|
Spinal abnormalities may arise anytime in an individual's life. These are rather unusual or atypical conditions in the spine that crop up even at the time of development of fetus or later with the growing age. Usually all back pains have an anatomical causation. While severely irregular spinal conditions can produce pain, most patients detected with any of the spinal conditions also see reasonable amount of erosion. Types of Spinal Abnormalities Many times abnormal outgrowths appear from hind brain displacing tonsils of the cerebellum into the spinal canal, these anomalous structures are called Chiari Malformations. These are of two types- the most frequent, Chiari type I like syringomyelia and bending of the spine known as scoliosis and Chiari type II is associated with Spina Bifida.
Syringomyelia Syringomyelia is a disorder in which a cyst, medically termed as syrinx, forms within the spinal cord during the development of the fetus. This cyst grows in size over the time and fills the center of the cord. This misappropriation to the spinal cord result in pain, weakness, and stiffness in back, shoulders, arms, legs, headaches and loss of the ability to feel extremes of hot or cold, sweating, sexual function and bladder and bowel control.
Tethered Cord Syndrome Tethered spinal cord syndrome is a condition in which tissues attachment of the spine restrict the movement and growth of the spinal cord. The constrained cord stretches past its tolerance the spinal column which results in damage of nerve cells, nerve fibers, and blood vessels Tethered cord syndrome may decrease the strength of legs, deformation and loss of sensation in the legs, stumbling, back pain, curving the spine, midline dimples, birthmarks, hairy patches, skin discoloration, skin tags or fatty lumps and bladder incontinence.
Myelomeningocele/Spina Bifida/Diastematomyelia All the three terms represent the same condition. Myelomeningocele is one of the most common birth defects of the nervous system. It is a neural tube defect in which the spinal canal does not grow fully due to the underdeveloped bones of the spine. This lead to bulging out the spinal cord and its membrane out of the child's back. The individual suffering from this disorder may get partially or fully paralysis of body below the spinal opening. The individual can't walk properly and may have bowel and urinary dysfunction also.
Causes Adequate dosage of Folic acid is advised during pregnancy to cut on risk of myelomeningocele. Research also showed that environmental factors such as radiation can also cause this disorder. If a child is born with myelomeningocele, the children in coming generation of that family are at higher risk than the others.
Lipomas and Lipomyelomeningoceles Spinal cord lipomas are a fatty mass or tumor within the spinal cord. In rare chances it is spotted among adult men and women also. Lipomyelomeningoceles, or congenital lesions occur due to the failure of closure of spinal bones. This disorder doesn't appear right at the time of birth but it usually emerges within the first year of birth. Harsh truth says that females are more affected by Lipomyelomeningoceles than males.
Symptoms of Spinal Cord Lipomas The spinal cord is compressed due to the mass of tissues. This causes numbness. The extreme condition results in weakness, difficulty in urination, incontinence and stiffness. |