What is mild generative disc disease associated with sciatica?!
Question: Posterior elements of the lumbar spinal functional unit typically bear less weight than anterior elements in all positions. Anterior elements bear over 90% of forces transmitted through the lumbar spine in sitting; during standing, this portion decreases to approximately 80%. As the degenerative process progresses, relative anterior-to-posterior force transmission approaches parity. The spine functions best within a realm of static and dynamic stability. Bony architecture and associated specialized soft tissue structures, especially the intervertebral disk, provide static stability. Dynamic stability, however, is accomplished through a system of muscular and ligamentous supports acting in concert during various functional, occupational, and avocational activities. Degenerative cascade, described by Kirkaldy-Willis, is the widely accepted pathophysiologic model describing the degenerative process as it affects the lumbar spine and individual motion segments. This process occurs in 3 phases that comprise a continuum with gradual transition, rather than 3 clearly definable stages. The dysfunctional phase, or phase I, is characterized histologically by circumferential tears or fissures in the outer annulus. Tears can be accompanied by endplate separation or failure, interrupting blood supply to the disk and impairing nutritional supply and waste removal. Such changes may be the result of repetitive microtrauma. The unstable phase, or phase II, may result from progressive loss of mechanical integrity of the trijoint complex. Disk-related changes include multiple annular tears (eg, radial, circumferential), internal disk disruption (IDD) and resorption, or loss of disk-space height. Concurrent changes in the zygapophyseal joints include cartilage degeneration, capsular laxity, and subluxation. The biomechanical result of these alterations leads to segmental instability. Clinical syndromes of segmental instability, IDD syndrome, and herniated disk seem to fit in this phase. The third and final phase, stabilization, is characterized by further disk resorption, disk-space narrowing, endplate destruction, disk fibrosis, and osteophyte formation. Diskogenic pain from such disks may have a higher incidence than that of the pain from the disks in phases I and II; however, great variation of phases can be expected in different disks in any given individual and individuals of similar ages vary greatly. Physical rehabilitation with active patient participation is a key approach to treatment of patients with diskogenic pain. Physical therapy programs prescribed specifically to address the primary site of injury and secondary sites of dysfunction can provide a means of treatment, with or without adjunct medications, therapeutic procedures, or surgical intervention. Medical causes of LBP include the spondyloarthropathies (eg, enteric arthropathy, Reiter syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis), Marfan syndrome, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, diskitis, and neoplastic disease. Available surgical approaches include anterior, posterior, or combined procedure; interbody fusion with allograft autologous bone or threaded titanium cage; and intertransverse process in situ fusion with or without instrumentation. The introduction of disk arthroplasty has been proposed as a possible surgical option in those patients who would like to maintain as much segmental motion as possible.
In all cases when more detailed medical information is required, you would be advised to contact your doctor or orthopaedic specialist.
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reports/000054_1.htm
Hope this helps
matador 89
Answers: Posterior elements of the lumbar spinal functional unit typically bear less weight than anterior elements in all positions. Anterior elements bear over 90% of forces transmitted through the lumbar spine in sitting; during standing, this portion decreases to approximately 80%. As the degenerative process progresses, relative anterior-to-posterior force transmission approaches parity. The spine functions best within a realm of static and dynamic stability. Bony architecture and associated specialized soft tissue structures, especially the intervertebral disk, provide static stability. Dynamic stability, however, is accomplished through a system of muscular and ligamentous supports acting in concert during various functional, occupational, and avocational activities. Degenerative cascade, described by Kirkaldy-Willis, is the widely accepted pathophysiologic model describing the degenerative process as it affects the lumbar spine and individual motion segments. This process occurs in 3 phases that comprise a continuum with gradual transition, rather than 3 clearly definable stages. The dysfunctional phase, or phase I, is characterized histologically by circumferential tears or fissures in the outer annulus. Tears can be accompanied by endplate separation or failure, interrupting blood supply to the disk and impairing nutritional supply and waste removal. Such changes may be the result of repetitive microtrauma. The unstable phase, or phase II, may result from progressive loss of mechanical integrity of the trijoint complex. Disk-related changes include multiple annular tears (eg, radial, circumferential), internal disk disruption (IDD) and resorption, or loss of disk-space height. Concurrent changes in the zygapophyseal joints include cartilage degeneration, capsular laxity, and subluxation. The biomechanical result of these alterations leads to segmental instability. Clinical syndromes of segmental instability, IDD syndrome, and herniated disk seem to fit in this phase. The third and final phase, stabilization, is characterized by further disk resorption, disk-space narrowing, endplate destruction, disk fibrosis, and osteophyte formation. Diskogenic pain from such disks may have a higher incidence than that of the pain from the disks in phases I and II; however, great variation of phases can be expected in different disks in any given individual and individuals of similar ages vary greatly. Physical rehabilitation with active patient participation is a key approach to treatment of patients with diskogenic pain. Physical therapy programs prescribed specifically to address the primary site of injury and secondary sites of dysfunction can provide a means of treatment, with or without adjunct medications, therapeutic procedures, or surgical intervention. Medical causes of LBP include the spondyloarthropathies (eg, enteric arthropathy, Reiter syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis), Marfan syndrome, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, diskitis, and neoplastic disease. Available surgical approaches include anterior, posterior, or combined procedure; interbody fusion with allograft autologous bone or threaded titanium cage; and intertransverse process in situ fusion with or without instrumentation. The introduction of disk arthroplasty has been proposed as a possible surgical option in those patients who would like to maintain as much segmental motion as possible.
In all cases when more detailed medical information is required, you would be advised to contact your doctor or orthopaedic specialist.
I add a link with details of this subject
http://adam.about.com/
reports/000054_1.htm
Hope this helps
matador 89
painful...as you age your disc wear down...then pinch your sciatic nerve causing the pain that can shoot all the way down your legs...i have had two back surgeries for this...i had three vertebrae fused ...meaning they don't move any more...they used to put bone in there no they put a cage which ends up covered in bone...i still get sciatic once in awhile...my dr prescribes predisolone(ex spelling) in a medi pak...relief within a day
Bloody painful! I've had sciatica without the degenerative disease and that was bad enough- I think with the disc problem you're looking at long term pain and therefore long term pain management- it is where the sciatica is caused by the disc eroding and allowing the nerve to become trapped between discs.