Disc sequestration

Symptoms of Disc Sequestration

• Severe Lower Back Pain: A sharp and severe pain that locals at the posterior aspect of the hip and often travels down the buttocks, thighs and legs and in most cases, it gets worse with movement or when sitting for long duration. 
• Nerve Compression Symptoms: Sensory changes in leg and foot including numbness, tingling or weakness that is attributed to nerve root compression by the free fragment of the disc. 
• Reduced Mobility: Pain often hinders the ability of patients to bend, walk or stand in patients with joint disorders thus narrowing down their daily activities. 
• Sciatica: Intense, sudden pain that starts from the lower back region and shooting downwards the affected limb to lumbar disc sequestration claudication, that affects the sciatic nerve. 

Treatment

Spine Mantra deals with surgical treatment, especially physiotherapy, to treat disc sequestration patients, in order to alleviate suffering, boost function and optimize well-being. Here are some physiotherapy approaches used at Spine Mantra:

• Manual Therapy: Spinal mobilization and manipulation for instance are used to decrease muscle spasm; facilitate adjustments on the spine thus enabling the body to naturally assimilate the fragment gradually. 
• Exercise Therapy: Individual exercise plans aim at toning the muscles around the spine, building the spinal column’s immunity against further pressure, and the overall flexibility that makes the pressure exerted on the ailing disc lesser. 
• Posture Correction: Patients receive ergonomic advice as well as posture correction advice and this way, spinal alignment is restored and there is no further disc injury as well as nerve compression. 
• Heat and Cold Therapy: Heat and cold packs should also be useful to decrease inflammation, relaxation of muscles spasms, and pain relief which is more valuable in the basic phase of disc sequestration. 
• Electrotherapy: Other procedures such as TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) is applied to lessen pain by enhancing stimulation of nerves and relaxation of muscles. 

Diagnosis

It is therefore important for a correct diagnosis of disc sequestration to be done for treatment to commence. At Spine Mantra, we follow a comprehensive approach to diagnosing disc sequestration:

• Clinical Evaluation: Inclusion of collection of pertinent information including the patient’s medical history, his/her symptoms and signs, and the general state of health. 
• Physical Examination: Physical examinations including the straight leg raise test, along with neurological assessments in order to look for nerve impingement, muscle power and biochemical reflexes respectively.
• Imaging Studies: MRI procedures are reckoned to be most effective in diagnosing disc sequestration as they accurately describe the structure of spine and location of free fragments of disc. 
•  Functional Assessment: Measuring the patient’s ability to move around and maneuver within his or her environment, this usually involves comparing their movements before the onset of pain with pain induced restrictions.  

Disc sequestration may be a painful and incapacitating disease; however when treated from Spine Mantra such whose patients may regain some functionality and reduced pain. Through manual therapy, exercises and postural corrections, Spine Mantra is passionate about offering spine care that does not involve surgeries. Since disc sequestration is quite rare, proper diagnosis and treatment on an individual basis would help a lot of patients to get their normal lives back.