The Anatomy of back and neck pain disorders

Back pain and cervical/neck pain are two of the most common medical conditions experienced by almost 75 percent of the world’s population. These conditions often require proper medical care and significantly affect an individual’s ability to work and manage the daily life activities. In most of the cases, neck or back pain might also accompany several neurological problems.

Some of the common conditions are discussed below:

Peripheral Neuropathy

Critical damage to the peripheral nerves, the nerves in your fingertips and toes, often causes peripheral neuropathy. Once damaged, these nerves stop functioning properly causing the person to experience an abnormal or decreased sensation in his/her fingers and toes. The condition worsens when they start having difficulty in moving these body parts. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, shooting or stabbing pain in the toes and/or fingertips, or any change in the sensation ability of fingers or toes.

Treatment

In the absence of no known cure, the entire goal of peripheral neuropathy treatment is just to slow down disease progression, maintain foot health, and decrease pain.

Sciatica

Sciatica, also known as lumbar radiculopathy, is a very common type of peripheral neuropathy which occurs when the sciatic nerve gets damaged. The sciatic pain originates along the sciatic nerve and then move down from the back of the pelvis to the back of the thigh. As the nerve enables proper movement and sensation of thigh, knee, foot and toes, these are the ones which get affected the most. Symptoms include

·         Lower back pain reaching the buttock and back of one thigh

·         Pain extending from buttock to the foot

·         Hand or leg numbness& weakness in severe cases

Treatment:

The treatment for sciatic nerve pain includes both surgical and non-surgical options. Where acupuncture, yoga, massage, exercise, pain relievers and muscle relaxers can be practiced in the initial stages; epidural steroid injections or even surgeries might be required in severe cases, where the patient complaints of continuous pain for 4 to 6 weeks.

Slipped Disc or Herniated Disc Disorders

Injury or weakness due to aging degenerates the soft disks that protects bones by absorbing shocks put forthdue to various daily activities like walking, twisting and lifting. This, then, results in rupturing of the softer nucleus, commonly known as slipped disk or herniated disk.

Slipped disk can occur in any part of the spine, causing pain and discomfort. Also, if the disk compresses one of the spinal nerves, then a patient might experience pain and numbness. Other slip disc symptoms include muscle weakness, decreased knee reflexes and changes in bladder or bowel function.

Treatment:

Slipped disk treatment ranges from several conservative to surgical methods. The treatment usually depends on the level of discomfort a patient experiences or how far the disk has slipped out of its usual place. In severe cases, surgery might be required to remove or repair the slipped disk.

Scoliosis

A 10 degree or greater curvatureof the spinecaptured on an X-ray is often defined as scoliosis. It is a type of spinal deformity which is often confused with poor posture. Thoracic curve, Lumbar curve, Thoracolumbar curve and Double major curve are the four common types of curve patterns seen in scoliosis.

The symptoms often vary from individual to individual and comprise of difference in shoulder height, hip height or position, the way arms hang beside the body while standing or the side of back appear when bending forward.

Treatment:

There are three main options for scoliosis treatmentfor adolescents ‘observation’, ‘back braces’ & ‘surgery’. However, exercise is not proven to cure or reduce the curvature but it is highly recommended to keep the muscles strong and flexible.

Cervical Spondylosis

An abnormal wear on the cartilage and bones of the neck (cervical vertebrae) along with the degeneration and mineral deposits in the cushions between the vertebrae (cervical discs) causes cervical spondylosis,  which can gradually compress one or more of the nerve rootsleading to increase inneck and arm pain, weakness, and significant changes in sensation.

Treatment:

Cervical spondylosis treatmentfocusesmajorly on providing relief from pain, reducing the risk of permanent damage, and helping the patient in leading a normal life. Usually, non-surgical methods are more effective in this case.