What does hydration of discs mean?
Between every two vertebrae lies a disc. The main function of the intervertebral disc is to allow movement between two vertebrae and to transmit loads from one vertebra to the next. Thus works as a shock absorber for all that we put our backs through everyday.
This intervertebral disc has two parts, the annulus fibrosus is an outer, flexible but very tough ring, which is filled with a gelatinous substance, called the nucleus pulposus. This inner substance is primarily water. The disc is designed, when fully hydrated, so that the outer ring bears 20% of the weight load while the inner nucleus pulposus supports 80%. All day long, as gravity works on our upright spine, water is slowly squeezed out of the discs; then at night, when we are lying down, the discs slowly rehydrate. This daily dehydration and nightly rehydration of the discs is the reason why most of us are generally about ¼ to ½ inch shorter when we go to bed than when we wake up in the morning.
Discs function like coiled springs. The criss-crossing fibers of the annulus pull the vertebral bodies together against the elastic resistance of the gel-filled nucleus. The nucleus acts like a ball-bearing when we move, allowing the vertebral bodies to roll over the incompressible gel. The gel-filled nucleus is composed mostly of fluid. This fluid is absorbed during the night as we lie down and is pushed out during the day as you move upright. But this needs musculature to be elastic, hard musculature brings two consecutive vertebrae nearer with distorsion of vertebral column and disc get dehydrated and our discs increasingly lose the ability to reabsorb fluid and become brittle and flatter; and this process leads diseases, such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, cause bone spurs (osteophytes) to grow. Injury and strain can cause discs to bulge or herniation, a condition in which the nucleus is pushed out through the annulus to compress the nerve roots causing back pain.
In our human beings the spine is straight vertical to the ground. So it will also have a tendency to fall forward. As our spine is perpendicular to the hip joint, forward and backward movement of the spine is around the hip joint. We have to adjust each of the vertebrae either backward or forward slightly so as to keep the column move as one entity, made up of small different multiple entities. with securing weak spots with smooth movement of related muscles.
This needs elasticity and extensibility of muscles.
The reason is that there is practically very small movement between two consecutive vertebrae when we go forward or backward. Each has a fractional movement but collective movement of the spine is going forward or going backward or rotational.
In today’s modern times we have lost the mobility of the hip joint i.e. around the head of the thigh bone pelvis must move like a hammock. To carry out these movements, it is very important to make our muscles elastic and extended. Here we must understand why both shoulder and pelvic girdle movement is most important in human beings, which we have lost and forgotten in today’s Physical activities.
Remember, The effect of body weight, muscle pull and thrust due to impact of the feet whether trivial as walking or of greater magnitude, in running and jumping are largely smoothed out by the discs and curvatures.
In day to day activities and even in the name of any exercise ,Over time, a misalignment or deformity in the spine is because of stress on muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones throughout the back and can result in impaired balance or walking ability
Once this compression start it’s an inflammation, decreasing spaces between two consecutive vertebrae, further leads to dehydration of disc and slip disc osteophytes( calcification is defence of our own body to stop the wrong movements) Fractures
Root cause of all illness and diseases. It is real cause and effect.
Spine Which is the major load bearing structure in our body along with many movements and that predisposes us for many health issues.
Imbalances in the spine create kinesiological chain reactions throughout the body. Close and open spaces and cavities are all directly related to the spine. It governs all our body functions. One must understand that there are numerous connections between the lower part of the body and the upper part of the body and when something is wrong in one part of the body, it translates up through the spine along with body cavities too.
Therefore our muscles must have elasticity and extensibility i.e muscles tone ( not hyper and hypo)which is a real strength of muscles.Then only contraction of musculature and smooth tissues will be smooth without abnormal pressure or load.
To better understand why this happens, look at the important functional roles of the spinal curvature in the body.
Together, the three curves of the spine give us three very important advantages in terms of functionality,
1) Shock absorption – People who don’t have the normal curves of the spine, e.g. people with a flat back often have considerable issues, like e.g.neck and back pain, because the shock absorption from movement impact isn’t optimal.
2) Curvature of spine – function of the spinal curves is to balance the center of gravity over the support base and allow for efficient sitting,standing and walking.
What happens with the balance of the body’s gravity center is disturbed.
The three curves of the spine allows increased range of movement.
what happens in the body when we lose the segmental articulation in the back. Today’s century loss of this curvature at a very early age is very common. Degeneration starts at these levels and further this process continuously deteriorates.
When the continuous arch of the spine is lost, the body loses functionality in several important ways.
Improper movement in the spine slowly leads to losing elasticity of muscles around spine and vice versa. Hence there is friction and the end result is inflammation which is swelling between two vertebrae. Note down it is a defensive response of the body to tissue damage. But who cares ? With the swelling the natural tendency of the body is to stop movement there hence muscles go into spasm. But people are not aware that the body keeps adjusting ( due to no pain they feel they are okay ) and due to work pressure, continues to work and the process of damage or deterioration continues but who bothers?
b) Spondylosis – at above condition, our same habits continue and further defense of our body is to stop the incorrect movement, muscles go into further spasm. Muscles remain in contracture position and thus shortens and normal curvature become straight (known as loss of normal lordosis).this mobility of vertebral body, further leads with narrowing of intervertebral space and further leads of forming osteophytes which irritates the nerves.
c) P.I.D (prolapsed intervertebral disc)-with narrowing of intervertebral space, disc between two vertebrae protrudes backward.
d) Spondylosis – above process goes on damaging further with the increasing pressure on the vertebrae they break near the lamina of vertebrae which is called Pars interarticularis i.e. breaking down of vertebral structure.
