Scoliosis
In your impression
Is it closely related to teenagers
We can often see cases of scoliosis in adolescents
Actually the elderly
It is the high incidence of scoliosis
With the aging of Chinese society, the problem is becoming more and more prominent
There is also a growing number of potentially elderly patients with degenerative spinal deformities
This disease, known scientifically as "degenerative spinal deformity in old age.", is called
It will have a great impact on the lives of the elderly
It will even greatly increase the probability of the elderly falling
Life-threatening
Expert reminder
Be sure to be vigilant early!
65-year-old village doctor "bent"
Uncle Li (pseudonym), a 65-year-old Jinhua, who worked in the township health center before retiring, is a well-known "enthusiastic village doctor", often busy in the journey of "consulting and seeing doctors" for the villagers, and it is no problem to walk more than 20 miles of mountain roads at a time. About six or seven years, Uncle Li began to feel a little overwhelmed to go a long way, and there was unexplained waist pain and leg numbness, but it could be alleviated after rest, and it did not significantly affect life, and Uncle Li did not pay attention to it.
In the past two years, Uncle Li's condition has gradually become more serious, and from April 2021, Uncle Li found that his body had symptoms of bending to the right. "Especially when walking, people will involuntarily fall to the right, walking unsteadily, as well as waist pain, leg pain is also severe, and even sleeping and turning over will hurt, not to mention to relieve others of the pain, they can't stand and cook."
Uncle Li came to the local hospital in Jinhua, and after examination, there was a significant deformity in the L4/5 segment of his spine (about the position of the waist), causing the spine to bend to the right and compressing the nerves, causing him to suffer from low back pain, numbness in his lower limbs, and fatigue in walking. Considering that Uncle Li is 65 years old, the local hospital recommends conservative treatment first. But half a year has passed, Uncle Li's symptoms have not eased, and even going up and down the stairs at home has become a very difficult thing for him.
"It can't go on like this, there's no way to live!" Uncle Li's son lived in Hangzhou, so he suggested that he go to Hangzhou to find a big hospital to see again.
After the recommendation of a friend who is also practicing medicine, Uncle Li came to the expert clinic of The Chief Physician of the Department of Orthopedics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. After further detailed examination of Uncle Li, Chief Physician Yu Liedao found that Uncle Li's scoliosis already belonged to the 4th degree (clinically scoliosis can be divided into 1 to 6 grades, and grade 4 is already moderate to severe), conservative treatment is difficult to take effect, and can only be corrected by surgery.
Uncle Lee before surgery
Not long ago, the chief physician of Yu Liedao carried out scoliosis correction surgery for Uncle Li, cut a small incision of about 6 cm in the abdomen, orthopedic the deformed spine, and then fixed, the amount of bleeding in the operation was small, and two days after the operation, Uncle Li could get out of bed and move.
After Uncle Lee's surgery
15% incidence in people over 60 years of age
"Senile scoliosis, or senile degenerative spinal deformity, is mainly because people are old and prone to osteoporosis, and degenerative lesions will occur in the bones, and on the basis of degenerative lesions in the spine, and because of intervertebral disc herniation, joint degeneration, muscle and ligament degeneration, etc., eventually lead to the overall instability of the spine and the occurrence of deformities and curvatures." Chief physician Yu Liedao said.
To use an analogy, it is like a new solid pillar, when affected by external forces, or after a small opening on the pillar, it can still stand, but if the long-term wind and rain, the pillar is corroded and weathered, and it may encounter any external force, it will be easy to bend and deform or even tilt and collapse.
"Elderly degenerative spinal deformities mainly occur in the lumbar spine and thoracic spine, of which the lumbar spine is the mainstay, osteoporosis, long-term fatigue history, long-term improper posture, trauma, etc. are the main causes, and there are also congenital causes, such as idiopathic scoliosis in adolescents that have not been treated and aggravated in the early stage." The main manifestations of elderly degenerative spinal deformities are scoliosis, kyphosis, rotational dislocation, etc. Kyphosis is what we commonly call hunchback, which is the most typical manifestation. Chief physician Yu Liedao said.
According to the study, the average age of degenerative scoliosis is 62.1 years old, the incidence rate of 45-59 years old is 6%, 15% is over 60 years old, there are more women than men, and the probability of scoliosis in people with osteoporosis is higher, and at the same time, with the development of an aging society, the incidence of the disease is increasing year by year.
For mild symptoms, no refractory low back pain, numbness and weakness in both lower extremities, and unbalanced walking, and the quality of life has not been seriously affected, conservative treatment may be considered, including appropriate rest, drug anti-inflammatory analgesia, brace protection, and long-term standardized anti-osteoporosis.
For the middle and late stages of refractory low back pain, numbness and weakness of both lower limbs, walking imbalance and other problems, the quality of life is obviously affected, it can only be treated by surgery. However, patients like Uncle Li who are still timely in treatment can solve the symptoms through "minimally invasive" methods such as pore mirrors and minimally invasive decompression fusion, and if the disease progresses to an advanced stage, they have to undergo relatively traumatic osteotomy orthopedic surgery.
Old hunchback normal?
Early intervention should be required!
Hunchback is actually one of the most typical manifestations of degenerative spinal deformity in old age. People are hunched over old, very normal! Do you think so too?
In fact, with the advancement of medical technology and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, hunchback has long been not a "natural" thing.
"With the advent of an aging society, we encounter more and more elderly patients with degenerative spinal deformities in outpatient clinics, but most of them have endured for more than three or four years, and some even more than ten years, and if early intervention, not only can limited relief of disease development, but also can ensure the quality of life." Chief physician Yu Liedao said.
Because this degeneration is slowly developing, the initial symptoms are not obvious, common are low back pain, numbness and weakness in both lower limbs, swelling and discomfort in both lower limbs after walking for a period of time, and gradual reduction of walking distance. However, at this time, patients often do not attract attention, the disease will continue to develop, the development of the later stage, not only will there be serious appearance deformities, seriously affecting the quality of life of patients, but also easy to cause the elderly to fall, resulting in hip fractures life-threatening, but also may compress the nerves, spinal cord, resulting in paralysis.
Experts recommend that people over the age of 50 who have problems such as persistent pain in their waist and legs should be screened as early as possible, bone density tests, and early intervention. Young people should also pay more attention to the elderly, if the elders often have complaints about waist and leg pain, can not walk, especially the appearance of walking "east and west crooked, forward and backward tilt" and other abnormal postures, to seize the hospital for treatment, to achieve early prevention, early treatment, so as not to progress to the late stage of the need for "big knife" to the point.
At the same time, experts emphasize that for the elderly, it is necessary to use moxibustion and other methods to relieve waist and leg pain, and outpatient clinics often receive elderly patients with skin ulceration caused by moxibustion treatment.