Rare But Not Of Concern
So, the whole sixth lumbar vertebra has kind of been of interest to me. I did some online searching and found an interesting article which explains the abnormality some:
[A]pproximately 10% of adults, have a congenital anomaly in their lower back. One of the most common anomalies is the presence of a sixth lumbar vertebra. Having one extra lumbar vertebra provides no advantage or disadvantage to the individual and is rarely a cause of back problems… [A]nomalies such as these in the lumbar spine and sacral spine are simply variants of normal bony architecture and are typically of no consequence. In other words, it would be very rare for an abnormality such as a sixth lumbar vertebra or extra bone in the sacrum to cause back problems.
I’ll file this under “I found it on the internet so therefore it must be true.” My doctor indicated that mine wasn’t of concern since everything was all aligned. I didn’t ask what happens if it isn’t as I was afraid what the answer might be.
It would also appear that the correct term for this “L6″ bone is Lumbosacral transitional vertebra.
Now this comment was particularly interesting to me:
You may be interested to find that while the homo sapien is characterized by having five lumbar vertebra but homo erectus (the first of the human skeletons found in Africa, including Lucy and australopithecus africanus skeletons) typically had 6 lumbar vertebra.
Something I was at least able to partially corroborate here. Now, before you decide to start poking fun at me for being less evolved than you, keep in mind that modern great apes have only three or four lumbar vertebrae. It’s all relative.
Unfrozen caveman engineer.
Comment by JTJ — Wednesday, May 16, 2007 @ 12:04 am
Harsh, man. Harsh.
Comment by Jason Coleman — Wednesday, May 16, 2007 @ 12:10 am
Perhaps you could view #6 as a spare or perhaps as a 6th degree of freedom. In any case be forewarned I am likely to refer to you as modern day australopithecus. Good stuff.
Comment by Travis — Wednesday, May 16, 2007 @ 4:14 pm
dude, what in the heck is it w/ our family… these congenital defects are adding up… -dc
Comment by Dave Coleman — Tuesday, May 29, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
Well, I can say that Dad doesn’t have this one. I may be the only one with this retro-mutation (if that’s what it really is…). The links above also indicate that it’s particularly rare in Europeans (more common in Aboriginal Australians, for example).
Comment by Jason Coleman — Tuesday, May 29, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
Jason, “The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo.” How many vertebrae do kangaroos have??
Comment by Brenda — Wednesday, May 30, 2007 @ 9:27 pm
foloowing a MRI scan I have been told I have a extra lumbar at the base(6th lumbar vertabrae). I had the scan to see why my pelivis keep moving and casuing me pain and inflamation. My Osteopath has to keep putting me back in palce! . It has something to do with the extra vertabrae in some ways as the sacro joint isnt supporting my pelvis as good as it should( we think) anyone else got this problem.
Comment by Charlotte — Saturday, June 23, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
Hey, i recently found out i have an extra lumbar vertebrae, have been in all sorts of agony which sent me to the doctor. I’m a little confused though because everything I have found on the internet about this says having the extra vertebrae doesn’t cause any problems or pain, I know its the internet and not reliable but come on, you’d think one person would put something up about it.
Comment by Tana — Wednesday, June 27, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
ok, i’ve had 3 back surgeries with consequently multiple MRI’s… I just found out i have 6 lumbar vertebrae on a simple x-ray… i find it odd that i’ve been sliced on, had lots of images, and no one has considered it important enough to mention the extra lumbar. in fact, it keeps getting referred to as L5-S1 on MRI’s in the past and operative reports. What is the DEAL??? If they “doctor” this originally dictated report I had a “friend” read to me before I see the surgeon next week, I’m gonna be MORE suspicious than I am now. I read where some of my reports had been “changed.” I don’t care what people say, I’ve had horendous back problems all my life. It warrents more investigating, back problems and an extra lumbar vertebrae combined with hard work may in deed be a bad combination.
