Low back pain afflicts many people, regardless of their age and profession. Loaders and office workers, young mothers and retired gardeners, writers and even athletes suffer from them. In any of them, pathological changes can occur in the bone and cartilage tissue of the vertebrae, which leads to compression (compression) of the nerve spinal 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 mandatory treatment, the absence of which often leads to disability and the ability to self-help. In other words, 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 ligament apparatus. When they are squeezed out, the discs leave the fluid that is responsible for their plasticity and is a source of tissue nutrition with the necessary micronutrients. With prolonged negative impact, the fibrous ring of the intervertebral discs loses elasticity and density and then breaks, leading to compression of the nerve endings. This becomes the cause of pain, which is often accompanied by edema.
In addition, the outer edges of the vertebrae, with an irregularly distributed load on them, are overgrown with osteophytes - growths of bone tissue. They also cause pain and restrict the movement of the spine, exacerbating the problem.
That is, the disease most often occurs with such loads on the spine that are incorrectly distributed or stereotyped - they are monotonous and recur regularly.
Causes
Do not assume that only heavy physical activity or an inactive lifestyle, in which the muscular framework is weak, leads to osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine. This also happens to very active people who do sports or work in their cottage every day. If their movements are monotonous (raising the barbell, digging the ground), pressure occurs at the same points in the area of which the cartilaginous tissues are gradually destroyed.
There are other reasons. Among them:
- violation of calcium metabolism in the body;
- excess weight or its serious fluctuations in any direction while adhering to a strict diet, pregnancy, sharp changes in hormonal levels;
- spinal injury or curvature (scoliosis);
- severe one-time hypothermia or regular exposure to cold, moisture;
- depressive conditions, stress;
- constant physical overload;
- bad heredity.
Pay attention. Any strict diet based on the use of one product or on a critical reduction in calorie intake leads not only to a sharp weight loss, but also to the appearance of a lack of valuable trace elements in the body. Which is also bad for muscles and bones.
Symptoms
Osteochondrosis is rarely detected in time because it is asymptomatic in the initial stage. Specifically, there are symptoms, but they are difficult to relate to spinal problems. Therefore, they are most often discovered by chance during a comprehensive examination for other health problems.
There are four stages of disease development. Let's describe the symptoms of each of them.
| Scene | Description |
|---|---|
| First | In the first stage, sweating processes are disturbed, the person notices general weakness and rapid fatigue. Some patients report a previously unusual cold in the feet. |
| Other | In the second phase, occasional back pain occurs, which indicates that the destruction of cartilage tissue begins. |
| Third | The third phase is characterized by already visible changes. An intervertebral hernia may occur, curvature of the spine often occurs, and in some cases the hump grows. |
| Fourth | The most difficult is the fourth stage, when it is not necessary to talk about a complete cure due to irreversible changes in the skeleton. In addition to osteophyte proliferation and vertebral displacement, which causes acute pain, problems also occur in other pelvic organs. Often the patient ceases to control the processes of urination and defecation. |
Treatment of disease
Osteochondrosis treatment methods are selected depending on the stage of the disease and the severity of the pain. Conservative treatment brings good results only in the initial stages. For example, if osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine is caught at the very beginning, you can get rid of it with the help of special physical exercises, correction of physical activity and body weight, swimming, taking vitamin and mineral complexes.
When pain occurs, it is no longer enough. It must be removed along with the cause. Why are medicines used, traditional physiotherapy techniques, and even methods of alternative medicine? And in the later stages, only surgical treatment is possible.
Physiotherapy
Hardware physiotherapy methods such as:
are used to relieve pain and swelling, increase the effect of drugs and reduce their dose.
- ultrasound;
- laser;
- magnetic field effect;
- electrophoresis;
- manual therapy, massage.
Pay attention. Massage helps relieve muscle cramps, improve blood circulation in the area of the affected intervertebral discs and release constricted veins 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 method of treatment for which the most advanced equipment with programmable dosing of shock waves and a system for their guidance are used.
The point is that shock waves destroy osteophytes, restoring cartilage tissue. But healthy spine bones, as well as the main arteries, can also be damaged. It is therefore very important to ensure that this technology is well developed in the hospital and that the treatment is carried out by a highly qualified and licensed specialist.
Alternative Therapeutic Methods
In addition to standard methods of treating osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine, there are also non-traditional ones. Such methods are constantly being studied and are already being applied in many clinics. These primarily include:
- Hirudotherapy or leech therapy helps alleviate inflammation and improve blood circulation;
- Acupuncture or acupuncture is an effective way to relieve pain, muscle tension and inflammation. It consists of introducing special needles into certain biologically active points of the body;
- ozone therapy - injecting a mixture of ozone and oxygen. With the right dose, this method inhibits osteophyte growth and relieves painful muscle tone.
In parallel with these methods of treatment or to record the results achieved with their help, a course of kinesitherapy and therapeutic gymnastics is performed.
Surgical Techniques
If the disease has started and conservative treatment does not alleviate the patient's condition, surgical methods are resorted to. It is impossible without them if after several months of active treatment it was not possible to alleviate the pain and improve the general condition of the person. And especially in cases when problems such as decreased potency in men, disorders of the pelvic organs, numbness of the perineum have occurred.
- Endoscopic microdiscectomy - removal of a herniated disc. This is a minimally invasive operation that facilitates compression of the spinal cord or nerve root.
- Laser reconstruction of intervertebral discs can hardly be called an operation. During the procedure, which takes place under local anesthesia, a thin needle is inserted into the affected disc through which it is irradiated with a laser that stimulates the division of cartilage cells.
- Foraminotomy is an operation to remove a process in the spine or part of a disc that aims to release a pinched nerve.
- Vertebroplasty - injection of bone cement into destroyed spinal tissue to strengthen it.
- Osteotomy - removal of diseased vertebrae and discs with their subsequent replacement with dentures.
There are other methods aimed at stabilizing the vertebrae, their decompression, removal of osteophytes, etc. Either of them requires a long recovery period. After surgical treatment of the spine, the patient should not get up, walk, bend or experience physical stress for a long time. This leads to muscle relaxation and partial loss of motor functions, which requires support and rehabilitation. Therefore, at the end of the postoperative period, a period of recovery and rehabilitation begins, the task of which is to restore motor functions completely and prevent complications in the pelvic organs.
At this stage, some of the methods of conservative treatment described above are applied, proper posture is developed, and normal movements are corrected. In this case, the patient is recommended to wear a special fixation brace. An individual set of exercises is then put together to be performed daily and for life to prevent disease recurrence.