8/09/2009

Describing the Issues (I didn't get nauseous until I put this together)

A bulging disc is a disc that extrudes into the spinal canal. It is also referred to as a ruptured disc or slipped disc. As a disc degenerates, it can herniate (the inner core extrudes) back into the spinal canal, as shown in this picture on the right. The light blue oval area is the disc and it is bulging into the spinal canal on the lower right side of the disc. In the lumbar area, this can cause pain to radiate all the way down the leg into the foot. In the area of the cervical spine, the pain would radiate from the neck down the arm, to the fingers.
Approximately 90% of bulging discs will occur at L4- L5 (lumbar segments 4 and 5) or L5- S1 (lumbar segment 5 and sacral segment1), which causes pain in the L5 nerve or S1 nerve, respectively



Another type of spinal arthritis occurs in the facet joints. The facet joints are the joints that connect two vertebrae together. These joints are located in the posterior aspect of the spine. The facet joints can commonly develop thickening and hardening with age, which can lead to arthritis. Arthritis in the facet joints can cause slight to severe pain, sometimes radiating into the buttocks or upper thighs.
Spinal arthritis breaks down the cartilage between the aligning facet joints in the back portion of the spine and quite often leads to pain. The facet joints (also called vertebral joints) become inflamed and progressive joint degeneration creates more frictional pain. Back motion and flexibility decrease in proportion to the progression of back pain induced while standing, sitting and even walking.

Sciatica is a layman's term for a pinched nerve that can cause pain that runs from the buttocks down the back of the leg.
The sciatic nerve is about an inch or so long in the buttocks made of multiple spinal nerves. When people commonly refer to sciatica it is not necessarily a problem of the sciatic nerve, it's a problem of the nerve when it is being pinched as it exits from the spine from a herniated disc or a bone spur.
Description of Foraminal Stenosis
At every level of the spine the nerves will exit through a small canal. This canal is called the foramen or foraminal canal. Foraminal stenosis is a narrowing of this canal.

Causes of Foraminal stenosis
Constriction of the nerve roots leaving the spine in the foraminal canal is typically caused by bone spurs, a herniated or bulging disc, arthritis or ligament thickening. Foraminal Stenosis can also be caused by enlargement of a joint (the uncinate process) in the spinal canal
Foraminal Stenosis can produce a type of pain called radicular pain which is pain that radiates into the lower extremity (the thigh, calf, and may spread to the foot) directly along the course of a specific spinal nerve root. It is often deep, steady and reproducible with certain activities such as sitting or walking, and follows the involved area of distribution of the leg covered by the specific nerve. It can be accompanied by numbness and tingling, muscle weakness and loss of specific reflexes.





















A herniated disc is a disc that extrudes into the spinal canal. It is also referred to as a bulging disc, ruptured disc or slipped disc. As a disc degenerates, it can herniate (the inner core extrudes) back into the spinal canal, as shown in this picture on the right. The light blue oval area is the disc and it is bulging into the spinal canal on the lower right side of the disc. A lumbar herniated disc can cause pain to radiate all the way down the legs and into the foot. In the area of the cervical spine, the pain would radiate from the neck down the arm into the fingers.
Approximately 90% of disc herniations will occur at L4- L5 (lumbar segments 4 and 5) or L5- S1 (lumbar segment 5 and sacral segment1), which causes pain in the L5 nerve or S1 nerve, respectively. Although disc herniations are most commonly diagnosed in the lumbar region, cervical herniated discs are not unheard of and occur in about 1 in 10 patients.

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