Low back pain affects many people, regardless of their age and profession. Shippers and office workers, young mothers and retired gardeners, writers and even athletes suffer from it. In each of them, pathological changes can occur in the bone and cartilage tissues of the vertebrae, leading to compression (compression) of the spinal roots of the nerves, which causes severe pain.
But painful sensations 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 take care of oneself. 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 squeezed, a liquid leaves the discs, which is responsible for their plasticity and is a source of nutrition of tissues with the necessary trace elements. With prolonged negative impact, the fibrous ring of the intervertebral discs loses elasticity and density, and then breaks down, leading to compression of the nerve endings. This becomes the cause of the appearance of pain, which is often accompanied by edema.
In addition, the outer edges of the vertebrae, when the load is incorrectly distributed on them, are covered 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, which are incorrectly distributed or stereotyped - they are monotonous and regularly repeated.
Causes of occurrence
Do not assume that only intense physical activity or a sedentary lifestyle, in which the muscle structure is weakened, leads to osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine. This also happens with very active people who play sports or work daily at their summer cottage. If their movements are monotonous (lifting the barbell, digging the ground), the pressure occurs in the same places, in the area where the cartilage tissues are gradually destroyed.
There are other reasons as well. Among them:
- violation of calcium metabolism in the body;
- excess weight or its severe fluctuations in any direction during a strict diet, pregnancy, a sharp change in hormonal levels;
- spinal injury or curvature (scoliosis);
- occasional severe hypothermia or regular exposure to cold, wetness;
- depressive conditions, stress;
- constant physical overload;
- bad inheritance.
Pay attention. Any strict diets based on the use of a product or on a critical reduction in calorie intake lead not only to a strong weight loss, but also to the emergence of a deficiency of valuable trace elements in the body. Which is also bad for muscles and bones.
Symptoms
Osteochondrosis is rarely detected in time, since in the initial stage it is asymptomatic. More precisely, there are symptoms, but they are difficult to associate with spinal problems. Therefore, they are often discovered by accident during a comprehensive examination for other health problems.
There are four stages in the development of the disease. We describe the symptoms of each.
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| First | In the first stage, the processes of sweating are stopped, a person notices a general malaise and rapid fatigue. Some patients speak of previously unusual coldness of the feet. |
| According to | In the second stage, intermittent back pain occurs, indicating that the destruction of cartilage tissue begins. |
| Third | The third phase is characterized by already visible changes. An intervertebral hernia may appear, a curvature of the spine often occurs, and in some cases a hump grows. |
| Fourth | The fourth stage is the most difficult, when it is not necessary to talk about a complete cure due to irreversible changes in the skeleton. In addition to the proliferation of osteophytes and displacement of the vertebrae, which cause acute pain, problems arise in other organs of the pelvis. Often the patient stops controlling the processes of urination and defecation. |
Treatment of the disease
Methods of treatment of osteochondrosis are selected based on the stage of the disease and the severity of pain. Conservative treatment brings good results only in the initial stages. For example, if osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine was detected at first, it is possible to get rid of it with the help of special physical exercises, correction of physical activity and body weight, swimming, taking vitamin and mineral preparations.
When pain occurs, this is no longer enough. It must be removed along with the cause of its occurrence. Why are drugs, traditional physiotherapy techniques and even alternative medicine methods used? And in the later stages, only surgical treatment is possible.
Physiotherapy
To relieve pain and swelling, increase the effect of drugs and reduce their dose, hardware physiotherapy methods are used such as:
- ultrasound;
- laser;
- magnetic field effect;
- electrophoresis;
- manual therapy, massage.
Pay attention. Massage helps relieve muscle spasms, improve blood circulation in the area of the affected intervertebral discs, and release pinched vessels and nerves. This is done only with the help of the hands, but vacuum massage is contraindicated in this disease.
Shock wave therapy
UHT is a relatively new treatment method, for the implementation of which the most advanced equipment with programmable dosage of shock waves and a system for their guidance is used.
The point is that shock waves destroy osteophytes, restoring cartilage tissue. But healthy bones of the spine, as well as major arteries, 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 performed by a highly qualified and licensed specialist.
Alternative therapeutic methods
In addition to the 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 mainly include:
- hirudotherapy or leech therapy helps relieve inflammation and improve blood circulation;
- Acupuncture or acupuncture is an effective way to relieve pain, muscle tension and inflammation. It consists in the introduction of special needles in some biologically active points of the body;
- ozone therapy - injection of an ozone-oxygen mixture. With the correct dosage, this method inhibits the growth of osteophytes 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 begun and conservative treatment does not relieve the patient's condition, they resort to surgical methods. You cannot do without it if after several months of active treatment it was not possible to relieve pain and improve the general condition of a person. And especially in cases where problems such as decreased potency in men, disruption of the pelvic organs, numbness of the perineum have appeared.
- Endoscopic microdiscectomy - removal of a herniated disc. This is a minimally invasive surgery that relieves compression of the spinal cord or nerve root.
- Laser reconstruction of the 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 the processes of a vertebra or part of a disc, aimed at releasing a pinched nerve.
- Vertebroplasty: the injection of bone cement into the destroyed vertebral tissue to strengthen it.
- Osteotomy - removal of diseased vertebrae and discs with subsequent replacement with prostheses.
There are other methods aimed at stabilizing the vertebrae, decompressing them, removing osteophytes, etc. Each of them requires a long recovery period. After surgical treatment of the spine, the patient does not have to stand up, walk, bend over or experience physical stress for a long time. This leads to muscle relaxation and partial loss of motor functions, which require support and rehabilitation. Therefore, at the end of the postoperative period, a recovery and rehabilitation period begins, the task of which is to completely restore motor functions and prevent complications in the pelvic organs.
At this stage, some of the methods of conservative treatment described above are applied, a correct posture is developed, 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 drawn up, which should be performed daily and throughout life to prevent relapse of the disease.