The link below shows what a normal spine should look like:
http://www.netterimages.com/images/vpv/ ... 0x0475.jpg
The yellow bits are bones in your spine called vertebrae. The blue bits are disks in your spine called intervertrebral disks [ meaning between the vertebrae ]. These disks act like shock absorbers. Nerves pass out of the spine through little holes called “foramen”.
http://members.cox.net/injections/image ... ramen1.jpg
The light blue coloured part [ vertical ] is the spinal cord, and you can see that the nerves pass out through the holes [ foramen ]. The disks keep the bones separated, and the taller the disk is, the bigger the hole. This is good, because it prevents the bones from pressing on the nerves as we turn and twist. As the disks get narrower, the holes get narrower and the bones start to press against the nerves. A while ago, just after getting rid of one group of spinal injuries, I had an x-ray taken. I’ve put the picture up on the photos section.The arrow shows where I had a major disk herniation.
If you look at the middle, you can see a good thick disk [ the light area in between the two dark lines ]. If you now look at the very bottom of the picture you can see that tiny triangular shaped “sliver”[ below the disk marked with an arrow ]. That was all that was left of my lowest disk [ L5-S1 ] after a lifetime of physical activity [ parachuting, hill walking , cycling, weights, running ] and neglect [never stretching, never drinking enough water, never taking care of what I lifted etc ]. The doctors told me “ Mr. Hutchieson your spine has collapsed at the base, trapping a large number of nerves. You will be paralyzed at some time in the not too distant future from the waist down”. They also said “Your spine is unstable and could shift at any minute “.When I asked about surgery, they said there was less than a 10% chance of success as my back was so “far gone”. I refused to accept this as I had been told that I would be in a wheelchair earlier on after a chiropractor twisted my spine in several places and dislocated my sacro-iliac joint. The main question I had was “Why had it collapsed only on one side ? “ None of the doctors on either side of the Atlantic could tell me. They all just washed their hands of me. Telling me things like “You have to get used to the idea of being in a wheelchair. The more you fight it, the worse it will be for you when it happens”. I wasn’t raised to just accept that. After much research, I figured out myself why it was affected mainly on one side. I came upon a system called the Pettibon system [ which I’ll discuss later ] which helped me get to the stage I am at now. If you look at the latest picture in the photos section, you can see the massive difference in the bottom disk. I have been told that this is medically impossible. Well they were wrong. I’m going to be presenting all this stuff to the British and American Medical Associations later on, to get their response, once I get some other physical problems resolved.
This condition affects many people in the UK and the States and I’ll be covering what to do about it in a couple of weeks.
If your doctor has told you have to get surgery for a herniated disk or degenerative disk disease, please read my postings. Surgery is sometimes necessary [ when bowel or bladder function is lost from spinal injuries for example ], but over 90% of all spinal surgeries are not necessary.
Bye the way, if I want to include a photo with a posting, what do I have to do ?
Dave
