|
Member
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
|
|
|
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopeless
Hi Doc,
I thought I had done that BUT with an exception. I used he little icon in the reply box for "insert link" and then pasted. After clicking on submission of my reply, the link showed up in blue as I had hoped. I clicked on my blue link in my post and got an error message that the page did not exist. I will try it again. Thanks for your help.
|
Hi Hopeless,
I did find several articles with the above mentioned titles that you provided; they were statements regarding patents on devices/methods of rehydrating the discs. I admit that I did not read them in their entirety, only very briefly skimmed them. That said, while there may or may not be something useful there, I did not immediately see that there were any FDA approvals for stated devices nor did I find anything on Medline to support efficacious trials.
Generally, if one follows Kirkaldy-Willis model of disc degeneration, the pathophysiology would describe annular tears leading to interlaminer tears progressing to radial tears of the disc that ultimately lead to seepage or extrusion of disc material from the disc (herniation, etc.). Healthy discs are "fed" while we sleep when there is less axial pressure exerted so fluid and nutrients are embibed from the adjacent vertebral endplates into the discs. That is why we are taller in the morning; there is more fluid captured within the disc. That fluid is "squeezed" out of the discs back into the vertebra as the day progress due to axial loading. Degenerative discs lose their ability to hold fluid (and nutrients) leading to disc collapse. So...I am not sure how any system can repair a degenerative disc's ability to hold fluid and nutrients once that is lost. Further, if one looks at pain generators of the spine, while there are a few pain fibers found within the posterior annular fibers of the discs that may produce pain, there are more obvious structures that have been documented to produce pain such as damaged or irritated facet joints, direct compression of nerve roots or the cord (central and lateral foraminal stensosis, disc hernia, various spurs), instability, etc. and the list goes on. So even if it is possible to rehydrate the discs to the point of "pumping it up," I am not certain that the other structures that can produce pain and have become degenerative can be rendered quiescent. The whole process is just more complicated than that, I think!
|