Older people, professional athletes and people whose work involves long periods of sitting motionless or standing on their feet are often exposed to various musculoskeletal disorders. Irrational menu of the day, physical inactivity lead to wear and tear, destruction of bones and cartilage. As a result, osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine occurs, the symptoms and treatment of which depend on the personal characteristics of the organism, as well as the severity of the lesion.
According to the international classification of diseases of the 10th revision, this disease has been assigned the code M42. Sometimes patients receive cumbersome diagnoses and the coding simplifies the work of doctors. This short alphanumeric designation can be noted in the medical history of the outpatient card. What is Lumbar Spine Osteochondrosis? What are the reasons for its occurrence? What are the manifestations of the disease? This publication tells about everything.
Causes of lumbar osteochondrosis
Osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine often leads to injury and a slow lifestyle. One of the main roles is played by burdened heredity, as well as the hormonal, chemical and psychogenic background of the body.
If parents have had lumbar osteochondrosis, symptoms and treatment are likely to manifest and be passed on to their children. After the offspring inherit the predisposing factors, there is also a risk of exposure to this disease.
The factor provocateurs also include the following causes of occurrence:
- Other diseases such as digestive tract, liver, pelvis, nervous system;
- jump to slowing down the metabolism;
- Shift of the acid-base equilibrium towards oxidation (acidosis);
- Decreased motor energy;
- stress, nervous situations;
- Long, uncomfortable postures, wrong posture.
Sacral osteochondrosis often occurs as a result of hypothermia, hormonal disorders or as a result of pathological congenital defects of the spine.
Symptoms of lumbar osteochondrosis
Signs of lumbar osteochondrosis are associated with the fact that spinal nerve fibers run in the back of the spinal canal. Depending on the localization, the severity of the defeat of some roots, the manifestations of the disease differ.
The following symptoms occur with osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine:
- Pain Syndrome- Most patients complain of back pain with osteochondrosis. The pain is local directly in the injury zone or it radiates from the side of the lesion to the buttock region, the sacrum.
- Signs of tension- The pain increases with a certain position, but when the position of the body changes, the pain disappears abruptly. The most commonly used test is named after the discoverer - Lasegue syndrome - the pain increases when the straight limb is lifted and disappears when the leg is bent at the knee.
- Decrease or increase in sensitivity- This symptom is directly related to damage to the radicular nerves. Sensitivity is disturbed not instead of the localization of the pathology, but at some distance. The patient has hypesthesia, hyperesthesia, or paresthesia, which is characterized by unusual projection sensations such as goose bumps, tingling, etc.
In lumbar osteochondrosis, motor activity often decreases, which is associated with varying degrees of muscle atrophy. In certain circumstances there is a limitation of functions, in other situations paralysis and paresis occur.
Lumbar chondrosis is also associated with damage to the spinal vessels, with their irritation and spasm, vegetative changes occur. The blood supply to the legs slows down, the lower extremities are constantly freezing, the skin is pale. Other organs in the lumbar region are often affected. With damage to the bladder, urinary incontinence develops or, on the contrary, delays.
Disease stages
- 1st degree lumbar osteochondrosis is the initial type of pathology. It is characterized by a low density of the intervertebral discs. Pain syndrome occurs with a sharp turn of the body after physical exertion or prolonged sitting.
This type of illness is common among drivers, office workers, athletes, and people who work in harsh climates. The pain is not characterized by acute attacks, but develops as a debilitating dull or painful.
At this stage, people are in no hurry to go to the doctor, but use traditional methods of treatment such as ointments and compresses. The situation leads to the fact that osteochondrosis of the lumbar or sacral spine passes to the second stage;
- Lumbar osteochondrosis 2nd degree - degenerative and dystrophic diseases of the vertebral joints occur. The fibrous ring of the spine becomes compressed as the nucleus pulposus grows and protrusion (protrusion) of the disc occurs.
