info about spondylitis in the lower spine?
494569
Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory type of arthritis that mainly affects the spine. About two million Americans have ankylosing spondylitis. This disease affects men three to four times more than women.  Young white men between the ages of 20 and 30 are the target group. Ankylosing spondylitis is inheritable. There is a genetic marker called HLA-B27 that is found on the cells of people with AS which establishes a predisposition to the disease. \n\nhope this helps you.
1164695
Technical - http://www.emedicine.com/orthoped/topic503.htm\n\nLittle History - http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BUM/is_8_83/ai_n6200951\n\nReader Friendly - http://www.posna.org/index?service=page/coreCurriculum&article=atlantoAxialSubluxation.html
1012246
Inflammation and degenerative rheumatism of the intervertebral articulations.(Joining areas between the vertebra of the spine).
427824
The spinal column is made up of a number of bones named vertebrae. The spinal cord and nerves innervating the body and limbs pass through these vertebrae.\n\nPotts disease refers to tuberculosis of the vertebrae. Percival Pott, a great British surgeon, described this disease so well that succeeding doctors have used his name to define it.\n\nAs with other organs and tissues in the body, the vertebrae are also subject to disease. When the tuberculosis bacteria (called Mycobacterium tuberculosis) invade one or more vertebrae, they damage these bones and make them brittle. The pus and fleshy tissue (termed granulations) produced by this disease can press upon the nerves and spinal cord that pass through the vertebrae and cause partial or complete paralysis of the body.\n\nPotts disease is thus a serious illness and needs prompt and prolonged treatment. When the vertebrae are still intact and where there is no compression of nerves or spinal cord, treatment consists of drugs to kill the tuberculosis bacteria. These drugs have to be taken for a long time for successful eradication of the infection. It is also important not to injure these fragile bones.
693704
Im so sorry that your mum is suffering from this very cruel debilitating condition.\n\nAs I know you will be aware lupus affects so many internal organs so working out if this is lupus related is not easy, as the painful neck could be down to usual wear and tear etc. Musco skeletal injury, back pain, knee pain etc often presents itself as neck and head pain.\n\nHas she thought about a neuromuscular consultation?   to eliminate the chance that she may have accumulative strain through holding herself stiffly? The fact that the pain is worse when she slouches seems to point to it being a lower back problem?  (We are all really good at standing on one leg if the other one hurts therefore damaging the good leg etc)\n\nA neuromuscular therapist could show her how to relax, how to move in pattern, and how to recognise when her everyday movements are taking her into pain?\n\nGood luck to you both
771017
Bulging lumbar discs are usually associated with decreased pain with walking and increased pain with prolonged and improper sitting.  There is up to 200 times the normal pressure in a disc when we remain seated.  Getting up and walking reverses the curve in our spine that occurs with sitting...allowing the disc to resume a more neutral position.  \n\nIf you already have a documented back condition, I suggest following up with a physical therapist who will perform an evaluation as to which exercises are the most appropriate for YOU (rather than guessing which ones MIGHT be good)!  \n\n...but keep up the walking if it decreases the pain...and limit your time sitting to 20 minutes at a time.
1136878
I would assume you have already been to the 2 sites you listed for information.  Depending on the severity of your spinal problems, there are products that can help you.  Last night on CTV news in Canada, there was a segment on Himilayan Goji Juice and what it has done for people with spinal issues.  There is medical validation on this as well as 72 clinical studies published on pubmed.org.\nContact me if you would like to hear more.
751000
Here is a recent discussion between AS patients concerning weightlifting.  I think you can access it.  At least I could from a browser than doesn't remember me as a member of the SAA.\n\nhttp://bbs.spondylitis.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000073\n\nThere are probably better ways for AS patients to lose weight than weightlifting, and most doctors won't recommend it.\n\nIf you try it, be careful and start slow. You may find it works for you, or you may find yourself limited to what you can do, depending upon the level of severity of your illness.  I don't think you will do anything traumatic to your illness, but your limited mobility will leave you prone to tweaks and tears and such of unrelated soft tissue.\n\nGood luck.
