What is the purpose of lying flat on the pillow for 6 hours after lumbar anesthesia to prevent

Lumbar anesthesia is performed by removing the pillow and lying flat for 6 hours after surgery to prevent cerebrospinal fluid leakage, which can cause headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and other serious conditions. Lumbar spinal canal anesthesia requires passing the needle through the dura and soft spinal membranes, which are composed of fibrous tissue with poor local blood supply and do not heal easily on their own. After anesthesia, cerebrospinal fluid can continuously leak through the puncture hole, causing headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms due to reduced intracranial pressure. In order to prevent cerebrospinal fluid leakage, patients are usually asked to lie flat on their stomachs for 6 hours after surgery to avoid leakage of cerebrospinal fluid from the puncture site, and after 6 hours, the cerebrospinal fluid will not leak again, so they can change to a normal or semi-recumbent position and eat and drink normally.