Comment by susan — Friday, October 26, 2007 @ 6:12 pm
I have a 6th Lumbar vertebrae, which is a true vertebrae. I have seen my own xrays and had my doctor and neurosurgeon explain my own xrays to me. The 6th vertebrae is fused to my spine with no disc between it and my sacrum, but it is fused slightly crooked, which has caused extra pressure on my L4/L5 and other vertebrae and discs. I have had back pain most of my adult life. about 6 years ago, my L4/L5 disc ruptured severely into my spinal canal, requiring emergency surgery (a partial laminectomy). I have recoverd exceptionally well considering the severity of the rupture, with only occasional tingling or numbness in my left leg and foot if I do too much strenuous activity. I was told that this was most likely due to the fact that the nerves were not impinged for very long between the rupture and the surgery (only about 12 hours went by), so the damage was minimal. The longer nerves are pinched without relief, the more severe and permanent the damage is likely to be. For this reason, I sometimes disagree with a doctor’s decision to put their patients on bed rest, traction, pain meds, muscle relaxants…just to “see” if the problem goes away on its own…without ordering xrays or an MRI to determine the severity of the pinched nerves. It may “go away on its own” in many cases, but in the event it does not, by the time they determine that, the nerves have most likely been damaged more severely, and complete recovery may no longer be possible. From personal experience: Be sure to get more than one oppinion, and don’t mess around and wait too long to get treatment or surgery if necessary. Its your health and your body, so you can request that your doctor order the xrays and MRI sooner than later. Prevention is always better than cure, so don’t wait until your disc ruptures!
Comment by mp3schwartz — Friday, November 2, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
i have had a series of back problems,first i broke L1-L4 processes off….fixed it….4 yrs later started having terrible back pain, found a L6 and my L5 is seperated, said it was a birth defect…..is your L5 normal? do you have any pain with simple walking, cleaning, shopping…that sort of stuff? docs say surgery might help, but they would be fusing L6 with it L5 and L4….everyone i know advises against surgery cuz they still have back pain and theirs was for a slip disc….not the same thing in my eyes…not sure what to do but i am going crazy with all the back pain
Comment by stacy — Thursday, April 17, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Wow. I guess it is apparent what can be the case if a sixth vertebrae is not in alignment with the rest of one’s spine.
Lower back pain is remarkably common in humans; most likely resulting from our relatively recent decision to go it on just our hind legs. It sounds like a lot of people in are in a great deal of pain which is possibly linked to the presence (and mis-alignment of) an extra vertebrae.
I am quite fortunate in that mine causes me no problems and I would have never known of such a thing except for the herniated L5-S disc in my back, for which I got an MRI. As a matter of fact, even the pain signals from my sciatic nerve have ceased in the past 10 months (this is mainly a result of running less, therefore less of the disc pressing into the nerve).
I honestly don’t know what else to say to any save for providing my sympathy. I’ve had just enough back and nerve pain to know how hard it can be to live with. Finding the right Orthopedist to diagnose (I highly recommend sports medicine docs) and the possibly a good neurosurgeon to operate (I believe they’re better equipped for spinal surgery than orthopedic surgeons) is essentially the only advice I can give.
Comment by Jason Coleman — Thursday, April 17, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
I have alot of back pain and have been seeing a chiropractor for 25+ years. While most of the problems are well controlled my lower back pain has been getting progressively worse. It usually occurs as a dull ache across both hips, worse when standing or lying down for long periods. My chiro told me years of bad posture have caught up with me. Recent X-Ray showed 6th Lumber vertibrae is not fused and is mobile. The issue for me has been this extra joint has allowed my hips to rotate further forward exaggerating the curve in my lower back and putting extra pressure on the lower joints. Advice from the chiro was lose weight and exercise abs to help rotate my hips back to a more normal position. I now do abs exercises most mornings (eg 30 situps and 30 leg raises, or 100 alternating elbow to knee leg raises). This has dramatically reduced my pain. I am now 47 and after 2 years of abs work I have been able to resume full on karate training. I only get pain now if I get slack and skip the morning exercises.
Comment by Russell Lees — Monday, May 5, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
I have spina bifida occulta of s1, plus an add’l true lumbar vertebrae. Have been in excruciating pain for over 10 yrs. Dr’s have done little to nothing, except prescribe narcotics. Now on morphine patch, neuronton, and vicidon I have l4-l5 nerve root impingement with foraminal space narrowing. sitting, standing in 1 place, driving, walking long distances, bending, all cause severe pain. Can anyone advise? Only 35, with 2 very active children, that I can barely take care of, they do more taking care of me! I just want my life back.
Comment by loschul — Sunday, June 1, 2008 @ 4:06 pm