THE BEGINNINGS OF OSTEOCHONDROSIS

Spinal osteochondrosis causes creaking, crackling, and stiffness in the neck, the lower back, and various joints. It’s one of the scourges of modern civilization, the price we pay for a comfortable and carefree lifestyle, an early sign of imminent old age.

This disorder has many faces and as many names, such as degenerative joint disease or arthritis, tophi or gout, “sand in my joints” and “spikes in the spine.” What happens to our bodies in this condition? How can we help it?

The mechanism

“Osteochondrosis” in Latin means “cartilage ossification,” an intimidating name and well deserved. At its final stage (usually late in life), it leads to deformation of joint surfaces and an irreversible collapse of their functions caused by years of inflammation in paravertebral joints. One may call it the last leg of a lengthy voyage. What are the previous legs, though? How does our “old age” begin?

The first signs

Osteochondrosis is caused primarily by the asymmetric load on paravertebral muscles in habitual wrong positions of the body. Physical inactivity and obesity are also factors.

Most commonly, problems start at the age of around thirty. You wake up with a feeling of heaviness and pain in the neck or the lower back. Sure, you probably encountered this before, say, after hard physical work, several hours of driving, or sitting in front of a computer. After a good night’s sleep, however, the young body used to overcome any discomfort. And now it is the first morning in your life when you can’t turn your neck or bend your back.

This first signal does not yet mean you have osteochondrosis. Such pain, a result of a chronic muscle spasm, is usually short-lived, and people tend to ignore it rather than seek medical help.

The history of pain

With good luck, this pain will disappear for good. Far more often, however, it heralds the start of a disease. It usually recedes when we are relaxed or do some exercise. Say, you go on vacation and forget all about your pain. You feel strong and young. Once you're back home, unfortunately, you're freezing rain, sleet, crises at the office, and family problems. Pain and discomfort in various parts of the body sneak up on you again. That’s the second stage of the disease. It culminates in shooting pains in your lower back, neck, or shoulders.

Now, scared in earnest, since this experience is a far cry from the uncomfortable dull stiffness you had before, you rush to the doctor. At this point (say, you are 40 or 50), the doctor explains to you all about age-induced changes, sand in your joints, and the like, recommends painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, sends you to a physical therapist, and suggests you should start getting used to your new condition. Well, not so fast.

Acute pain does not yet mean joint deformation, even if your joints creak as they move. So far, we are dealing only with the inflammation of muscles, ligaments, or the joint capsule. Yes, this is a rather serious problem and a substantial injury to the musculoskeletal system. Yet, it is too early to diagnose an “age-induced process” and talk about a hopeless “one-way street.” We’ll discuss the available options below.

In the meantime, the pain in your spine and limb joints is becoming chronic. You come to realize the point of the gruesome joke: “If I wake up in the morning and nothing hurts, I must be dead.”

Persistent inflammation of muscles and ligaments initiates a similar process in the ligaments inside the joint -- the real osteochondrosis.

The persistent inflammation of periarthric muscles and ligaments eventually initiates a similar process in the ligaments inside the joint. That leads to a very different kind of stiffness and squeaking. Your joints swell, occasionally turn red, and gradually “ossify” due to calcium salt deposits in the areas of chronic inflammation and degeneration. Now, this is osteochondrosis in every sense of the word. Usually, it arrives after 60 or 70, or even later, depending on how you have been treating your body.

Starving muscles

You remember that a variety of disorders start with a muscle spasm< in other words, a contraction of a skeletal muscle that demands movement. The first muscles to suffer from such spasms are located in the neck, lower back, and shoulders, which are strained the most yet have the least chance to move.

A combination of yoga and pilates exercises has recently become a popular way of engaging these muscles so they can relax. These exercises give several options for people at different levels of training. There is no need to twist your body into knots: even when you make simple movements while sitting on a chair, standing next to the wall, or lying on the floor, you cannot help but feel the much-desired relief in your neck, back, and knees.

To get rid of osteochondral pain, commit to self-treatment or arm yourself with patience and go to see the doctor.

Those of you who doubt they are capable of such feats can seek professional help. Sometimes I call my work “the passive yoga” or “sloth yoga.” At first, the doctor locates your chronically spasmed muscles, which are usually tight and sensitive to the touch, and then uses manipulations and massage to relax them. This may occasionally cause some pain, but even those patients who jokingly call me “a torturer” come back and refer friends and family to my office. Fire sometimes is best fought with fire. If you want to get rid of pain, you should either be willing to engage in a self-treatment process or arm yourself with patience and go to see the doctor.

The issue of spine care is a graphic illustration of a simple choice: invest time and effort into a regular exercise program or trust a good specialist and pay for his time and services. The option you choose is a matter of your habits and lifestyle.