By Dr.Ravindra Patil
A spinal deformity occurs when your spine deviates by more than 10 degrees from “healthy” curvature. But, what does this mean exactly?
Contrary to popular belief, your spine isn’t 100% straight. But oddly, your spine is also straight! How do we explain these two opposite statements?
The fact is that your spine consists of a series of gentle arcs. Your lumbar spine, or lower back, swoops slightly inward and your thoracic spine, or upper back, bends subtly forward. The inward curve of your lower back is known as lordosis and the outward curve that runs between your shoulder blades is known as kyphosis. These curves are seen when looking at a person’s spine from the side.
But, when looking from the front, your backbone should look like a straight pillar. (Hence, doctors often refer to the spine as the “vertebral column.” Column is something which is very much straight and vertical.
The curves of the spine are so adjusted that the curves and straight stretches of your spine make symmetry possible. Thus, your head sits directly over your pelvis because the lordosis of your lower back and the kyphosis of your upper spine balance each other out.
If one of these curves, lordosis and kyphosis, becomes greater or lesser than the other, then problems can emerge. We refer to this as sagittal imbalance, because the head and pelvis no longer fall within the same, or sagittal, plane. The sagittal plane is an imaginary plane that divides the human body equally into right and left sections.
Thus, too much backwards thrusting of the hips is lordosis and too much forward stooping in the upper back is known as kyphosis. These are two major spinal curvature deformity types.
Similarly, the spine can also tilt sideways, that is from the midline of the body, doctors refer to this problem as coronal imbalance or scoliosis. The coronal plane is an imaginary plane that divides the human body equally into the front portion and the back portion. Unevenness in the “coronal” plane (we can view the coronal plane when we look at a human body from the front) causes asymmetry in the trunk of the body. This can include uneven hips and shoulders or one-sided bulging of the ribs.
As has been mentioned, any deviation from the sagittal curvatures of the spine, or any deviation in the coronal plane of the spine can be called spine deformities. There are many types of deformities of the spine.
Spinal deformities can range in seriousness from mild to moderate or severe. However, in every spine deformity, pain is always present.
If you have pain or deformity in any region of the spine, you don’t have to live with the symptoms of spinal deformities or spinal pain any longer. A qualified and trusted surgeon, like Dr Ravindra Patil, of Samarth Neuro and Multi-speciality hospital even in a small city like Miraj can help you get relief from your painful symptoms and in some cases, your deformities can be corrected.
As has been mentioned, the spinal deformities can change either the correct curvature of the spine or the correct uprightness of the spine. In addition, in some cases the vertebra can collapse because of osteoporosis and it may lead to shortening of the spine.
It is an abnormal side-to-side arc in the spine. If your spine curves to the right, then you have dextroscoliosis. If your spine curves to the left, then you have levoscoliosis. However, often, adult and paediatric patients with scoliosis will have more than one twist in their spine, that is the spine may curve in both right and left arcs.
This occurs when the upper back develops a forward hump, sometimes referred to as hunchback. The shoulders will round forward, the head will jut out, and the torso will appear to slouch or droop over.
This often occurs as a side effect of kyphosis. Hyper-lordosis, or swayback, causes the lower back to swoop inward and the abdomen to jut outward.
This condition develops when the spine loses its natural curvature. This may sound benign. After all, the spine has become “straight.” But, flatback syndrome can cause patients to pitch forward, creating serious issues with walking.
This form of arthritis can cause the spinal vertebrae to fuse together. When this occurs, your spine loses its mobility and your posture locks into one position.
Also known as a slipped vertebra, this condition can be caused by a birth defect in the spine. In the severest cases, a slipped vertebra can slide entirely off of the spinal column, a condition also known as spondyloptosis.
Doctors sort spinal deformities into different groups according to their causes. Although many issues can cause spinal deformities, the most common include:
Spinal deformities are serious conditions. They can destroy your self-esteem and prevent you from completing your day-to-day tasks. And, they can cause a lot of pain.
Fortunately, many forms of conservative therapy and surgical treatment are effective at managing pain and reversing your condition. If your condition requires treatment, you will begin by exploring non-surgical treatment options. These may include scoliosis bracing or physical therapy.
If your condition does not improve with these methods, then you may need spinal deformity surgery. Operative treatments for spinal deformities achieve correction in three main ways. They straighten and hold the spine in a better position (spinal fusion). They remove bone (osteotomy). Or, they use fusionless systems to encourage your spine to grow in a more ideal way.
For getting such surgeries done, you need not go to major cities. Such surgeries can be done in speciality centres like Samarth Neuro and Superspeciality hospital in Miraj, where the chief neuro and spine surgeon Dr Ravindra Patil has treated many such cases.
If the brain clot is large the surgeon may need larger access to the blood clot, requiring a different procedure called a craniotomy. During a craniotomy, the neurosurgeon will remove a section of the skull an opening and then remove the blood clot. When the procedure is complete, the surgeon will replace the section of bone and close up the soft tissue using sutures or staples.
Blood clot in brain surgery recovery is going to depend on the patient’s personal health factors. Besides most patients will spend a few days in ICU and about a week in wards or a private room. After discharge from hospital there will be activity restrictions for a few weeks. For craniotomy, recovery will take longer. The patient must educate himself/herself about the condition and further treatment.
Samarth Neuro and Superspeciality Hospital has 100+ beds & specializes in emergency surgery for neurological issues/disorders & diagnostics.
Samarth Neuro and Superspeciality Hospital