Neuropathologists define the second stage of osteochondrosis as lumbago. In other words, lumbago occurs in the lower back when a heavy object is suddenly lifted or with other loads. This period lasts for many years, the stages of remission alternate with acute attacks of exacerbations;
- Lumbar osteochondrosis 3rd degree - the protrusion of the pulp gradually increases, an intervertebral fracture develops. The patient develops the full range of neurological status: constant pain, irradiation of the buttocks, abdomen, tailbone, legs, urethra, restriction of mobility.
legend is used to locate the hernia. The diagnosis of osteochondrosis L5 S1 means that the bulging of the nucleus pulposus occurred between the 5th lumbar vertebra and the 1st sacral vertebra;
- If therapeutic measures are not taken in time, all stages of development flow smoothly into the next phase. Stage 4 lumbar osteochondrosis is characterized by the development of complications.
As a rule, drug treatment is not very effective in severely developed pathology. The neuropathologist is obliged to offer a radical mode of action, that is, a hernia operation.
Methods of diagnosing osteochondrosis
In order to identify the osteochondrosis of the EPP, the neuropathologist first takes an anamnesis, since the patient's complaints are one of the decisive values for an accurate diagnosis. During the conversation, the patient is asked questions about their health and condition - what and where it hurts, how long the pain lasts, what makes the feeling worse when stiffness appears, whether the treatment was done, what it was, and the like.
Instrumental diagnostic methods are always used:
- General Rg graphic image of the lumbar spine- The spine is recorded as a whole or its individual segments are photographed. More often than others, a targeted Rg-gram is created based on ailments where the doctor notices disc atrophy, reduction in intervertebral space, the appearance of osteophytes, and lumbar spine smoothing;
- Myelography- Contrast agent is injected into the canal where the spinal cord flows through a spinal tap. The technique is used to determine the internal structure of the channel. Ordinary people consider the procedure difficult and dangerous for diagnosis, but apart from an allergy to contrast agent, puncturing the spinal canal practically does not threaten the patient. The puncture is made where the spinal cord is missing;
- Computed tomography- compression of the nerve roots, protrusion of the pulp is determined, vertebral bodies, ligaments, vessels, soft tissues can be seen at close range on the monitor;
Sacral osteochondrosis is most precisely determined using electromagnetic waves. For this purpose, the patient is assigned an examination on a magnetic resonance tomograph.
Each tissue has its own incoming signal, the computer processes the data and displays the image on the screen. The doctor examines the vessels, intervertebral discs, bone processes and nerve fibers in a 1 mm section. In this case, the patient will not receive any harmful ionizing effects.
Treatment of osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine
Many patients are interested in the question: what to do with osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine? Lumbar spine osteochondrosis does not always have indications for surgery. The main thing is that after a thorough examination of the patient, the usual therapeutic measures are sufficient.
Conservative therapy is reduced:
- For drug treatment;
- physiotherapy procedure;
- gymnastic exercises from movement therapy.
Methods of manual therapy and methods of traditional medicine are also used to treat osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine.
For the treatment scheme for osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine, the surgical method is only offered in extremely severe cases, when conservative methods do not lead to the desired results.
Medicines
Treatment of osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine is carried out by a neuropathologist or the closest specialist, a vertebrate. Before treating lumbar chondrosis of the spinous processes, the doctor determines the stage and severity of pathological disorders.
Muscle relaxants are used to relieve pain, reduce cramps, and reduce inflammation. These drugs quickly restore mobility to the patient, relieve cramps so that the pain disappears.
In addition to the group of drugs used to relax muscles, steroid hormones are sometimes used to relieve swelling and inflammation.
Remedial gymnastics
Treatment of lumbar osteochondrosis should be carried out in conjunction with methods of exercise therapy. Exercise and gymnastics should receive the same attention as the use of medication.
The therapeutic effects of osteochondrosis are exercises that relieve pain, strengthen the muscle framework and reduce compression between the intervertebral discs - this slows down the further progression of the disease.
