Everyone suffers from neck or back pain at least once in their life. While most of these go away on their own, some become chronic and negatively affect the person’s activities of daily living. Degenerative disc diseases are among the most common causes of neck and low back pain. So, what is degenerative disc disease, what causes it, and how is it treated?
Spine column is one of the most important parts of our skeleton that makes up our body and keeps us standing. The 33 vertebrae stacked on top of each other are held together by joints, ligaments, and muscles. Apart from these structures, the disc also plays an important role in fixing the two vertebrae together. The disc is like a gel-filled balloon with a 78-85% liquid content, consisting of a core in the middle and layered layers in the form of onion skin around it.
Different loads act on the disc during the movements of the spine. These loads also increase intra-disc pressure. For example, by bending forward 20 degrees or carrying a 20 kg load, the intra-disc pressure becomes 300%, and a wide picture emerges, starting with the degeneration of the disc and the decrease in the fluid content of the disc, up to calcification. While short-term overloads can be harmful to the spine, low force but long-term loads are also harmful.
In these days we live, the prolongation of working from home, the non-ergonomic working environment at home, and the shortening of the functional activity period can be harmful to our spine. Scientific studies have shown that muscle strength decreases in 2 weeks with complete inactivity, while muscle strength is regained with exercise in 6 weeks.
How does the degenerative disc disease treatment process work?
Spine rehabilitation is critical in the treatment of degenerative disc diseases. In order to adapt the patients to the rehabilitation process, the patient’s understanding of the spine anatomy and biomechanics, as well as the patient’s daily life activities are understood by the rehabilitation team, and personalised trainings and exercise programs are planned. Pain is controlled primarily in rehabilitation.
Following this, it is aimed to increase the stability of the spine with dynamic stabilisation exercises. In order to control the pain, methods such as medical therapy, Bondi Junction chiropractors, physical therapy and pain therapy are selected according to the patient’s condition. In cases where no results can be obtained from the rehabilitation program applied regularly for 6 months, surgical opinion should be obtained.
In rehabilitation, spinal alignment should be evaluated while sitting and standing and correct posture should be taught. The “core” region, which forms the centre of the waist and hip regions, where the body’s centre of gravity is located, is in the form of a cylinder surrounded by deep and superficial waist and abdominal muscles.
The top of the cylinder is formed by the diaphragm, and its base is formed by the pelvic floor muscles that surround the pelvis from below. This cylinder is associated with all the muscles of our body through the fascia system. The fascia system ensures that the movement is balanced, synergetic and stable. Because of these connections, all muscles are activated, starting from the centre of the trunk, during dynamic stabilisation exercises.
Exercises are planned from simple to difficult according to the patient’s disc problem, age, and exercise capacity. In addition, manual therapy techniques, especially myofascial release, are an effective method in the treatment of irregular tensions in the fascia.
Degenerative disc disorder is one of the most common spinal problems in society. In the treatment, the target should be determined by clearly revealing the reason that brought the patient to the doctor. The patient is taught to manage the pain, not the patient, and to use the patient’s body biomechanics correctly in daily life activities. Spinal stabilisation is provided with personalised exercise programs.
If degenerative disc disease occurred while working, can compensation be obtained in this case?
If you are injured or ill while working, you have the entitlement to claim compensation under the name of workers’ compensation. Let’s say you are a factory worker in Perth, Australia. Due to your job, you have to carry it by hand, and you have to be standing while doing it. After a while, you learned that you have degenerative disc disease. You want to claim compensation for this, but you do not know how the legal process will start and how it will proceed. In such a case, you can find out what to do by contacting the compensation lawyers in Perth.
Well, is it a must to make a claim for compensation by working with a lawyer?
No. You do not have to file the compensation claim with the lawyer. Because of the lawyers’ fees, everyone has a similar thought in mind: what will happen to the lawyer’s fees if compensation is not received? We recommend that you work with no win no fee lawyers in Perth so you can focus solely on healing, free from negative thoughts like this. Because in such a case, the lawyers do not demand their own fees from you unless the requested compensation is received.
Also read: How Supplements Can Make You Stronger and More Fit
