Spinal disc herniation

A spinal disc herniation is an injury to the cushioning and connective tissue between vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, and physical disability. The most conclusive diagnostic tool for disc herniation is MRI, and treatment may range from painkillers to surgery. Protection from disc herniation is best provided by core strength and an awareness of body mechanics including posture. When a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion to bulge out beyond the damaged outer rings, the disc is said to be herniated. Disc herniation is frequently associated with age-related degeneration of the outer ring, known as the annulus fibrosus, but is normally triggered by trauma or straining by lifting or twisting. Tears are almost always posterolateral (on the back sides) owing to relative narrowness of the posterior longitudinal ligament re

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (15)

Related publications

Related people (7)

Related people

Related units (2)

Related units

Related concepts (13)

Related concepts

Related courses (1)

This course presents today research questions and methods associated to the musculoskeletal system, its pathologies, and treatment.

Related courses

Related lectures (1)

Related lectures

Spinal stenosis

Spinal stenosis is an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal or neural foramen that results in pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots. Symptoms may include pain, numbness, or weakness in the arms

Low back pain

Low back pain (LBP) or lumbago is a common disorder involving the muscles, nerves, and bones of the back, in between the lower edge of the ribs and the lower fold of the buttocks. Pain can vary from

Vertebra

The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (: vertebra), each constituting a characteristic irregular bone whose comple

Degeneration of the intervertebral discs : Effects of Mechanical Stress on Intervertebral Disc Cells ; Selection of a Cell Carrier for the In Vivo Delivery of Fetal Spine Cells

Valérie Loewensberg

[...] Low back pain affects nearly 80% the population at least once in their lifetime. Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is thought to play a role in the development and onset of low back pain. The center part of the disc, the nucleus pulposus (NP), which supports high compressive loads daily, shows early signs of degeneration, long before the outer part of the disc, the annulus fibrosus (AF) degenerates. This work is divided into two parts: the first part focuses on the biomechanics of IVD cells in response to cyclic loading, whereas the second part focuses on the selection of a cell carrier for the further in vivo delivery of fetal spine cells to induce disc regeneration [... click on "Download fulltext" for full abstract]

2008

Selection of a cell carrier for the in vivo delivery of fetal spine cells

Valérie Loewensberg

Objective: Several cell carriers need to be selected and characterized for their compatibility with fetal cartilaginous cell survival and activity. In order to assess the in vivo regeneration capacity of fetal cartilaginous cells, these cell carriers will be used as a delivery system in an animal model of intervertebral disc degeneration. Background: The intervertebral disc (IVD) is part of the 3-joint complex, which brings flexibility to the spine. In addition, the IVD is a shock absorber and is submitted to variable loads during daily activity. Heighty percent of people will suffer from back pain in their life. Degeneration of the lumbar IVD is though to be one major cause of low back pain. Up to now, there is no treatment for disc degeneration. Conservative cares, medication and surgery alleviate the pain but do not treat the causes. Moreover, fusion surgery (which consists in removing the degenerated IVD and to fuse the two adjacent vertebrae) can lead to further degeneration by destabilizing the whole spine. IVD degeneration is a complex process. The primary causes are unknown but it is well-established that disc cells are unable to produce enough matrix in degenerated conditions. The overall goal of the project is to regenerate the IVD by injecting "active" cells. The choice of these cells is an important point. Two sources of cells have already been selected according to several criteria. The next step of the project consists in selecting an appropriate cell delivery system to be test the regeneration potential of the selected fetal cells in an animal model of IVD degeneration.

2008

Patient-specific spinal stiffness in AIS: a preoperative and noninvasive method

Steve Michel Berger

The clinical tests currently used to assess spinal biomechanics preoperatively are unable to assess true mechanical spinal stiffness. They rely on spinal displacement without considering the force required to deform a patient's spine. We propose a preoperative method for noninvasively quantifying the three-dimensional patient-specific stiffness of the spines of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. The technique combines a novel clinical test with numerical optimization of a finite element model of the patient's spine. A pilot study conducted on five patients showed that the model was able to provide accurate 3D reconstruction of the spine's midline and predict the spine's stiffness for each patient in flexion, bending, and rotation. Statistically significant variation of spinal stiffness was observed between the patients. This result confirms that spinal biomechanics is patient-specific, which should be taken into consideration to individualize surgical treatment.

Springer2015

This course presents today research questions and methods associated to the musculoskeletal system, its pathologies, and treatment.