found in Belgium in 1886 and is relatively complete(1). The aim of this study was to virtually recreate the Spy II Neandertal using m...

The problem of species recognition in paleoanthropology has been the subject of numerous studies. In the current study, we have used the complex topography of the mandibular fossa to assess its potential as a species-specific indicator. Six landmarks were registered using a microscribe 3Dx digitizer on four extant species: Pan paniscus, Pan troglod...

The cranial base is located at a critical intersection between the vertebral spine, the brain, the respiratory system and the mastication apparatus. Therefore it can provide an insight into the evolution of the head and neck in functional and phylogenetic contexts. However, the relationship between cranial base anatomy and cervical spine alignment...

Objectives: To summarize the current knowledge relating to diagnosing and treating Scheuermann's disease. Scheuermann's disease is the most common cause of structural kyphosis in adolescence. Methods: A literature-based narrative review of English language medical literature. Results and conclusions: Recent studies have revealed a major geneti...

Recently, interest has peaked regarding the posture of extinct hominins. Here, we present a new method of reconstructing lordosis angles of extinct hominin specimens based on pelvic morphology, more specifically the orientation of the sacrum in relation to the acetabulum (pelvic incidence). Two regression models based on the correlation between pel...

In a recent issue of Science, researchers reported the discovery of two partial skeletons from a single site, Malapa, in South Africa. After a thorough investigation, the researchers assigned both skeletons to a new species, which they named Australopithecus sediba. According to our analysis, the spinal columns of the two skeletons represent two di...

Studies have suggested that the lumbar spine of humans is sexually dimorphic with women exhibiting higher dorsoventral vertebral wedging and more lordotic curvature than men. Greater lumbar curvature is proposed to allow women to center their mass while bearing a fetal load during pregnancy. These studies are based, however, on measurements from os...

Sagittal sacral orientation within the pelvic girdle of humans is a key component of posture and obstetrics. On the one hand, sacral orientation has direct influence on the lumbar curvature; while on the other hand, it has an impact on the dorsoventral dimension of the birth canal. In this study, we aim to explore the evolution of sacral orientatio...

Sagittal sacral orientation within the pelvic girdle of humans is a key component of posture and obstetrics. On the one hand, sacral orientation has direct influence on the lumbar curvature; while on the other hand, it has an impact on the dorsoventral dimension of the birth canal. In this study, we aim to explore the evolution of sacral orientatio...

Study design: Cross-sectional retrospective study. Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide data for the normal values of the lumbar lordotic curvature and segmental angles throughout childhood and to explore the relative contribution of the vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs to the developing lordosis during childhood. Summar...

Amud 7, a Neandertal infant from Amud Cave, Israel ELLA BEEN1,2 and YOEL RAK1. 1Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine,, Tel Aviv University, 2Physical Therapy Department, Zefat Academic College, Zefat, Israel. Saturday All day, Plaza Level During the renewed excavation (1991-1992) at the Amud cave in the Galilee, in n...

Few studies have directly evaluated the association of lumbar lordosis and segmental wedging of the vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs with the prevalence of spinal degenerative features. To evaluate the association of computed tomography (CT)-evaluated lumbar lordosis as well as segmental wedging of the vertebral bodies and that of the inte...

The sagittal posture of the Kebara two Neandertal Ella Been, Alon Barash, Asier Gómez-Olivencia & Patricia Kramer A complete hominin spine is very rarely preserved in the fossil record. One remarkable exception is the Kebara two skeleton from Israel, representing an almost complete in-situ burial. e skeleton of Kebara  posses a complete pelvis, l...

The objective is to evaluate the geometric parameters of vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs in spinal segments adjacent to spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis. This pilot cross-sectional study was an ancillary project to the Framingham Heart Study. The presence of spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis as well as measurements of spinal geometry...

A retrospective cohort study of the relationship between the structures that form the lumbar spine in humans. To investigate the relationship between the segmental wedging of the vertebral bodies and that of the intervertebral discs, and between the overall lordosis angle and each of the 5 lumbar segments. Little attention has been paid to the inte...

The morphology of the lumbar spine is crucial for upright posture and bipedal walking in hominids. The excellent preservation of the lumbar spine of Kebara 2 provides us a rare opportunity to observe a complete spine and explore its functionally relevant morphology. The lumbar spine of Kebara 2 is analyzed and compared with the lumbar spines of mod...

The debate over the posture of early hominids is longstanding, perhaps because the absence of a reliable method for reconstructing the lumbar lordosis angle (LA) in early hominid spines has made it difficult to determine whether their posture resembled or differed from that of modern humans. We have developed a new model for predicting the lordotic...

A descriptive study (based on skeletal material) was designed to measure sacral anatomic orientation (SAO) in individuals with and without spondylolysis. To test whether a relationship between SAO and spondylolysis exists. Spondylolysis is a stress fracture in the pars interarticularis (mainly of L5). The natural history of the phenomenon has been...

The attainment of upright posture, with