1. Myth 1: Low back pain is equal to lumbar synostosis
Many elderly patients seek treatment for lumbar synostosis mostly through the introduction of relatives and friends, while young people learn more about countermeasures through the Internet, not knowing that there are often many misconceptions hidden in them, causing many misunderstandings.
One of the most common misconceptions is to equate low back pain with lumbar synostosis. In fact, although low back pain is the first symptom that most patients with lumbar synostosis experience, it is not the only symptom. About 10% of patients will only have leg pain without lumbar pain, while others may have sciatica, neck discomfort, or lower abdominal discomfort of varying degrees. Those patients who only have leg pain but no low back pain symptoms are most likely to be misdiagnosed, and leg pain is only treated by the leg, which often delays the correct treatment.
On the contrary, there are some patients with low back pain who think they have lumbar synostosis and seek medical help everywhere, even going so far as to undergo surgery, but in fact it is only the first stage of lumbar synostosis – some bulging of the intervertebral disc, not to the extent of lumbar synostosis at all, which is obviously over-treatment. There are individual patients who do not take lumbar pain seriously, thinking that lumbar pain is definitely lumbar synostosis, and it is normal to look bad anyway, so they do not receive treatment in time, and finally they find out that it is a spinal tumor that is at fault.
2, misconception two: young people will not get lumbar synostosis
The onset of lumbar synostosis is currently showing a trend of polarization, with the elderly and young people becoming the two most common types of patients. Most elderly patients are caused by natural degeneration of the lumbar spine, and some patients have other lumbar spine diseases in combination, while most young patients are “sitting” out of lumbar synostosis. The youngest patient I have operated on was only 17 years old.
Can sitting still also make the waist “sit” bad?
If the force on the lumbar disc is 100% when a person is standing, the weight on the lumbar spine is 140% when sitting with the chest up, and the force on the lumbar spine will reach 200% when sitting in an excessively forward leaning position, such as writing on the stomach. This is the main reason why young people, especially students, will early “sit” out of lumbar synostosis.
That long hours of work, study of young people how to protect their lumbar spine?
First of all, there should be a good chair. The standard of a good chair is: armrests plus lumbar support, especially a suitable lumbar support, can help the waist to maintain a normal physiological forward bending state, to reduce the force. Of course, the chair is good, but also can not forget to get up every 45 minutes or so to move the waist. Usually pay more attention to exercise the muscles of the waist and back. Muscles can be described as the bones of the “protector”, the lumbar spine is connected by the surrounding muscles, ligament tension, a long-term lack of exercise, the whole body’s muscles will inevitably flaccid and weak, the lumbar spine should be reinforced and protected by the role will be weakened.
To strengthen the muscles of the lumbar back, you can usually do more than three movements prone head lift, prone leg lift, abdominal hip extension.
3, misconception three: only surgery can cure
At present, excessive treatment is a more common phenomenon in the field of lumbar synostosis. Some patients think they have lumbar herniation when they find some bulging of the lumbar discs through the radiographs; some patients are indeed diagnosed with herniated discs, but usually have no obvious symptoms. In both cases, there is actually no need to receive treatment, but care should be taken in daily life to maintain proper posture and not to overwork.
More overtreatment is manifested in the choice between surgery and conservative therapy, which is the most tangled problem for patients. In fact, about 85% of patients with lumbar synostosis as well as lumbar spinal stenosis can be relieved and cured with regular conservative treatment. Only about 15% of the patients who are ineffective with conservative treatment or have extremely severe symptoms need surgery.
Therefore, it is important to go to a regular hospital to see an experienced doctor for treatment of lumbar synostosis and to treat surgery with caution.
In medical science, the following indications for surgery for lumbar synostosis are available.
(1) Those who have been ineffective after 6 months of regular conservative treatment.
(2) Those with severe symptoms of recurrent attacks.
(3) Sudden lumbar disc herniation resulting in severe radicular pain that cannot be relieved and continues to increase.
(4) those with lumbar disc herniation combined with loss of nerve root function or cauda equina nerve dysfunction
(5) Patients with lumbar herniation who also have combined lumbar spinal stenosis and lumbar spondylolisthesis with diseases requiring surgical treatment.
For patients who meet the above-mentioned indications, the surgery should still be performed, so as not to miss a good opportunity.
4, misconception 4: listening to the “secret recipe”
What conservative treatment should be chosen for those patients who do not yet meet the indications for surgery?
The conservative treatment of lumbar synostosis mainly includes.
Bed rest; physiotherapy with hot compresses; Chinese medicine; pelvic traction; appropriate physical therapy; use of western drugs to reduce swelling, relieve pain and nerve nutrition, and epidural hormone injections, etc.
The most common misconception about conservative treatment is to blindly listen to some irregular so-called special therapy or ancestral secret recipes, especially some elderly patients are prone to gullible commercial advertising, following the flyers or TV ads to buy drugs to eat, figure cheap, figure convenient. In fact, those so-called “ancestral recipes”, although they may improve some of the symptoms in the short term or temporarily play a role in relieving pain, but most of the symptoms are not the root cause, and it is difficult for patients with heavy symptoms to work. In addition, some secret formulas will add hormones, long-term use may cause osteoporosis, and even femoral necrosis, but harmful.
Compared to all the high priced secret formulas, most of the regular conservative treatments for lumbar synostosis are actually very cheap. Therefore, there is really no need to spend those wasted money. You should also be cautious about the various massage massage available in the market, as a poorly pushed patient with lumbar synostosis may cause incontinence or even paralysis.