”At present, in clinical terms, the proportion of young and middle-aged people who suffer from lumbar disc herniation is very high, especially like drivers, teachers, accountants, construction workers, etc. are the most prevalent population. In addition, due to the lack of exercise, office white-collar workers who sit in the office for a long time will also have this problem.”
”In fact, from the age of 25, people’s intervertebral discs have degenerative changes, thickening of the fibrous ring and reduced elasticity. By the age of 30-40, the intervertebral disc further loses elasticity, plus the intervertebral disc has no blood circulation, and its repair ability is getting worse after the injury.”
In fact, after the age of 25, both men and women your intervertebral disc has begun to degenerate, such as not pay attention to the protection of the spine, after entering middle age, it is easy to trauma and strain, causing lumbar disc herniation, which is one of the important reasons for the occurrence of lumbar pain.
Dr. Gu Xin suggested that in daily life, we should pay attention to the spine, avoid extracting too heavy objects, bending over for a long time, etc. In the event of an acute attack of lumbar disc herniation, bed rest should be taken to avoid aggravating the condition, and when the condition is serious, early surgery should also be considered.
Exertion injury prone to lumbar disc herniation
Dr. Gu Xin told reporters that trauma and strain injury are important causes of lumbar disc herniation. From the anatomical point of view, the intervertebral disc is thin in the back and thick in the front, when people bend over, the nucleus pulposus moves to the back and produces resistance elasticity, such as excessive weight pressure, the nucleus pulposus may break through the fibrous ring fixed and protrude and protrude.
Inherently, the intervertebral disc is a weak part that gradually loses its elasticity and repair ability as it ages, and this is compounded by acquired “environmental factors” and various uncertainties, such as lack of protection for the spine and excessive physical work, which can aggravate the degeneration process. Therefore, after entering middle age, most people have the problem of herniated discs, and even some people have not yet entered middle age, the waist has been “untenable”.
Dr. Gu Xin introduced the following symptoms, we should be alert to the existence of lumbar disc protrusion.
1, lumbar activities appear obstacles, whether in life or at work, lumbar activities will be affected in all aspects, especially after the most obvious extension of the obstacle, and a few patients will be significantly limited in forward flexion.
2. The phenomenon of pain in the lower back. Many people will have a history of irregular low back pain or sometimes recurrent low back pain. The severity of low back pain varies, and in severe cases it may affect the ability to turn over or sit up.
3. Presence of radiating pain in the lower extremities. Radiating pain in the sciatic nerve region of one lower extremity is the main symptom of lumbar disc herniation, often appearing when the low back pain disappears or is alleviated. The pain starts from the buttocks and gradually radiates to the posterior side of the leg and the lateral side of the calf, and some of them may develop to the lateral side of the dorsal foot, heel or palm of the foot, affecting standing and walking.
4. The temperature of the affected limb decreases. Many patients feel cold in the affected limb, and on objective examination, the temperature of the affected limb is lower than that of the healthy side; in some cases, the arterial pulsation of the dorsalis pedis is also weaker, which is due to the stimulation of sympathetic nerves. It must be distinguished from embolic arteritis.
5, there is a subjective numbness: longer duration of the disease, there is often a subjective numbness. It is mostly limited to the posterior lateral calf, dorsum of the foot, heel or palm of the foot.
6. Most patients with lumbar disc herniation will have different degrees of spinal scoliosis. The direction of the lateral concavity can indicate the location of the herniation in relation to the nerve root.
Prompt bed rest in case of lumbar and leg pain
The most painful thing about suffering from lumbar disc herniation is – lumbar and leg pain. Patients often say they have low back pain, weakness or radiating pain and numbness in the lower limbs. Gu Xin told reporters that symptoms such as back and leg pain are mainly due to the direct compression of the surrounding nerve roots by the herniated disc, and inflammatory reactions and edema occur when the nerve roots are compressed.
In the acute attack of lumbar disc herniation, patients will feel very serious symptoms, often screaming “I’m in so much pain that I can’t even straighten my waist!” In fact, patients should take a simple, but also more effective measures to relieve symptoms, that is, bed rest. The pain can be relieved by allowing the disc to repair itself through rest.
However, herniated lumbar discs have a distinct characteristic of being prone to recurrence. In the case of prolonged sitting, bending (the physiological burden is greatest when the spine is tilted forward 20 degrees), lifting and carrying heavy objects, etc. often triggers the onset of disc herniation. Therefore, recurrence is possible whenever the spine is damaged by exertion. In the clinic, there are also patients who are disappointed and believe that lumbar disc herniation cannot be cured. Gu Xin said, in fact, the overall effect of this disease is very good, in general, with conservative treatment, such as bed rest, anti-inflammatory and pain medication, traction and massage treatment, more than 70% of patients can be significantly relieved of symptoms.
Treatment of herniated discs through the “keyhole”
If conservative treatment is still ineffective, or if the examination reveals a severely herniated disc that continues to cause nerve compression and cannot be reset, surgery should be considered to relieve the pain. Dr. He once had a patient who suffered from lumbar disc herniation for more than 10 years, but due to her busy schedule and fear of surgery like most patients, she kept putting it off and not solving it completely, and her symptoms kept coming back and coming back, and when the attack was so severe that she couldn’t even get up.
Dr. Gu Xin said that there are two types of treatment for lumbar disc herniation, surgical and non-surgical. There are many specific methods in each category, and each specific method has its indications and contraindications, but in general, there is no one method that is “all-inclusive”. Blind surgery and refusal to operate are undesirable: indiscriminate surgical treatment of lumbar disc herniation increases the unnecessary economic burden on the one hand, and increases the chances of various surgical complications on the other. The negative impact of surgery is amplified by the belief that surgery must not be done and that conservative treatment is equally harmful. The reason is that some patients must undergo surgery, and the earlier the better, otherwise, the loss of neurological function may become permanent.
At present, the development of optical technology, imaging technology, and mechanical engineering technology has promoted the development of minimally invasive spinal surgery techniques. Unlike traditional surgery where a large incision is made in the lumbar region and part of the vertebral plate is removed, minimally invasive spine surgery requires only a few “small windows” the size of a keyhole, and the surgeon can see the surgical area with the help of an intervertebral foramoscope or surgical navigation equipment. By operating in a minimally invasive manner, the damage to the body is greatly reduced, and the intervertebral foramoscope and surgical navigation devices can magnify the surgical site so that the surgeon can operate more delicately and the probability of accidental injury is greatly reduced. For patients who have doubts about surgery, this is certainly a reassuring pill.
How to prevent lumbar disc herniation?
●When extracting heavy objects, make sure your posture is correct so that your lumbar muscles are fully prepared to master the balance and not to exert too much force.
After bending over for a long time, do not straighten your back violently.
Avoid excessive mental tension, do not sit for long periods of time, and take appropriate physical exercise to relax the muscles and reduce the pressure on the intervertebral discs.
●Protect yourself from cold and rain, and do not rest in bed in wet places. Cold and wet environments can cause small blood vessels and muscles to contract and spasm.
● After exertion, pay attention to bed rest to allow the lumbar discs to repair themselves and return to normal.