Disc protrusion is a disease of the spine in which one of the intervertebral discs shifts from its place and is squeezed out of the spinal column. Protrusion, as a rule, is accompanied by rather intense pains, which tend to become weaker as the disease progresses.
The development of disk protrusion is possible in any of the spine, however, the protrusion of the cervical spine is the most dangerous , due to the small thickness and narrowness of the spinal canal in this section.
There can be many reasons for the development of protrusion. That is why it is so important to know them all and to the extent possible eliminate them. The most common cause of the disease is spinal osteochondrosis. Osteoporosis is no less dangerous in this regard. Favorable conditions for the development of protrusion create any trauma and damage to the spine, including its curvature, trauma and microtrauma (microtrauma usually occurs when you try to move or lift a heavy object), birth injuries or abnormalities of the spine that occurred during the prenatal period . There is a risk of protrusion in the case of a sedentary lifestyle, and this disease can also develop in old age.
It is worth noting that disk protrusion is often confused with another spinal disease - intervertebral hernia. Although these diseases are similar, there are significant differences between them, and the treatment should be completely different. That is why it is so important to be able to recognize the first symptoms of the disease - advanced protrusion of the disc can lead to disability of the patient.
So, in the first stage of protrusion, when the disk is 2/3 destroyed, the disease can be detected by acute, local pain, the cause of which is the appearance of cracks in the fibrous ring.
At the second stage, protrusion of the disk gives the patient even more unpleasant sensations - due to the strong displacement of the intervertebral disk, the pain becomes more and more intense.
At the third stage, not only severe local pains are observed, but also numbness of the arms and legs, as well as impaired dynamics.
In addition to these symptoms, protrusion of the disc may be accompanied by unpleasant symptoms such as headaches and neck pains, dizziness, shoulder pain, hearing and vision impairment.
Despite the fact that protrusion itself is a very unpleasant disease, its variety, dorsal protrusion of the disc, is much more painful and dangerous. Dorsal protrusion of the disc is characterized by posterior protrusion of the disc - protrusion directed towards the spinal canal. Damage to the structures of this channel leads to very unpleasant consequences: pain, impaired sensitivity and motility, as well as impaired functions of internal organs.
But this is not the worst. An even more dangerous subspecies of dorsal protrusion is diffuse disc protrusion. With it, the intervertebral disc protrudes also towards the spinal canal, but unevenly - diffusely. This disease has a tendency to chronic course. May lead to disability of the patient. If diffuse disc protrusion is not treated on time, an intervertebral hernia may develop in its place .
Treatment of any protrusion of the disc is a complex and time-consuming process. Unfortunately, there is still no medicine that can cure this disease, so the treatment of protrusion is a whole complex of procedures. First of all, doctors identify and eliminate the cause of the development of the disease, and only then prescribe medication and a set of procedures to the patient.
Of the procedures, acupuncture, acupressure, vacuum therapy and hirudotherapy have a good effect. With dorsal protrusion, a complex of therapeutic exercises, physiotherapy, manual therapy is prescribed. With diffuse protrusion, the main task of doctors is to unload the affected area of the spine.
Proper nutrition and reasonable physical activity are also of great importance.
Also, some folk remedies give good results - such as compresses from alcohol tinctures on garlic or Kalanchoe. You can also wipe with ice, and then wrap up numb limbs.