What is sclerosis of the spine?
It is a condition where the interior space between the spinal cord disks starts compressing over a while.
Most of the time, these symptoms are observed in the lower back portion.
When this condition occurs, the result is often consistent pain and hindered normal activities.
The patient is unable to sit or move comfortably for a longer period.
This also results in the tissue hardening of the spinal cord region. Sclerosis is said to be only the first stage.
This will be followed by many other complex disorders like
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Systematic Sclerosis
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
- Liver cirrhosis and many more.
What are the possible causes?
Several causes have been attributed to the development and worsening of this condition.
- Wearing out/inflammation of the myelin sheath surrounding the neurons: This is said to severely affect the interneuron communication adversely. Axons lose results, which starts spreading its effects to the complete spinal cord, especially the lower region.
- Neurons start wearing out: This often leads to the formation of tumors like structure in the various regions of the brain, spinal cord, and the skull. This ultimately leads to bone hardening and an abnormal increase in bone density. This might lead to spine curvature when the conditions go to the critical state.
- Vertebral bones start wearing out: Each of these vertebras has an endplate present at its top and bottom. As the plates start wearing out, results in consistently decreasing blood supply to these regions.
What are the possible consequences?
- In the initial stages of the Sclerosis, one will observe changes in movement coordination. The smooth flow, which is supposed to be a mark of movement, is no longer there. At times, the person may feel that he is literally being prevented from moving by some internal force.
- The next stage is the development of numbness along the complete spinal cord, which often extends to the region’s arms and legs. Even simple movements cause a severe sense of fatigue.
- Kind of itchy feelings start developing within the spinal region and extend to all the connected muscles and bones.
- The next stage is the weakening of muscles. As the neurons become weaker and the blood supply becomes erratic, the muscles lose their strength and stamina.
- The person starts losing his physical balance while walking.
- The next stage is the development of breathing complexities.
- The next stage is the weakening of limbs to such an extent that they start shaking involuntarily. In the beginning, it may be sporadic. But as time progresses, it becomes severe in intensity.
- The person starts losing body weight dramatically. This is largely attributed to the thinning of muscle mass and loss of bone weight.
The ultimate result would be the affecting of brain cells and neurons. The person is unable to retain memory for a long time.
This could be due to the systematic degeneration of the brain cells.
This onset is often accompanied by a severe state of mental depression.
According to experts, this critical condition is highly irreversible.
That means once the person reaches this stage, it may not be possible to reverse the trend, no matter how sophisticated the treatment or the medication at this stage may be.
What is the best method of treating sclerosis?
Experts opine that early detection and treatment are among the best methods for curing this “disease.” There are numerous methods by which this can be diagnosed.
Advanced scanning and radiology methods are available through which it could be detected.
What are the possible methods of treatment?
Though surgical methods are available, experts often strongly recommend that the person be subject to a therapeutic treatment.
Only when the patient’s condition has progressed to such an extent, where the therapeutic and other methods fail, surgery would be advised as a last resort.