Physiotherapy methods
The following procedures are used to treat lumbosacral osteochondrosis:
- electrophoresis with drugs;
- laser and magnetic field therapy;
- treatment with magnetic currents;
- darsonval;
- UV radiation;
- diadine treatment;
- shock wave method.
During manipulations, means are used that use natural physical strength: currents, light radiation, vibration, etc. The treatment scheme, the duration of the course in physiotherapy is determined by the attending physician.
Manual therapy
When a sick person asks a neurologist how to cure lumbar spine osteochondrosis using a manual technique, he is usually advised by a qualified specialist who, with the help of his hands, affects not only the muscle tissue, but also the vertebrae in positionbrings.
In lumbar chondrosis, this method normalizes blood and lymph circulation, eliminates muscle tone and deformations, and restores motor function. Chiropractor's hands reduce the purity of spasms, reduce back pain.
How is lumbar spine osteochondrosis treated with manual techniques and is it possible to fully recover in this way? Manual therapy is prescribed only if degenerative processes have not disturbed the tissues of the spine, that is, bone growth has not formed. The need for surgery is determined by the doctor after Rg diagnostics, CT or MRI.
surgery
Surgical treatment of lumbar chondrosis is carried out according to certain indications, if the pathology is characterized by the following changes in the spine:
- The spinal canal narrows, intervertebral discs are compressed and destroyed;
- Cauda Equina Syndrome develops - a massive bundle of nerves of the spinal cone innervating the pelvic region, legs, is damaged;
- The loss of sensitivity increases, there is a disturbance in the ability of the internal organs to work;
- There is a risk of paralysis of the feet.
The operation is performed according to emergency or planned indications. The aim of surgical treatment is to relieve pressure and improve the condition of the spine.
Traditional medicine
Treatment of osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine using folk methods is best done in consultation with your doctor.
The people's pharmacy offers many means for curing diseases:
- Medicinal herbs, essential oils, flower extracts, plant roots;
- Animal products such as snake or bee venom, badger, dog, sheep fat, boiled eggs and more;
- Iodine, turpentine and alcohol are used for warming and irritation.
Similar to medicines, chondrosis of the lower back is treated with folk methods only at the initial stage of the disease, while symptoms are only eliminated, but pathological changes do not go away. Among other things, such treatment often has side effects. For this reason, professional advice is required before using a traditional medicine prescription.
The dosage of persons or drugs should be prescribed by your doctor.
Complications
Lumbar chondrosis in the last stage can lead to unpleasant consequences, including disability.
Against the background of dystrophy and degenerative disorders, a narrowing of the shapes of the spinal canals, a stenosis develops. As a result of such changes, a chronic type of compression is formed, disrupting normal blood flow, developing ischemia of the roots or cauda equina syndrome.
In addition, diseases such as spondylosis and spondyloarthrosis sometimes develop - the intervertebral discs age, lose strength and suffer from tensile pain due to the disturbed structure of the vertebral joints. Complications mostly relate to the crest of the lower spine, where spinal columnar bone growths form.
In the third stage, as a complication of osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernias appear, diseases of the genitourinary system and other internal organs.
Preventive measures
The prevention of osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral spine is of no small importance. The lower back has the most strain, so you need to be extra careful with your back. It is worth remembering that regular gym exercises are the key to a healthy spine.
The weights should be lifted with great care to avoid sudden jolts. Men and women can bear burdens that are reasonable.
When you are in the office, you need to keep track of your posture, maintain correct posture, and sit in a chair with your back straight. It is good to get up every hour and walk around the room, do squats, twist your upper body: this relieves the entire musculoskeletal system.
The trigger point massage is great. They are active or in latent form. Trigger points occur as a result of overexertion, excessive stretching, repetitive work, bending over, hypothermia, and other factors.
Since the reasons for the development of convulsive areas are known, measures must be taken to prevent their formation. Recently, a trigger point massager has gained popularity. It is better to prevent the appearance of painful foci with a special device than to treat them for a long and expensive time.