Back pain affects many people, regardless of age and profession. Loaders and office workers, young mothers and retired gardeners, writers and even athletes suffer from this. In any of them, pathological changes can occur in the bone and cartilage tissues of the vertebrae, which cause compression (squeezing) of the nerve roots, which causes severe pain.
But painful feelings are only external manifestations of the disease. It is often accompanied by other pathological syndromes that require compulsory treatment, the absence of which often leads to disability and inability to take care of themselves. That is, a person becomes disabled.
Description of the disease
Osteochondrosis is caused by unnatural compression of the spine, which causes compression of the intervertebral discs and adjacent tissues of the garden apparatus. When compressed, it is responsible for the plasticity of fluids and is a source of tissue nutrition with the necessary micronutrients. With long-term adverse effects, the fibrous ring of the intervertebral discs loses its elasticity and density and then breaks and leads to compression of the nerve endings. This is the reason for the appearance of pain, which is often accompanied by edema.
In addition, the outer edges of the vertebrae grow when the loads are incorrectly distributed, with osteophytes - the growth of bone tissue. It also causes pain and restricts the movement of the spine, exacerbating the problem.
That is, the disease most often occurs with such loads that are incorrectly distributed or stereotyped in the spine - monotonous and recurrent.
Causes
Don't think that just strenuous physical activity or a sedentary lifestyle that weakens the muscle frame causes osteochondrosis of the spine. This happens with very active people who do sports or work in their garden house every day. If the movements are monotonous (lifting the barbell, digging), pressure builds up in the area where the cartilage tissue is gradually destroyed.
There are other reasons. Among them:
- Disorders of calcium metabolism in the body;
- severe weight gain or any fluctuations in any direction while following a strict diet, pregnancy, a sharp change in hormonal levels;
- spinal cord injury or curvature (scoliosis);
- acute one-time hypothermia or regular cold, exposure to moisture;
- depressive state, stress;
- constant physical overload;
- bad heredity.
Pay attention. Any strict diet based on the use of a product or a critical reduction in calorie intake leads not only to a sharp weight loss, but also to a deficiency of valuable trace elements in the body. Which is also harmful to muscles and bones.
symptoms
Osteochondrosis is rarely detected in time because it is not symptomatic at an early stage. Rather, there are symptoms, but they are difficult to associate with spinal problems. For this reason, most other health problems are detected by accident during a thorough examination.
There are four stages in the development of the disease. Let's describe the symptoms of each.
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| first | In the first stage, the sweating process is disrupted, the person notes general weakness and rapid fatigue. Some patients have previously reported an unusual foot cold. |
| seconds | In the second stage, intermittent back pain occurs, which indicates the beginning of the destruction of cartilage tissue. |
| third | The third stage is characterized by already visible changes. An intervertebral hernia may appear, curvature of the spine often occurs, and in some cases a kidney grows. |
| fourth | The fourth stage is the most difficult when there is no need to talk about a complete cure due to irreversible changes in the skeleton. In addition to the proliferation of osteophytes and vertebral displacement, which cause acute pain, there are problems in other organs of the pelvis. Often the patient stops controlling the processes of urination and defecation. |
Disease Treatment
The treatment of osteochondrosis depends on the stage of the disease and the severity of the pain. Conservative treatment gives good results only in the initial stages. For example, if osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine is the most common, you can get rid of it with special physical exercises, physical activity and body weight correction, swimming, vitamin and mineral complex preparations.
When pain occurs, it is no longer enough. It should be removed along with the cause. Why are medicines, traditional physiotherapy and even alternative medicine used? And only surgical treatment is possible in the later stages.
Physiotherapy
Such physiotherapy methods are used to relieve pain and swelling, increase the effect of drugs and reduce the dose as follows:
- ultrasound;
- laser;
- magnetic field effect;
- electrophoresis;
- manual treatment, massage.
Pay attention. Massage helps to relieve muscle spasms, improve blood circulation in the area of the affected intervertebral discs and release constricted blood vessels and nerves. This is done only with the help of hands, but vacuum massage is contraindicated in this disease.
Shock wave therapy
UHT is a relatively new treatment method that uses the most advanced equipment with a programmable dose of shock waves for application and a system for their management.
The fact is that shock waves destroy osteophytes, restore cartilage tissue. However, in addition to the main arteries, healthy spinal bones can also be damaged. Therefore, it is very important to make sure that this technology is well developed in the hospital and that the treatment is carried out by a highly qualified and licensed specialist.
Alternative therapy methods
In addition to standard treatments for lumbar osteochondrosis, there are also non-traditional methods. Such methods are constantly being studied and are already used in many clinics. These include, but are not limited to:
- hirudotherapy or leech therapy helps to eliminate inflammation and improve blood circulation;
- Acupuncture or acupuncture is an effective way to relieve pain, muscle tension and inflammation. It consists of the insertion of special needles into certain biologically active points of the body;
- ozone therapy - injection of ozone-oxygen mixture. At the right dose, this method prevents the growth of osteophytes and eliminates painful muscle tone.
A course of kinesitherapy and therapeutic gymnastics is conducted in parallel with or with the help of these treatments to record the results obtained.
Surgical methods
If the disease begins and conservative treatment does not alleviate the patient's condition, they resort to surgery. If after several months of active treatment it is not possible to eliminate the pain and improve a person's general condition, you can not do without it. Problems such as decreased potency, pelvic organ dysfunction, and perineal incontinence have emerged, especially in men.
- Endoscopic microdiscectomy - removal of a herniated disc. This is a minimally invasive operation that removes compression of the spinal cord or nerve root.
- Laser reconstruction of intervertebral discs can be called a difficult operation. During the procedure, which takes place under local anesthesia, a thin needle is inserted into the affected disc and irradiated with a laser that stimulates the division of cartilage cells.
- A foraminotomy is an operation to remove the processes of a vertebra or part of a disc that is aimed at releasing a compressed nerve.
- Vertebroplasty - injection of damaged spinal tissue to strengthen bone cement.
- Osteotomy - removal of diseased vertebrae and discs by replacing them with prostheses.
Stabilization of vertebrae, decompression, removal of osteophytes, etc. Any of these requires a long recovery period. After spinal surgery, the patient should not stand, walk, bend, or experience physical stress for long periods of time. This leads to muscle relaxation and partial loss of motor functions that require support and rehabilitation. Therefore, at the end of the postoperative period, a period of recovery and rehabilitation begins, the task of which is to fully restore motor function and prevent complications in the pelvic organs.
At this stage, some of the conservative treatment methods described above are applied, the correct posture is developed, and habitual movements are corrected. In this case, the patient is advised to wear a special fixation corset. After that, an individual set of exercises is prepared, which should be performed daily and for life to prevent recurrence of the disease.