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Alberto Fernández: what is lumbar disc herniation, symptoms and treatments

2023-03-15T16:19:13.036Z


The President will undergo a 'root block' this Friday. President Alberto Fernández will undergo a root block this Friday to relieve the intense pain caused by a herniated lumbar disc. Fernández was treated last night at the Otamendi Sanatorium. This morning, in dialogue with Clarín , the president himself was in charge of clarifying that the condition he suffers "is nothing serious, although it is painful." "It's like that. A herniated disc is norma


President Alberto Fernández will undergo a root block this Friday to relieve the intense pain caused by a herniated lumbar disc.

Fernández was treated last night at the Otamendi Sanatorium.

This morning, in dialogue with

Clarín

, the president himself was in charge of clarifying that the condition he suffers "is nothing serious, although it is painful."

"It's like that. A herniated disc is normally a compression in the lower back. It's not serious, it's not urgent, but it is very painful. That's why we seek to do quick treatments

to reduce pain

," agreed Andrés Ferrero, pathology specialist column at the Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín.

What is a herniated disc?

What are your symptoms?

What are the causes?

How is it treated?

Can it be prevented?

These are other of the frequent questions that Ferrero usually receives in the office and that he answered in an interview with

Clarín

.

What is a herniated disc?

The spine is made up of vertebrae and discs.

A disc is cartilage, a kind of "pad" that sits between two vertebrae.

These soft tissues are what

allow the movement of the spine

.

Over time, among other factors, that disc can wear out.

And that deterioration is often what produces the hernia, explained the traumatologist.

"The hernia occurs when the disc

comes out of its natural place

, which is the spinal canal, which is inside the spine. When it comes out of there, what it usually does is touch a nerve (in the lumbar part it can be the sciatic, which is what happened to the President) and causes radicular pain throughout its extension (the gluteus, the thigh, the entire leg down to the foot)," he said.

On the other hand, if the herniated disc occurs in the

cervical part

, the symptoms occur in the upper limbs (hand, arm, neck, shoulders).

In general, either lumbar or cervical, they affect only one of the members (although in some cases it can cause pain in both.

What symptoms does a herniated disc cause?

The compression that the hernia exerts on the nerve can produce a variety of symptoms including

pain, tingling, numbness, weakness (lack of strength)

.

Lumbar disc herniation is the most common, and often people refer to the pain they experience as a "sciatic attack."

"In a young patient, hernia is the most frequent cause of low back and sciatic pain. In those over 40, the arthritic component is added, which what it does is narrow the canal and, by squeezing the nerve, it automatically produces

symptoms

in the entire length of the nerve that is compressed," Ferrero said.

Disc herniation.

Illustration Shutterstock.

How is a herniated disc treated?

In most cases, medical (non-surgical) treatment improves the condition in the course of

up to a month and a half

.

"In the first days a very aggressive treatment is given so that the pain decreases," said the traumatologist.

The objective of this treatment, precisely, is to reduce this intense pain.

"

What we are looking for is time

, because what deflates that disc and makes the hernia stop having contact with the nerve is the body itself that goes through the deinflammation process."

"What is treated is the symptomatology. The only way to solve a herniated disc is

to remove the disc

, but many years ago it was known that if we wait, that disc retracts, it reduces inflammation. It is not necessary to do emergency surgery, because in most cases it improves and it is not necessary to reach that instance," he clarified.

The approach to a herniated disc combines several strategies.

On the one hand,

immobilization

.

"We put a lumbar belt -at waist level- that decreases the movement that the spine makes all the time to sit, walk. This allows the body to deflate the hernia faster."

The other measure is

medication

.

"We give drugs that act on the nerve, others on pain and others on inflammation of the muscles in the lower back."

Root block is "part of the artillery that surgeons have to treat the pain caused by a herniated disc."

Disc hernias can also affect the cervical.

Photo Shutterstock.

What is a root block?

The procedure that Alberto Fernández will undergo on Friday is simple and is based on an infiltration that is carried out in the operating room.

The injection is placed at the hernia site, where the inflamed nerve is.

The professional identifies the place when reviewing the patient and confirms the diagnosis and the area to be treated through an

MRI

.

"We place an anesthetic that blocks the pain and the corticosteroid acts in the short, medium and long term to reduce inflammation of the nerve that is tight."

"The most important thing is that we need time for the disc that is pressing the nerve to deflate," he insisted.

However,

a block does not guarantee that the pain will not return

.

Most patients improve with medical treatment.

Photo Shutterstock.

When the wear is irrecoverable, is surgery necessary?

"When one has an acute component (hernia) and a chronic component (osteoarthritis) it is likely that

the channel is closed

. The person could live a lifetime with a herniated disc, but the pain can become disabling. Most often improves with non-surgical medical treatment and rehabilitation, but when it does not improve, the alternative is surgery," Ferrero replied.

Surgery frees the canal and decompresses the nerve.

However, the doctor stressed that this alternative is reached when medical treatment stops working.

Which are the risk factors?

Low back pain is one of the most frequent.

It is estimated that all people will experience at least two episodes at some point in their lives.

In the case of a herniated disc, the wear produced by aging is one of the factors that increases the risk of suffering it.

And as life expectancy grows, it is expected to affect more and more people.

Other factors that increase the risk are:

The overweight.

"It increases the stress on the discs, which suffer from the increased load."

The genetic predisposition.

"There are people who are more predisposed to developing hernias."

Kind of job.

"Those that require effort and/or are repetitive. It does not imply that everyone who performs them will develop a hernia, but rather that they are more predisposed."

Smoke.

"Decreases oxygen in the discs."

sedentary lifestyle

"Lack of exercise causes the muscles in the abdominal and lumbar area to lose firmness. If they are toned, we avoid greater mobility and wear."

Can herniated discs be prevented?

Prevention is strictly related to the control of modifiable risk factors, Ferrero emphasized.

And he advised: "exercise, because it

increases mobility, elongation and gives tone to the muscles

. Those who smoke quit smoking. And be in relatively good shape: weight loss favors less stress on the discs."

*The Hospital de Clínicas is going to develop an activity open to the community for the detection, diagnosis and subsequent treatment of pathologies of the spine on March 23 from 8 to 11 on the ground floor, in the external traumatology sector.

The consultation is free, no appointment is required, and it is aimed at all ages and genders.

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Source: clarin

All news articles on 2023-03-15

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