Signs of spinal degeneration

Early stage spondylosis causes the body to lose its balance and physiological curves; second stage causes pain, stress, fatigue .

According to Dr. Paul D'Alfonso, Director of Maple Healthcare Chiropractic Healthcare Center, spinal degeneration is a very common disease now and patients tend to be younger.

The disease progresses through 4 stages. The longer it is, the more serious the degeneration is, causing more damage to the spine and overall health.

Image simulating the stages of spinal degeneration.

Phase one

In the early stages of spinal degeneration, the patient's body begins to lose its inherent balance. The body's natural physiological curves are also altered, increasing the pressure on the parts around the spine, such as the intervertebral disc, joints, and nerves . causing them to age faster. However, because the body has self-regulation to adapt, the patient will not feel any pain or other symptoms.

If detected and treated early on from this stage, the condition will be maximized or reversed.

Second stage

At this time, the patient may have pain, pain, tension and fatigue. The spine appears more problems such as spinal spine, narrow disc. Posture has a marked change due to the loss of movement of the joints. Height reduction and spinal stenosis may also occur. This situation is common in 80% of men and 76% of women in their 40s.

At this stage, treatment with conservation methods such as chiropractic therapy, physiotherapy . still brings good results. Therefore patients need to be aware of symptoms for timely treatment.

The degenerate spine appears to compress nerves.

Phase three

To degenerate the spine to progress to this stage, it shows that you do not care for good spinal health care for many years. As a result, the body lacks energy, reduces height, severely damages the nervous system. Patients also have limited movement, abnormal physiological curves, unbalanced posture, formation of permanent scar tissue and severe bone deformity.

At this stage, conservative treatment is no longer effective, mainly to relieve aches and pains.

Stage four

This is the last phase of degeneration accompanied by imbalance and severe movement limits. Most problems that have arisen in the previous stages will become permanent. Some cases of muscular atrophy due to long-term nerve compression, ankylosing spondylitis, spinal deformity, surgical intervention are required. The advantage of surgery is to improve the condition quickly, the pain will be resolved immediately. However, it is accompanied by the risk of postoperative complications, significant recurrence rates and high costs.

In order to correctly diagnose spinal degeneration, patients need to do some X-ray or MRI imaging tests. X-rays can help the doctor "see" the entire structure of your spine and detect problems such as spinal stenosis, spinal spine, bone deformity or osteoarthritis.

MRI shots are more expensive but more effective than radiographs because soft tissue can be captured, thus determining the serious problems such as disk bulge, disk herniation. The MRI scan also helps the doctor see the effects of degeneration on nerves. From there, it is easy to assess the level of compression of spinal or spinal disc herniation on nerves and spinal cord.

If suspicion of nerve damage is suspected due to degenerative changes in the patient's spine, the doctor may order a special test called electromyography (EMG) to measure the nerve response rate.