What are spinal diseases

The spine, also known as the vertebrae, is located on the human back and has a huge impact on a person's overall ability to move. If there is a spinal disease, it will directly have an adverse effect on the patient and may even cause people to be unable to walk, sit or lie down normally. There are many types of spinal diseases. Ankylosing spondylitis, lumbar disc herniation, and spondylitis are three of the more common spinal diseases.

1. Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a disease characterized by inflammation of the sacroiliac joints and spinal attachment points. Strong association with HLA-B27. Some microorganisms (eg, Klebsiella) share common antigens with the susceptible person's own tissues and can trigger an abnormal immune response. It is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by fibrosis and ossification of the large joints of the limbs, the annulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc and its surrounding connective tissue, and ankylosis of the joints. Ankylosing spondylitis belongs to the category of rheumatic diseases and is a type of seronegative spondyloarthropathy. The cause of this disease is still unclear. It is a chronic disease with the spine as the main site of lesions, involving the sacroiliac joints, causing spinal stiffness and fibrosis, and causing varying degrees of eye, lung, muscle, and bone lesions. It is an autoimmune disease.

2. Lumbar disc herniation

Lumbar disc herniation is one of the more common diseases. It is mainly caused by different degrees of degenerative changes in the various parts of the lumbar disc (nucleus pulposus, annulus fibrosus and cartilage plate), especially the nucleus pulposus. Under the influence of external factors, the annulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc ruptures, and the nucleus pulposus tissue protrudes (or falls out) from the rupture to the back or inside the spinal canal, causing the adjacent spinal nerve roots to be stimulated or compressed, resulting in a series of clinical symptoms such as low back pain, numbness and pain in one or both lower limbs. The highest incidence of lumbar disc herniation is at L4-5 and L5-S1, accounting for about 95%.

3. Spondylitis

Spondylitis mainly occurs in young people. The initial symptom is lower back pain, because spondylitis first invades the sacroiliac joints, gradually spreads upward, and causes calcification of the ligaments of various spinal joints. X-rays show that the intervertebral disc space disappears and the spine becomes bamboo-like. It is not easy to detect in the early stages. In the late stages, the back pain worsens, and the patient cannot sit for a long time, eventually forming a severe hunchback, a stiff neck, and an inability to stand upright.