Preview

Lumbar Spine Injury Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
441 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lumbar Spine Injury Essay
As our population becomes more and more active throughout the years, the number of adults and adolescents who are regularly involved in physical activity, whether for recreational or competitive purposes, have increased substantially. The many different types of physical activities that the physically active people participate in are so numerous that many different types of conditions and injuries have become more acknowledged throughout the last few decades. One of these injuries that have become more common in physically active people, especially athletes, are lumbar spine injuries. There are various types of lumbar spine injuries. Bruising, overstretching, or tearing of the muscles that are around the spinal cord are very common but not …show more content…
This problem is when the disk becomes weak or is exposed to stress and other factors that an opening or crack appears on the side of the disk. The jelly-like liquid within the herniated disk then leaks out of the disk and causes nerve irritation, leading to pain and numbness in the arms or legs depending on where the herniated disc occurred in the spine. Herniated disks usually occur during activities like weight training that put a lot of weight and pressure on the spine. Another common mechanism of how herniated disks occur is during a turning or pivotal movement. For some other athletes, herniated disks may occur due to the accumulation of many smaller injuries that eventually lead to this injury. Signs and symptoms of herniated discs vary depending on where on the spine the herniation occurred and how prone the athlete has become to the injury due to his or her history and past injuries that may have affected the vertebrae. Some athletes show no signs or symptoms of herniated disks if the disk was the only tissue that was damaged while others show signs of severe neck and lower back pain due to the fact that the surrounding nerves are being impinged by the jelly-like material that came out of the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    DOI: 07/07/2015. This is a 55-year-old male scrap metal grader who sustained a work related injury on his right elbow, thoracic spine, cervical spine, and lumbar spine when he was ejected from a container bin. Patient is a diagnosed with cervical sprain, cervical radiculopathy, thoracic sprain, lumbar sprain, lumbar radiculopathy, right shoulder sprain, right wrist, and right hand sprain. MRI of lumbar spine without contrast dated 10/14/15 revealed T12 compression fracture, chronic; degenerative disc disease at L1-L2 through L5-S1, posterior annular fissure at L4-L5; facet arthropathy at L2-L4 and L5-S1; mild canal stenosis at L3-L4 and L4-L5; moderate left neural foraminal narrowing at L3-L4 and L4-L5, and right paracentral disc protrusion at L5-S1.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The causes of a spinal cord injuries result from damage to the vertebrae, ligaments or disks of the spinal column or to the spinal cord itself.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A vertebral compression fracture is a fracture that can happen when the bones of the spine break due to trauma, but it can also be caused by osteoporosis, cancer, and other conditions. Symptoms include pain, weakness, tingling, incontinence, and more. Many tests can diagnose a vertebral compression fracture. Treatment involves back braces, rest, exercise, and sometimes medications, surgery, and hospital care. (Web MD, 2013)…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Injuries to the vertebral, muscular, ligamentous and neurological structures of the spine are common following collisions and work related accidents. Injuries will typically present with symptoms such as pain and can vary quite substantially from one individual to another.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Human vertebrae, or commonly known as the spine, plays an extremely important role in our daily lives as it supports the upper body, protects the spinal cord, provides and coordinate mobility. It consists of two main parts – the vertebral bodies and the intervertebral disks. The vertebral bodies are the bony segments while the intervertebral disks are the spongy disks that separated the vertebral bodies. Composed mainly of fluid and collagen, the intervertebral disks act as the “shock absorbers” and cushion the forces resulted from our daily activities such as jumping and running. As we age, the intervertebral disks may lose fluid and degenerate. The degeneration can cause the nucleus of the disk to push through the fibrous outer wall, resulting in a condition known as disk herniation. Most disk herniations are associated with the lower lumbar spine and can cause severe pain and body weakness.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hypnotherapy, Pain Relief

    • 1877 Words
    • 8 Pages

    I would like to talk about a slipped disk also know as a prolapsed disc or a spinal disc herniation and the closly related condition sciatica. When people say they have a slipped disc, they are often using a general term for back problems. Many people are unaware that the term ‘slipped disc’ can refer to a range of medical problems; all of which relate to the discs of soft tissue that separate the vertebrae in the spinal column. The spine is made up of 24 vertebrae, these vertebrae allow for a variety of movement. Flexion and extention [to bend forwards or backwards] and lateral flexion [side way movement and twisting.]. Constant combinations of the two movements can put great strain on to the back, which can then result in a slipped disc. A slipped disk can occur due to any one of the following, lifting, trauma, injury or an idiopathic reason. The discs are protective pads which lay between each vertebrae. The discs job is to cushion and as shock absorbers to the spine when the body is moving. A slipped disc can occur along the complete length of the spinal column from the neck to the lower back.…

    • 1877 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main symptom is actually pain. Even the slighted movement in a shoulder that has been popped from its joint will result in severe pain. The arm will also be extremely difficult to move, may become numb or tingly. When touched from the side, the shoulder will feel soft, as though the underlying bone was gone.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cheerleaders Back Injuries

    • 1857 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Football and cheerleading rank among the highest in catastrophic injuries when compared to all sports (United States Sports Academy). A growing body of evidence shows that the increasingly popular world of cheerleading has become one of the most dangerous athletic sports among females, and football is one of the most violent contact sports. Although head and back injuries, as well as concussions associated with football have been well publicized, there is less public awareness about the injuries associated with cheerleading. Many football players and cheerleaders do not realize the impact that their sport has on their back. Being that I hope to become a Physical Therapist and work with athletes…

