L4 Lumbar Spine
The word "antalgia" is really two words joined together: Ant - away from Algia - pain Ant-algia = Leaning away from the pain. It's a reflex spasm of the back to protect the nerve from being pinched when you have a bulging lumbar disc. It's a serious sign, and neglected often progresses to a sciatica - severe pain down the leg. Always assume it will take at least six weeks for the annulus fibrosus to heal because, if you have a relapse, you can expect that it will quickly progress from a Grade I lumbar disc protrusion, to Grade II, III and even heaven forbid, Grade IV and a high likelihood of lumbar spinal surgery.
What is confusing is that antalgias come into two forms: one away from the pain, and one towards the pain - but we call them both antalgias.
They must both be taken seriously, but what is interesting is that the postero-medial kind responds very quickly to Chiropractic adjustments - but it still takes six weeks to heal.
TINGLING IN FEET AND LEGSShould the bulging disk irritate the nerve, usually the L5 nerve, you will start to feel tingling following a specific pattern. Then the skin becomes hypersensitive, and if you still do nothing the skin, particular on the lower leg stretching over towards the top of the foot and the big toe, will become numb.
MUSCLE WEAKNESSWithin each spinal nerve, there are in fact two nerves. One bringing information from the limbs for example, and the other innervating the muscles.The L5 nerve root, the one usually affected by a bulging L4-L5 disc, classically supplies a muscle called the Extensor Hallucis Longus. If it's weak, you will have difficulty raising your great toe off the ground. Can you do this?
Because the pain often resides quite quickly with Chiropractic help with a medial slipped disk, patients sometimes stop the rehab, thinking the condition was no big deal and your chiropractor has golden hands!, start sitting and bending too quickly, and whoops, a relaps. In my experience, the medial disk is much easier to manage, but in reality, research proves that a greater percentage of medial disks end up in lumbar spinal surgery.Medicine's approach is to treat a herniated lumbar disk first with anti inflammatory drugs and then, if that doesn't help, with lumbar surgery.
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ANTI INFLAMMATORY DRUGS >> 
FROM THE COAL FACEMr van der D, aged 68 had an attack of "spit" seven years ago. He didn't respond well to drugs or physiotherapy, and it was decided that he should have a lumbar decompression operation. This is the X-rays taken BEFORE the operation.
The L4 lumbar spine op didn't help, so six weeks later he had a second more drastic operation. Look carefully at the L4-L5 disc space. These X-rays were taken immediately after the second op.
Notice the severe loss of the disc space where the nucleus pulposis was extracted in the lumbar decompression of this L4 lumbar spine. He has a flat tyre, and quite soon it's going to be bone-on-bone. The operation relieved his back pain and leg pain, for a time, but set him up for a certain lumbar stenosis: severe narrowing of the foramen where the nerves emerge. Now he has had severe unrelenting pain down the leg for three months ...
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Before you go for a lumbar spinal surgery after a L4 Lumbar spine protrusion, try everything first. When and if all else fails, including a solid attempt at Chiropracic Help, then and only then submit to your surgery. Done by an expert, say your prayers, it can be a wonder. But it can also be a disaster. Just the anaesthetic ...
Go from L4 Lumbar Spine to ANAESTHETIC ALZHEIMERS
L4 LUMBAR SPINE CASEFILENever treat Case files as gospel, but often they reveal a gem of truth.LUMBAR FACET SYNDROMEBetween every pair of lumbar vertebrae are three joints:
SPONDYLOLYSTHESISIn the figure above, notice the line called 'pars'. This is the site where a fracture can occur, usually in childhood when the cartilage has not yet turned to bone. This can allow L4 to slide forwards on L5 ...IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS ...POSTERO LATERAL DISK HERNIATION >> Read more about LATERAL DISC HERNIATION POSTERO MEDIAL DISK HERNIATION >> LOWER BACK AND LEG PAIN >> MONTHLY NEWSLETTER. Signed up yet?
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