928558
Honestly,  If the pain just started yesterday after lifting some boxes and isn't horrifically bad, then you should give it a few days.  90% of all back problems self-resolve within 10 days to 2 weeks regardless of the actual condition or the type of injury, provided it wasn't a major trauma.  If you are not opposed to taking over-the-counter meds, try Alleve, 2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon, each day for 7-10 days.  Ice is usually better immediately after injury because it decreases any associated swelling and numbs the nerve endings (20 minutes, every 4-6 hours during the day).  Also, try to stay moderately active with your typical daily routine but of course, no lifting or recreational sports until your are better.\n\nIf you are not significantly improved within 7 days (at least a  50%-75% decrease in symptoms) then make an appointment to see your physician.  If the physician recommends rehab, ask to be referred to an experienced physical therapist that specializes in manual therapy and/or spine care.  Also, do not be afraid to contact several rehab centers and ask if they have a therapist that specializes in spine care but you should really look for one that is either in private practice or manages a small facility.  I do NOT recommend Novacare and/or HealthSouth as most of these facilities do NOT allow their therapist control over their own schedule and you will not likely be able to see the same therapist from visit to visit, which is poor medicine dictated by corporate interest.  I also do NOT recommend chiropractic, there may be some decent chiros out there but their profession is so littered with quacks and money grubbers that it is a big gamble.  Check out the following link http://www.chirobase.org/
222492
Yes, there is limited (but rapidly growing) medical literature on this.  Go to Pubmed and try a search with  terms such as: microflora, dysbiosis, arthritis, inflammation, and/or lipopolysacharrides (LPS).\n\nGood luck!
306889
The lower back pain could be related to the TOS, since the nerves travel everywhere. From what I understand from my own doctors, the first treatment for TOS is physical therapy. You might be able to find a PT in your area, who deals with TOS, that uses sliding scale fees. Good Luck.
94744
Low back pain could be cancer that has spread, but if it is cancer most likely you have some other symptoms.  The cancers most likely to spread to the spine are prostate cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer.  If the back pain isn't helped by over the counter meds, and stays for more than a few days get it checked out.  My husband had persistent low back pain and it turned out to be prostate cancer that had spread to his spine.  Yours may be nothing serious, but don't ignore it.
686602
Effect of anti-TNF therapy in spondyloarthritides\n\nIn the open pilot study performed in Berlin, infliximab ameliorated the disease activity in patients with severe AS with a mean disease duration of 5 years [95], as measured by the BASDAI [96]. Eleven patients received three infusions of infliximab (5 mg/kg body weight at weeks 0, 2 and 6). Significant efficacy was already noted on the first day of therapy. Spinal pain, fatigue and morning stiffness in particular were ameliorated, and so was peripheral arthritis.\n\nNine of ten patients showed an improvement of >50% on the BASDAI; the median improvement of the BASDAI after 4 weeks was 70%. Importantly, quality of life, as measured by the 'short form' 36-item instrument (including only 12 questions instead of 36), significantly improved after 4 weeks. In comparison with an age- and sex-matched normal, healthy German population, the AS patients studied had clearly impaired initial assessments; in particular, their level of physical functioning was very low. This level was significantly increased by anti-TNF-α therapy within 4 weeks. One patient has remained in remission for at least 18 months after only the initial three infusions of infliximab. As major side effects, three patients developed allergic reactions and could not receive further treatment.\n\nThe patients in this study were followed up for another 9 months. The next infusion of infliximab was not given until after a relapse, which was defined as at least 80% of the initial activity [97]. The first symptoms came back after a mean of 6 weeks and a relapse occurred after a mean of 12 weeks. These patients were treated three more times. Although all responded again, they did less well than at the start of the study, probably because there was no initial saturation phase in the repeat treatments.\n\nIn the meantime, there have now been several open-label studies on infliximab in AS [98-102]. In a Belgian study, 21 SpA patients, including 11 with AS, were treated with infliximab with a dose regimen similar to that in the study just discussed, but the patients had a longer disease duration (15 years) and the intervals between the infusions were longer (14 weeks). The spinal and peripheral symptoms of all these patients with SpA improved significantly [98]. There have been other studies – two in Canada, one with 24 [99] and one with 21 AS patients [100]; one in France, with 50 AS patients [101]; and one in Spain, with 42 SpA patients [102] – in which treatment with infliximab was successful, all with a similarly good response in about 80% of the patients. In one Canadian study [99] and the Spanish study [102], patients with disease of long duration and with advanced radiographic disease/ankylosis apparently benefited less from the therapy. In the other Canadian study [100], a relatively small dose, 3 mg/kg every 8 weeks, was sufficient to cause significant improvement.\n\nIn a French study, the bone mineral density of 31 patients (26 men and 5 women, mean age 40 years, mean disease duration 18 years) increased by 3.3 ± 5.5% at the lumbar spine (P < 0.002), and 1.9 ± 3.1% at the femoral neck (P < 0.008) after 6 months of infliximab therapy [103].\n\nA recent randomized, double-blind, controlled trial in Germany has provided class-B evidence (according to 'evidence based medicine' criteria) that infliximab is effective against AS [104]. This placebo-controlled, multicenter study conducted over 12 weeks included 70 AS patients with a BASDAI >4 and spinal pain on a visual analogue scale >4. A highly significant effect of infliximab treatment (5 mg/kg body weight given at weeks 0, 2 and 6), with the primary outcome parameter of a 50% improvement of disease activity (BASDAI), was achieved in the treated group in comparison with the placebo group. Again, other parameters such as BASFI, BASMI and the short-form 36-item instrument showed a similar clear-cut improvement. There is some evidence t
297115
Did this pleanty of times.  If you can see the spine, try to get it out...pain might be involved.  You can just squeeze them out.  Put antibiotic cream on the spots.