A bone may fracture without visibly breaking (hair line) see in the picture, dog sign shows the decapitation of the head, called a beheaded dog. This happens because of pressure on vertebrae, it is called stress fracture or fatigue fracture. In healthy adults stress fracture results from repeated, strenuous activities such as running, jumping or aerobics dancing and similar activities. Oblique views of x-rays are taken to show this defect.
e) Spondylolisthesis – slipping of vertebrae forward or backward. If the pressure still goes on increasing then it breaks further and might happen that the vertebra slides over the lower vertebra and loses its alignment, sliding movement of one vertebra over another forward or backward.in this case there is tremendous pressure on the nerve root passing through the intervertebral foramen and further resulting in compression of the spinal cord which may paralyze both legs. The lateral view of x-rays show the slipping forward or backward of the vertebra.
Spondylolysis and Spondylolisthesis, these two deformities happen mainly at lumbar region and very rare case at cervical region.
f) Ankylosing – it is the chronic progressive inflammatory disorder of the axial skeleton system with ossification of joints and ligaments.in these ligaments and joints get deposited with calcium. Hence vertebrae become square in size and the whole spine looks like bamboo (x-rays show this). Even the region between muscle mass and tendon gets deposited with calcium. Blood test called HLA B 27(human leukocyte antigens) comes positive.
Causes – which we ignore. The root cause of an unhealthy spine lies in our evolution( read the article the evolution of the spine and naturalization).
- There is injury to the spine and the muscles around. But we don’t know exactly when it will happen.
- There may also be muscular spasm ( an involuntary contraction of a muscle group) which is a protective mechanism. The muscles in spasm act as a splint to prevent further damage and they are associated with pain, distortion of normal movement and a twisted, unnatural posture.
- One of the most important causes which are playing a key role is modern lifestyle. We are sitting in a car and we have to suddenly apply breaks. Sometimes we are on the scooter and it goes over a ditch. Nowadays we find many speed barkers in our city, no doubt, it’s for our safety but they are more of a back breaker.
Nowadays most of the teenager’s even school children, sit with hunched backs. People who have table jobs such as students, workplaces etc. always find that there is no relationship between the height of the table computer screen and that of a chair. Secondly they have to sit in a distorted posture. These people generally have a defect at the level of the cervical region and they have a hunch back in the chest. People who are working with the computers develop problems in the region at slightly higher i.e. at C3\C4level.in people who carry weight on their heads; it is still at C1\C2 level.
- Nowadays new industries and commercial organizations are coming up and they require a particular posture where we have to have our spine in a contorted position. All these lead to an imbalance between the two sides of muscles which lead to back pain.
- At times if we move at a little faster speed, it can give us strain on our muscles. This we often experience if we are travelling. We want to get into a train.so quickly we lift some load, we don’t know exactly how much weight of that load is and that may lead to back pain.
- We also injure muscles. We can see this often in people who play different sports. In all these games when these sportsmen use their muscles during their movements they find that the muscles of their back are not that strong and not balanced. Even if the person is not experiencing pain or may be even muscles are not properly developed.
- With ladies, because of repeated pregnancies, there is additional stretch and strain on the muscles of the back along with the lifting of weights. There is, at times, a lot of fat accumulated under the skin which pulls down the spine. All these things ultimately lead to chronic back pain.
- The disc can be damaged by violent movements like accidents, sports, repetitive exercise or by lifting weights. This type of injury becomes more common with increasing age as the discs lose their water content and become less flexible. They also become thinner which results in the loss of height seen in old age. Damaged discs may impinge on the spinal nerves resulting in pain.
- Sometimes it is a developmental defect where we find successive vertebrae are fused together. There may not be enough supportive attachments. There may be deficiencies in the formation of Spina bifida, it is a congenital defect of the vertebral column in which the lamina of L5 or S1 fails to develop normally and unit at the midline.
- In addition, different diseases such as tuberculosis of the spine. Malignancy of the spine can also cause back pain.
Conclusion –
Improper movement in the spine leads to neck and back pain and the body always keeps adjusting wrongly to adapt and the end result is swelling between two vertebrae. With the swelling, the natural tendency of the body is to stop movement through the muscular spasms,as it is improper. But at this level still we continue our work ,some take pain killers , use hot or cold pads or some sort of stretching. These gives temporarily relief but further this keeps on giving pressure on vertebrae and lead to further damage.which leads to decreasing spaces between two consecutive vertebrae (sometimes progressive misalignment or deformity of the spine),further leads dehydration of disc further this leads to calcification and osteophytes osteoporosis (weakening of bone)All these processes continuously lead giving pressure to spinal cord. But this is just not related to spinal deterioration, along with this compression over all spaces in body cavities deteriorate with hardening of over all soft tissues.
Body gives so many small and big hints like uneasiness,headache, acidity, indigestion,neck and back pain, muscular spasm, joint pains, cough and cold which leads to further signs and symptoms like ear block, motion sickness, dizziness,vertigo,migraines, indigestion,constipation, allergies, infections, inflammation, viral ,BP, hormonal imbalance -Thyroid, diabetes all such things further leads to many signs and symptoms,many more illnesses and diseases depends upon distortion of spaces within which damage inner environment/ homeostasis .
