Truly, the aging population is on the rise.
The Census also estimates that by 2029 the over-65 crowd will comprise 20% of the total population.
And as we age, so do our spines.
Pascal Broze / Getty Images
The discomfort may affect your daily activities and have a negative impact on your emotions or relationships.
Vertebral fractures are the most common punch in of osteoporotic fractures.
Sometimes the back pain that results from a vertebral fracture mimics symptoms of other diseases or conditions.
This is why diagnostic imaging is important.
Tests like X-rays,MRIs, orCT scanscan help evaluate compression and wedge fractures.
Bone biopsies are also used to confirm osteoporosis.
Osteoporosisis a bone disease that affects post-menopausal women in particular.
When you have osteoporosis, your bone mass decreases faster than it can be built back up.
Bone mass is made up of protein, as well as the minerals calcium and phosphorous.
Fractures due to osteoporosis can occur after trauma, but they can also come about with no apparent cause.
Your healthcare provider may prescribe a brace for you to wear, as well.
Discuss your options with your healthcare provider to be sure.
Hyperkyphosis
Vertebral fractures often lead to a posture condition calledhyperkyphosis, also known as age-related hyperkyphosis.
Disc Degeneration
Degeneration of spinal structures is somewhat inevitable as we age.
Most of the time, non-surgical treatment can relieve the pain in your back and increase your physical functioning.
Sometimes, though, conservative methods fail and your healthcare provider may suggest surgery.
Degenerating spinal discs can lead to degenerative changes in other parts of the spine, as well.
But not all will feel pain.
Things that cause disc degeneration include the inevitable drying that comes with age.
Drying decreases the disc’s ability to absorb shock.
Perhaps the most common cause of chronic low back pain, disc degeneration can take a number of forms.
Most of the time, internal disc disruption (IDD) is at the root of the problem.
IDD is a clinical entity all its own.
In other words, it is not the same as degenerative disc disease or herniated disc.
Discogenic pain is the name given to the pain resulting from IDD.
Symptoms of Degenerating Discs
Symptoms of degenerating discs tend to occur where the damage is located.
The pain may come and go and may get better when you move your body.
Healthcare providers divide up the types of pain related to spinal degeneration into 4 categories.
Axial pain is pain that occurs in and around the spinal column.
Radiculopathy is pain and other symptoms that arise from an irritated spinal nerve root.
Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is pain related strictly to the disc and nothing else.
Other tests that help confirm your healthcare provider’s suspicions may include X-ray and/or provocation discography.
The exercises they give you to do at home are particularly important for managing the rate of progression.
Most likely, they’ll recommend flexibility development, muscle strengthening and no- or low-load exercise such as aquatics.
But when the disease worsens it may lead to spinal stenosis.
Two types of stenosis in the spine are the central canal andforaminal stenosis.
Other symptoms includeradiculopathyor pain and nerve symptoms that affect one arm or leg and thickened ligaments.
Your healthcare provider may prescribe physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medication.
Should symptoms persist, she may refer you to a surgeon for a decompression.
The purpose of a decompression back surgery is to enlarge the encroached spaces.
If your spine is unstable, your surgeon may also fuse the area.
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