Humans are the highest creatures of the vertebrate class. The spine is the group of skeletons that hold the body upright. The body should be flexible and mobile as well as being upright. The movements of the trunk occur through the joints between the vertebrae and the discs that support these joints and act as a suspension. Spine; At the same time, it is a bone structure that protects and preserves the most valuable organ of the body, the spinal cord, which is an extension of the brain, through the channel extending from top to bottom. In the picture to the side, we see the skeletal structure. The spinal bones, the discs between them, and the nerve roots emerging from between the spinal bones As you can see, the spine consists of two parts. It has a mass-shaped body and an arc-shaped structure forming the channel at the back. The protrusions of the bone structure in the back are for muscles to adhere to, and with the contraction of these muscles, our body makes movements such as bending and lifting. Of course, in this picture, the ligaments, beams and muscles that bind the structure by wrapping it together are removed and cannot be seen.
When man transforms from homo habilis to homo erectus, that is, after he turns into an upright human by standing up on two legs, the movements of the waist and trunk increased more, so the load on the waist increased as a result, spinal injuries. Lumbar hernias appeared. In animals walking on all fours, lumbar hernia is much less common than in humans. Hernia discal, what we call lumbar or neck hernia, is the compression of the disc, which acts as a suspension between the vertebrae, and the compression of the nerve root as seen in the figure. We can describe it like this. Let’s put cotton bales on top of each other. Let’s put inflated tubes between them so that they can be flexible, but the middle of these tubes should be closed, not holes. Discs are like these tubes, except that they contain a dark liquid, not air. During the movement and stretching of these cotton bales, the discs balloon up and compress the nerve root behind them, just like the balloon popping of the forced tube. If a nerve is pinched, severe pain occurs first. The movements are very painful, as each movement stretches the disc more, causing more compression of the nerve. Pain is actually a defense mechanism of the body. We protect the aching place. We do not move it much, so that the repair treatment is provided. If the compression of a nerve continues, the transmission of that nerve fibers is impaired. Since the nerve transmits movement and sensation, a decrease in strength and feeling begins. If this continues any longer, the nerve will lose its vitality. The loss of conduction of a nerve means that it is paralyzed. There is no more pain, but there is no movement or sensation. As the nerves coming out from between the neck vertebrae go to the arms, pain, numbness and weakness occur in the arms. The discomfort called sciatica among the people is actually the sensitivity and pain of this nerve as a result of herniated disc.
What to do
Sometimes the disc ruptures and presses on the nerve root. Then the only thing to do is surgery. However, such lumbar or neck hernias, which we call ‘pharagmatic disc’, are only thirteen percent of all spinal hernias. Eighty-seven percent of hernias are hernias that can be treated without surgery. This rate is higher in our country. The reason for this is that there is a habit of applying to neurosurgeons first in all kinds of spinal hernias.
Non-surgical treatments of lumbar or neck hernias
Two successive situations occur in waist or neck hernia.
1. Every movement made, every step taken will stretch the waist, which increases the pressure on the disc and compresses the nerve more, causing pain.
2. In order to restrict movement where there is pain, the muscles contract reflexively and put that area in a kind of plaster.
However, with the contraction of the muscles, the nerve is compressed more, which increases the pain even more. More pain brings more contractions, more contractions brings more pain. So a vicious circle is entered. The aim of the treatment is to break this vicious circle and the treatment is applied against these two conditions. Relieve pain and relax tense muscles.
To prevent this, two types of drugs are given: muscle relaxants and pain relievers. But the first thing to do, which is more important than these drugs, is absolute rest.
The principle is the same in physical therapy applied to patients with back or neck hernia. To reduce pain, relax the muscles and allow the herniated disc to fit back into place. For this, with the device we call traxion, the waist or length was slightly stretched, reducing the pressure there. The aim in traxion is to stretch the tense muscles and relieve their pressure. The latest development in this regard is the device we call ‘Decompressin’ or DRX-9000. The purpose of the decompression device is only to remove the pressure between the two compressed vertebrae and to create negative pressure there, to ensure that the disc is seated. As a result of a very serious study on patients with lumbar hernia, it was determined that the pressure between which two vertebrae can be removed if a patient weighs in how many kilograms, with how many degrees and how much stretching, and a device was developed for this. It has three separate computers inside. After recording the patient’s data on the disc level, it allows the herniated disc to be seated by pulling it lightly, lightly, within the framework of a program that it automatically prepares. In the picture to the right, we see the pre-treatment and post-treatment MR images of such a patient.
