What is adjacent segment disease?
Adjacent segment disease is a progressed form of adjacent segment degeneration, a condition that often occurs after a spinal fusion or other back surgery. Spinal fusion is surgery that is typically performed when vertebrae become so unstable that movement affects the nerves or causes pain.
What are the symptoms of adjacent segment disease?
What are the symptoms of adjacent segment disease?
- Low back pain.
- Pain that radiates from your low back down into one or both legs and/or feet.
- Neurological symptoms (tingling, numbness, or weakness) in your lower extremities.
- Pain while walking and/or difficulty standing.
What does adjacent segment mean?
Adjacent Segment Disease is a condition caused by a spinal fusion where the level above or below the fused vertebrae degenerate because they are compensating for the lack of movement at the level that was fused.
What is mild adjacent segment disease?
A: Adjacent segment disease (ASD) is a condition that sometimes occurs after a spinal fusion surgery to join or “lock” two or more bones together, stopping the natural motion at that level. Degenerative changes develop on the discs and joints above or below the level where a previous surgery was performed.
How common is adjacent segment disease?
The incidence of adjacent segment disease in the cervical spine is close to 3% without a significant statistical difference between surgical techniques (fusion vs arthroplasty). Authors report the incidence of adjacent segment disease in the lumbar spine to range from 2% to 14%.
Can the spine fuse itself?
Restabilization or “Auto-Fusion” A natural reaction to Degenerative Disc Disease is that the edges of the vertebrae will develop growths by calcification of the ligaments, which results in gradual grow of adjacent vertebrae towards the each other and eventually in rare cases, the two vertebrae fuse.
Can you live a normal life with degenerative disc disease?
Can you live a normal life with degenerative disc disease? The answer is yes, even it forces you to be out of work for an extended amount of time. Do not give up. There are many methods of pain relief that you can do at home that can help you live a normal life.
What is the best medication for spinal arthritis?
Acetaminophen (ie, Tylenol) is the drug of choice for mild to moderate spinal arthritis pain because it has few side effects and is relatively inexpensive.
Why does my back still hurt years after spinal fusion?
Because the spine has many different levels, patients very often can have a successful surgery at one level of the spine, but then continue to have wear and tear above or below. This often causes similar symptoms to recur, usually many years after an otherwise-successful surgery.
Can spinal arthritis be cured?
Osteoarthritis of the spine is a degenerative disease. If it is left untreated, back and neck pain may get worse over time. Osteoarthritis cannot be reversed, but treatment can slow down its progression, help control pain, and restore some or all of normal function.