Table 4.
Element types and number of elements used in components of the spine
| Component | Element type | No. of elements | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | L2 | L3 | L4 | L5 | |||
| Cortical bone | M3D | 385 | 3820 | 884 | 787 | 711 | |
| Cancellous bone | C3D4 | 4511 | 4180 | 4543 | 4285 | 4140 | |
| Endplate | M3D3 | 582 | 548 | 530 | 562 | 580 | |
| Posterior bone | C3D4 | 11773 | 15064 | 13636 | 12102 | 10594 | |
| L1/L2 | L2/L3 | L3/L4 | L4/L5 | L5/S1 | |||
| Nucleus pulposus | C3D4 | 1048 | 954 | 992 | 988 | 833 | |
| Annulus fibrosus | M3D3 | 639 | 788 | 742 | 727 | 818 | |
| Annulus ground | C3D4 | 2079 | 2640 | 2447 | 2493 | 3201 | |
| substance | |||||||
| Ligament | ALL | PLL | LF | ISL | SSL | TL | |
| No. of elements | M3D3 | 1544 | 592 | 552 | 335 | 250 | 710 |