Is lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis mainly related to age? What are the symptoms?

Author: Zhu Yuqi, Chief Physician, Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Reviewer: Zhang Zhihai, Chief Physician, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis is a large group of diseases that cause low back and leg pain due to degenerative changes in the lumbar intervertebral disc, articular cartilage of lumbar facet joints, and surrounding ligaments and tendons.

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Generally speaking, the incidence of lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis is very high and very common in clinical practice.

The most important factor for lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis is age. As people age, the lumbar spine undergoes degenerative changes. In addition to age, obesity and heavy loads; special jobs such as car drivers and dancers require repeated use of the waist; long-term living in a cold and humid environment can cause damage to the joints and ligaments surrounding tissues; iatrogenic injuries, such as injuries caused by surgery. These factors can easily cause lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis, or cause lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis to appear earlier.

Degenerative changes in the lumbar spine are mainly caused by cumulative injuries and repeated wear and tear. When the damage accumulates to a certain level, the body cannot repair it and problems arise.

Lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis is divided into several categories, including degenerative lumbar scoliosis, degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis and lumbar spinal stenosis, discogenic low back pain, degenerative lumbar disc lesions, etc., and the manifestations of different categories are also different. The symptoms of lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis are not very typical, unlike lumbar disc herniation, which compresses the nerves and causes radiating pain. For example, discogenic low back pain manifests as heaviness in the waist and numbness in the legs; lumbar spinal stenosis manifests as the inability to walk far, and the legs become heavy when walking and cannot walk anymore. You need to sit down and rest for a while, and you can walk again after a rest. This is called intermittent claudication.

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If you have symptoms such as lower back pain, movement disorders, and difficulty walking far, you may need to take a film to determine whether it is lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis. This can be done to see if there is any narrowing of the joint space, spinal canal stenosis, scoliosis, instability, or slippage. If you have neurological symptoms and suspect nerve compression, you may need to do a lumbar magnetic resonance imaging or electrophysiological examination to see if there is any neurological dysfunction. Only when there are symptoms and the manifestations of degeneration can be seen in imaging can it be diagnosed as lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis. After a clear diagnosis, early treatment is required to prevent further aggravation. If there is only low back pain and no problems with imaging examinations, it cannot be diagnosed as lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis. Prevention is the main approach to delay the occurrence of degeneration.

How to delay the occurrence of lumbar degenerative osteoarthritis? For young people, it is important to develop good living habits and good working postures. First of all, you should sit and stand straight; if there are no special circumstances, you should stand up and move around a little after sitting for 35-40 minutes; move less heavy objects, reduce the number and time of bending over, so as to reduce injuries; use less air conditioning, avoid getting cold, and keep warm; exercise more often to strengthen muscle strength, stabilize joints, and achieve a dynamic balance between the body's self-repair and damage.

There are many ways to exercise in traditional Chinese medicine, such as Ba Duan Jin, Tai Chi, Wu Qin Xi, etc. These gentle exercises do not require much effort, but sometimes you will sweat after practicing. They can regulate breathing, mind, and heart, will not cause damage to the body, and can also achieve good preventive and therapeutic effects.

In daily diet, emphasize food diversity, do not be picky eaters, eat more calcium-rich foods, such as drinking a glass of fresh milk every day, and get more sun exposure to prevent the occurrence of osteoporosis.