An Introduction to the Anatomy of the Spine

An Overview of the Spine

The spine is an amazing, and extremely important feature of the body. To better understand its function and structure, leading spine surgeon in Chennai will break it down into 3 main categories: the spinal column (the bones and discs that provide the base for the spine); the neural components (the spinal cord and nerve roots); and the supporting elements of the backbone (such as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments).

Neural Components

The main neural elements of your spine are the spinal cord and nerve roots. Along with the brain, the spinal cord makes up the main part of your body's central nervous system. It consists of 32 pairs of nerves, which run from the base of the brain, down through the center of the spinal column. It continues to run through the cervical and thoracic spine, ending in an array of nerve roots, called the cauda equina (named for its resemblance to a horse's tail). The spinal cord is surrounded by fluid called cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, as well as many layers of protective structures, including the dura mater. The dura mater is the strongest, outermost layer.

The major function of the spinal cord is to carry information from the brain to various body parts and back again. It is the main means of communication between the brain and the body's peripheral nerves. At each space between vertebrae, a pair of nerve roots protrudes from this extensive, thin, tubular bundle of nerves. These nerve roots supply individual parts of the body, such as the arms, hands, chest abdomen, legs, bowels, and bladder.

Supporting Structures

The supporting structures of your backbone include any muscles, tendons, and ligaments attached to the spinal column. These are soft tissues that power your spine, giving it the ability to function in various positions. Ligaments connect the vertebrae to one another in the front of the spine and are what keep it stable. The two most important ligaments run from the skull to the sacrum (in the pelvis) and are called the posterior longitudinal ligament (which connects all the vertebral bodies along the back) and the anterior longitudinal ligament (which is located on the front surfaces of the vertebral bodies).

Muscles also keep the backbone stable. The majority of muscles surrounding the backbone are located on the back of the spine, and are what provide it with power for movement. Muscles are commonly categorized according to their function, using the terms "flexor" or "extensor." The muscles and ligaments in the spine work to hold it upright, and to allow forward bending (flexion) and backward bending (extension), as well as rotation from side to side and combinations of those movements.

Cause of Lower Back Pain: Associated Symptoms of this Common Malady

Cause of Lower Back Pain can arise out of complex origins and symptoms including identified muscle trauma, or a hitherto unknown non-traumatic event. Moreover Lower back pain can originate in regions other than the back and eventually find its way to the muscles or other structure in the lower back. The origins of lower back pain are many and varied, including congenital disorders, inflammatory disease, and circulatory disorders among others.

Physicians are hard pressed to pin down the accurate cause of a patient suffering from lower back pain owing to the complex composition of the human spinal. The spinal chord is a three-dimensional puzzle made up of bone, discs, muscles, ligaments and tendons and a myriad of other tissues that can easily mask the precise Cause of Lower Back Pain. 

Moreover, psychological causes like anger, fear, anxiety, frustration, depression and various other psychological states make it even more difficult to pinpoint and treat lower back pain. These can cause back pain or can also be the associated symptoms of lower back pain existing concurrently with pain. Find the causes of lower back pain explained by neurosurgeon in Chennai.

The cause of lower back pain is of various types. The emotional components stated above also complicated the diagnosis of the malady and sometimes lead to a wrong diagnosis resulting in needless surgery. Back pain is grouped into two categories: Acute and Chronic. A back pain that is sudden in origin is called Acute and can be caused by internal organ disease, cancer, arthritis, fractures, trauma, and infections around the spine. Chronic back pain is more constant and patients might have to endure it for months before finding any relief in their lower back.

Some of the common disorders that are cause of lower back pain, result in lower back pain can be listed as under:

Mechanical Disorders: In this case a specific part of the spine experiences pain owing to damaged to the ligament or a joint in the spine.

Developmental Disorders: An irregularity in the formation and growth of the skeleton cause lower back pain resulting in a conservative treatment like surgery, which is necessary to prevent long-term disability.

Inflammatory and Infectious Disorders: These are not common cause of lower back pain, but nevertheless are very important because not only they are difficult to diagnose by also result in serious consequences if not diagnoses early.

Another rare occurrence is the cancerous tumor in the spine or spinal chord, which result in lower back pain. The most common symptom of a spinal tumor is pain. And, last but not the least, an injury to the spine results in a trauma like condition which in turn gives rise to pain in the back. It is very important to note these disorders as major cause of lower back pain in the final scheme of things that will help you to understand this disorder better.

What's the Difference Between Traditional Spine Surgery and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

With advances in medicine that are made every year, spinal surgery is becoming much less of a risk to people with back pain. With minimally invasive techniques available, as well as non-surgical alternatives that are developing worldwide, the over 80% of the people that suffer from some sort of back pain in their lives have relief on the horizon.

Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery

Today's spinal surgeons have sophisticated tools at their disposal for diagnosing the condition causing a problem in the spine. CT scanners have developed to offer the best in visualization of the tissues, with three dimensional imaging possible, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) with contrast can show very accurate pictures of the spine and surrounding tissues to diagnose and treat back issues. With excellent diagnostic techniques, the surgeon has a much better canvas with which to work, so he or she doesn't need to make major incisions to see it.

Arthroscopy is a well-used technique in minimally invasive spinal surgery. A tube, called an endoscope, is fed into an incision and into the tube is placed a tiny camera. In another incision or incisions are placed additional endoscopes where the tools to carry out the operation are inserted. The camera displays the inside of the patient's back and the spinal surgery being conducted onto a screen for the surgeon to get an up close and enlarged view of the spinal cord, vertebrae and discs.

Spinal fusion utilizes arthroscopic procedures, and other techniques that are minimally invasive include kyphoplasty, athroplasty, microdiscectomy and arthroplasty. This type of spinal surgery takes less time, is less painful to the patient and requires less hospitalization, and allows for quicker recovery.

Traditional Spinal Surgery

In traditional spine surgery, which may be necessary in extreme cases, surgeons must decide on which side of the body to approach the patient, from the front or the back. Anterior, front of the body surgery is preferable because maneuvering around the organs is easier, yet it's not always possible. Some of the surgeries that many be conducted include a laminectomy that replaces chipped or broken bone, a foramenotomy that removes unnecessary tissue or bone, and a discectomy that removes all or part of the cushioning disc when it inflames the nerve to the point of unbearable pain.

Non-Surgical Therapy

A controversial non-surgical therapy was discussed recently in the February 2011 issue of The Spine Journal, a scientific journal of the North American Spine Society. The study showed that intradiscal steroid injections to bulging discs that are affecting the nerves along the lumbar, or lower back vertebrae can be effective. The success of the study was described as "intradiscal injection of corticosteroids could be a short term, efficient alternative for discogenic low back pain patients who were still unwilling to accept spinal surgery when conservative treatments failed." There are still questions about the lifestyle and other distinguishing factors of the patients in the study, and it has not yet been FDA approved.

Spinal surgery is still to be taken lightly, but with the improving techniques and procedures, it can be discussed with your spine surgeon in Chennai for consideration.