Physiotherapy is the basis for the treatment of discopathy. In extreme cases, a neurosurgeon's intervention is required to recover. What to do to avoid being on the operating table? We talk to Dr. physiotherapy with Arkadiusz Sosnowski.
More than half of Poles complain about troublesome back pain - according to TNS. Discopathy, a disease of the spine, becomes another social scourge. It can apply to everyone, because statistically each of us has a spine-related pain incident at least once in our lives.
- Discopathy, the most common disease of the spine, is already a social problem?
Dr. Arkadiusz Sosnowski: This can also be seen from the perspective of my office - the vast majority of patients are patients with spine dysfunctions. However, I believe that the word "discopathy" you refer to is currently overused. This is not the only disease in the spine. Since the media began to publicize it, people began to associate back pain exclusively with discopathy and "get sick" of it en masse. And not all back pain automatically means a sick spine. The soreness in this part of the body, also the result of various inflammations, often subsides spontaneously as a result of self-healing and self-regulation of our body. Back pain can also be caused by serious diseases of internal organs, such as kidneys, lungs, heart, and bone cancer.
- The main symptom is severe pain?
A.S .: Pain has a different character and course; it can be chronic as well as sudden and acute. We can feel radiating pain in the affected part of the spine, sensory disturbances, numbness, tingling, prickling, paresis or muscle paralysis. Some people with lumbar discopathy are unable, for example, to raise their legs in a supine position.
- What are the causes of discopathy?
A.S .: It is said that it is a disease of people sitting down. Undoubtedly, it is a civilization disease related to our unhe althy lifestyle. Lazy with the comfort of everyday life, we broke away from nature. We stopped moving, even though we were "programmed" to be physically active. In this context, our spine, in order to remain resilient and flexible, should be reasonably subjected to mechanical loads, which of course is not the same ashis strain. We are simply made to move, and the lack of it leads to pathology. The second cause of discopathy is an inadequate diet that promotes obesity. And the third is living under chronic stress.
A.S .: There is a group of people more predisposed to discopathy - these are people who are born with abolished lordosis, i.e. with a straight spine in the lumbar region, and their resistance to overload is lower. But it is generally not a genetically determined disease, although there are scientific hypotheses, not fully proven.
A.S .: It's too categorical. Just like you can't say that aging is incurable. After all, it is a natural and inevitable state of every organism. The spine, like any other organ, wears down with age and is subject to degenerative changes. Life expectancy is constantly increasing, but our spine is not quite ready for such a challenge. Another issue is inflammation in the spine and pain incidents following various injuries that require medical treatment and are completely treatable. Evidence from Life? Thousands of patients cured in the nineteen years of my professional career.
A.S .: In the vast majority of cases, conservative treatment is used, i.e. non-invasive, which does not require a hospital stay. Discopathy is a disease that is treated with many methods that are not mutually exclusive. There is no one miraculous course of action here. Patients are given painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle massage, sometimes it is recommended to wear an orthopedic corset. Anyway, every season there are novelties, maybe not as revolutionary as it seems at the beginning, but there is nothing wrong with that. The most radical method is a neurosurgical operation, for which approx. 3% are qualified. patients who do not undergo conservative treatment. But among all these methods, physiotherapy remains the basis for the treatment of discopathy. We use different methods depending on the severity of the disease: others in the acute stage, others after its resolution.
A.S .: I have many, three of them took part in the last Warsaw Marathon. Is surgery being abused as a method of treatment in Poland? I think this problem undoubtedly exists. In the case of discopathy, we have to bebe especially careful when deciding to have surgery on a sensitive site like the spine. Before making the final decision, it is always worth going to a qualified physiotherapist and giving yourself one more chance.
A.S .: There is no freedom to treat discopathy, there are strict procedures. The basis is diagnostics, which allows the patient to be classified in a specific group related to the stage of the disease. This arrangement allows for the adoption of an appropriate treatment regimen and an exercise program detailed for each day. This is not a hit or miss treatment. It shortens the healing time and allows you to quickly recover.
A.S .: Depends for whom. Discopathy may recur. I always encourage my patients to change their lifestyle to a he althier one. Unfortunately, sometimes in vain. And then it is "short ball". There is a high probability that I will meet again in my office a patient who has not acquired new habits after "putting out the fire".
A.S .: In life there can be many unfortunate accidents and injuries not attributable to us, but the quality of our life depends on our "conduct". We often forget that he alth is in our hands. All you need to do is leave the house more often, eat right and live in harmony with yourself and the environment, trying to build good relationships with people. It's easier than we think and it doesn't require huge investments.
ImportantIs this really a discopathy?
The symptoms do not give a clear picture of the disease. On the one hand, there are patients who are unaware of this because their disease is asymptomatic. They only find out about it when, for example, they have a pain incident after an injury, and then imaging tests show discopathic changes. On the other hand, many other medical or cancer diseases have similar symptoms that mimic discopathy. Therefore, a thorough interdisciplinary clinical examination of the patient (orthopedic, motor, biomechanical, neurological) supplemented with imaging examinations (X-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) is of key importance. Sometimes we are faced with atypical symptoms accompanying the alleged "discopathy". The puzzles do not match the picture, then the diagnosis becomes more complicated. The mystery of explaining the disease requires more time. However, it is necessary - proper diagnosis is the foundation of effective treatment.
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