865760
Ive got a simillar problem to Yours! I have to bulged disc's #3 and #5 in my lower lumbar, and let me tell you there is no quike fix. I got hurt at work last Jannuary 2006 and after 7 epidurals I am now slated for a full blown back surgury! I feel for you! I have chronic back pain, and have run the gauntlet looking for relief, I've tried, Perscription drugs, Loratab 10's 5 a day!(Same as Vicoden but no acetemetphen/Tylenol) Alchohol (Makes it worse (The pain). I most recently am using pot! I dont smoke it, but rather leach out the THC into butter and use it as a spread for toast or abit in my morning oatmeal whatever, And I by God Works. But I am going in for surgury on the 27th of this month. And at this point, Though I have heard all types of horror stories about back surgury, I welcome the promise of relief. Good luck to you!And hang in there
969120
You would be better off trying to get disability if you were properly diagnosed with a more legitimate problem rather than vertebral subluxation.  Vertebral subluxation is a vague diagnosis perpetuated by the less than credible chiropractic "profession".\n\nCheck out the following links to learn the truth about subluxations.\n\nhttp://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chirosub.html\nhttp://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chiroasst.html\nhttp://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.656/healthissue_detail.asp\nhttp://www.chirobase.org/01General/chirosham.html\n\nMany chiropractors claim that research justifies their form of practice but this is really not the case.  See the following;\n\nResearch Findings\n\nDuring the past few years, two reports about the treatment of low-back pain have placed chiropractic in a favorable light. One, issued by the RAND Corporation, concluded that spinal manipulation was appropriate for some cases of low-back pain. The other, produced by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), judged manipulation useful for controlling symptoms while awaiting the spontaneous recovery that occurs within a month in most patients with low-back problems.\nAlthough chiropractors have promoted these reports as endorsements of chiropractic, they are not. They merely support the use of manipulation in carefully selected patients. Only a few of the research studies on which their conclusions were based involved manipulation by chiropractors; most were done by medical doctors and physical therapists whose practices are not identical to those of chiropractors. Most chiropractors manipulate the vast majority of patients who walk through their door, some use techniques that have not been studied scientifically, and many urge all of their patients to undergo monthly or even weekly "preventive maintenance" visits throughout their life. In addition, many chiropractors emphasize a technique that is more vigorous (and therefore less safe) than the controlled manipulation used by other practitioners. The only places where "chiropractic" and "chiropractors" are mentioned in the body of the AHCPR report are in the passages about the make-up of the AHCPR expert panel.
862350
Arthritis.\n\nSee the following link:\n\nhttp://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article65.html\n\n It is a disease where the cartridge surrounding the discs in your spine are wearing away. An operation can be done to correct or stop the erosion. Call an orthopedic Physician.....answer all your questions.  Maintain a recommended weight and avoid extra stress on spine. Eat healthy and do moderate exercise. Avoid stairs that can aggravate the condition and stay fit.\n\nThis is a common condition. There are Medications to reduce any inflammation and reduce any pain.\n\nBest to you,\n\nMav