    • 1857 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Non Traumatic Paraplegia

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Spinal cord injuries quite often are caused by a severe accident. Statistics show that like the majority of people with paraplegia sustained from injury from road accidents. These along with diving and sporting accidents affect many people for the rest of their lives. Spinal injury, resulting in paraplegia can also occur if the spinal cord is damaged through disease…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pars Breaks Fracture

    • 2036 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The most common type of treatment is nonsurgical, there are many varieties within this treatment options. Some doctors may say to not do any activity for 7 weeks to 3 months and be in a soft or hard shell brace. Other doctors believe that the brace is not worth the pain and that they should just stop for a little while and calm down with activity. Normally doctors recommend physical therapy so you can strengthen your back muscles so when you go back to activity you can be supported. Finally there is the option of acupuncture, this is a very controversial technique, I have done it a couple of times and it is very relaxing and helped with my pain a lot. What acupuncture is meant to do is prompt the body to produce chemicals that help to reduce pain. The other option is surgical and is rarely necessary. It is only recommended if you have been pulled from sports and braced for at least 3 months and after 6 months you continue to have pain. At that point the doctors recommend trying surgery if pain is bad and constant. What the doctors do during surgery is take out the part that is causing pain and fuse back the part that has fractured. The one that I would recommend through experience is acupuncture, I would recommend it is because you do not necessarily have to discontinue sports to help with the pain. The problem is the acupuncture does not heal or help heal your back what it does is help reduce pain so if you wanted it to heal your back fully so you can play a contact sport bracing and taking time out is the way to go. Physical therapy is a really good technique to help support your back, but the problem is it does not heal it like acupuncture but it does support you back so if you are in a situation where you need to do activity then your back will not be affected as much. Most people take a break from sports and do physical therapy so when they are done with the break there back is fully supported…

    • 2036 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to a Safe Kids Worldwide study based on hospital emergency room reports from 2012; there are an estimated 1.35 million students in the United States that seriously injure themselves each year. For two out of my three years of high school, I have been piece of this grim statistic. My sophomore year I fractured the left side of my fifth lumbar vertebra located in my lower back. This was caused by running too hard. Then the next year, the right side of the fifth lumbar vertebra was fractured too. Both of these injuries brought an abrupt halt to my cross country season. Fracturing my lower back was an extremely difficult experience that has taught me how to deal with adversity.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    PARAPLEGIA ESSAY

    • 1537 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Approximately 11,000 spinal cord injuries involving Paraplegia are reported in the United States yearly. These injuries occur as a result of automobile and motorcycle accidents, falls, sporting accidents, and gunshot wounds; although, it is also caused by congenital conditions. When the spinal nerve signals below the level of the injury is partially cut off from the brain, this results in Paraplegia disability. This is an impairment of motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The most affected areas of the spinal canal by Paraplegia are related directly either with the thoracic, lumbar, or sacral regions. Spinal Cord injuries are medical emergencies. Immediate treatment can reduce long-term effects. There are several effective techniques that can help minimize the impact of these injuries and could help paraplegic patients regain some movement of the joints, muscles, and extremities. These techniques extent and are not limited to: manual therapy, physical therapy, sport medicine rehabilitation, exercise training, technological stimulation, neurological studies, and emotional support. All these therapies along with the proper professional intervention can help paraplegic patients get back some sense of support that could lead to their future independency and self worthiness.…

    • 1537 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life was going to dramatically change as the nurses rolled me into the operating room. Back surgery is an invasive operation as it is, but imagine it in the eyes of a thirteen-year-old girl. The surgeons explained the procedure as a spinal fusion, with titanium rods placed along both sides of my spine for stability. This procedure would correct my scoliosis. Afterward, the pain was more than anyone should endure. I was not allowed to twist or bend, and I was unable to dress myself, or leave the house alone. This was difficult to accept, as I didn’t want to become dependent upon others.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In America each year over 50% of people over the age of 18, develop a musculoskeletal injury lasting longer than three months. Physical therapy is emerging as one of the greatest forms of treatment in the medical world, treating more people than ever before with advances in technology and more knowledge improving patient outcome; however patients experiences are worsening with new healthcare, more outpatient exercise rather than inpatient therapy, and lack of available treatment in rural areas. Physical therapy, also known as PT, is beneficial for patients in more ways than not. PT is needed to rehabilitate people after injuries which is why the benefits outweigh the costs.…

    • 2234 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scoliosis Essay

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Scoliosis is defined as an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine. It will cause either a C-shaped or S-shaped curvature of the spine. Scoliosis is a disease that attacks the muscles and ligaments of the spinal column causing a sideways twisting and rotation of the spine, ribs, and pelvis. There are many different branches of this disease, but the most common type is idiopathic scoliosis. Idiopathic scoliosis is usually found in children between the ages of ten and twelve. Girls are more likely than boy to have this type of scoliosis. Treatment of scoliosis is based on the type of scoliosis, the person’s age, how much more the person is likely to grow, and the degree of the curve. Scoliosis can be viewed from two extremes; from harmless to horribly deforming.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays