Lumbar disc and new methods of lumbar disc treatment
What is a lumbar disc?
The lumbar disc is structurally similar to a car wheel. In order for us to be able to perform various movements throughout our lives, our spines are not made in one piece, but in pieces that are connected like beads of a rosary. These bony parts are called vertebral body and the parts that connect these bones together are called discs. As we know, the car wheel has an external tire, which is usually a harder material and is called a tire. Inside it is a softer rubber called a tube. High-pressure air enters inside it. The lumbar disc is made of two parts. The outer part, which is stronger and made of 32 layers, is called annulus fibrosus, and inside the disc ring there is a gelatin-like structure called nucleus pulposus.
Our back is made of 5 vertebrae. Between the vertebrae are cartilaginous structures called lumbar discs (Figure 1).
At what age is lumbar disc disease or rupture seen?
Lumbar disc disease is a disease of middle-aged people, that is, the most common age of lumbar disc disease is the third and fourth decades (between 30 and 40 years old). In many cases, the patient has back pain or lower limb pain for months or even years and usually gets partial improvement with medication. In one of these attacks, the back pain becomes very severe and no longer responds to medical treatment.
What is the function of lumbar disc?
1- It makes us able to bend and rotate forward and backward, left and right. In fact, the disc is a living bearing.
2- Like a shock absorber, it takes the blows to the spine, so we walk evenly.
3- When lifting heavy objects, pressure is applied to the disk, which is a compressible structure, as a result, the vertebrae, which cannot be compressed, are protected from breaking.
4- Each disc acts like small levers in the movements of the spine and makes us able to lift heavy objects.
How many parts is the disc made of?
The disc is made of two parts. One is the annulus fibrosus and the other is the nucleus pulposus.
The disk ring is made of several interwoven layers of collagen (like a car tire).
Where is the lumbar disc?
Discs are actually live bearings that fit between our vertebrae, allowing us to bend forward, backward, and sideways, or to rotate. In fact, lumbar discs are the space between the vertebrae. In terms of gender and type, the disc is a type of cartilage. Structurally, the disc is made of a ring and a core, just like a car tire that has an inflated tire and another tire around it. Therefore, in our back, which has 5 vertebrae, five discs are placed between them.
Lumbar disc diagnosis
Everyone has a lumbar disc, but when people say that they have a lumbar disc, it means that their lumbar disc is torn or defective. Lumbar disc disease can be diagnosed in several ways: the most important one is the patient's history. In lumbar disc disease, a severe pain usually appears suddenly in the back or in the back of the patient's leg. It is usually one-sided and sometimes it can be two-sided. The patient may have a history of vague back pains in the past, but suddenly has a very severe back pain or leg pain. Lumbar disc pain is usually in the path of the sciatic nerve. That is, it is a pain that starts from the back and spreads to the pelvis, the back of the thigh, and then the back of the leg. The second way to diagnose lumbar disc pain is to examine the patient. During the examination of the patient, the doctor raises the patient's leg and causes pain or aggravates the patient's pain. Finally, to prove the diagnosis of lumbar disc rupture or disease, we can use MRI, which shows the lumbar disc completely and also shows the type of disc disease, its extent and rupture, as well as the location of lumbar disc protrusion. In addition, nerve and muscle tape can be used to prove lumbar disc rupture and diagnose lumbar disc pain.