What to do if you have lumbar disc herniation? This is how you should treat it

With the increase of social, work and life pressure, people's lumbar problems are becoming more and more prominent and will manifest in different forms. Lumbar protrusion is a very common one, so people are eager to find scientific and effective treatment methods. The treatment of lumbar herniation first requires understanding its cause, which is usually manifested as low back pain, radiating pain in the lower limbs and sciatica. Different symptoms also indicate different degrees of severity. Patients choose appropriate treatment methods based on their own symptoms, and after recovery, they need to do preventive work in time to avoid recurrence in order to better ensure their health.

1. Lumbar vertebrae prolapse

After the various parts of the lumbar intervertebral disc (nucleus pulposus, annulus fibrosus and cartilage plate), especially the nucleus pulposus, have different degrees of degenerative changes, 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 ruptured part 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%.

2. Clinical symptoms

1. Low back pain is the first symptom that occurs in most patients, with an incidence rate of about 91%. Because the outer layer of the annulus fibrosus and the posterior longitudinal ligament are stimulated by the nucleus pulposus, induced pain in the lower back is produced through the vertebral nerve, sometimes accompanied by buttocks pain. 2. Radiating pain in the lower limbs Although high-level lumbar disc herniation (L2-3, L3-4) can cause femoral neuralgia, it is rare in clinical practice, less than 5%. The vast majority of patients have herniation between L4 and 5, or L5 and S1, and present with sciatica. Typical sciatica is pain that radiates from the lower back to the buttocks, back of the thigh, outer side of the calf to the foot. The pain is aggravated by increased abdominal pressure due to sneezing and coughing. The radiating pain is mostly on one side of the limbs, and only a very small number of patients with central or paracentral nucleus pulposus herniation show symptoms in both lower limbs.

There are three causes of sciatica:

① The ruptured intervertebral disc produces chemical stimulation and autoimmune reactions, which cause chemical inflammation of the nerve roots; ② The protruding nucleus pulposus compresses or stretches the inflamed nerve roots, blocking their venous return, further aggravating edema and increasing sensitivity to pain; ③ The compressed nerve roots are ischemic. The above three factors are interrelated and aggravate each other.

IV. Prevention

Lumbar disc herniation is caused by accumulated injuries based on degenerative changes, and the accumulated injuries will aggravate the degeneration of the intervertebral disc. Therefore, the focus of prevention is to reduce accumulated injuries. You should maintain a good sitting posture at ordinary times, and the bed should not be too soft when sleeping. People who work at a desk for a long time need to pay attention to the height of the table and chair and change their posture regularly. People who need to bend over frequently in their jobs should stretch their waists and chests regularly, and use a wide belt. The training of the waist and back muscles should be strengthened to increase the intrinsic stability of the spine. Those who use waist belts for a long time should pay special attention to the training of the waist and back muscles to prevent the adverse consequences of disuse muscle atrophy. If you need to bend over to pick up something, it is best to flex your hips and knees and squat to reduce pressure on the back of the lumbar disc.