Lumbarization

[FlyingFotog]

Hello All,

1st New thread. I had surgery in Noveraber for numerous things (in my sig) and I recieved my medical recorRAB the other day from my surgeon. While looking through them there were numerous things that I hadn't ever seen or had even talked about with my doctors. Mainly x-ray and MRI results from years past. I'm in the military and they don't like to diagnose you with something that is "livable" even if it's going to get worse. So looking back I noticed that among other things on my x-rays, lurabarization was one of my diagnosis. I looked it up and it says that it's when you S level vertabrae don't fuse together at a certain age. It says that my S-1 vertabrae on the right side isn't fused so on one side of my back i have 5 vertabrae and the other side I have 4. I think.

So my question is, does anyone else have this problem and if so, what are the long term effects on the body. Every issue that I have had with my lower back has been on the right side. I am wondering if it is coincidence or a contributing factor.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Nick

 

[tetonteri66]

I like to think of the spine as a stack of oreo cookies. Lurabar vertebrae begin with lurabar 1 and run to lurabar 5 on most people. For each two vertebrae there is a soft, shock-absorbing disc in between, just like the filling between the two cookies in an oreo.

After the five lurabar vertebrae, the next series are the sacral vertebrae. Unlike all the other vertebrae in the spine, there are no discs in between, so the vertebrae are in effect fused together. In some people this fusion doesn't quite completely take place developmentally, and there enRAB up being what is, in effect, a 6th lurabar vertebrae that is usually separated from L5 with a disc.

While this is not typical, it is not all that uncommon either. Most people are unaware of the situation until they have reason to have an X-ray for some other reason, and the radiologist notices it. In most cases it does not cause problems.

In your case, having one side that is fused and the other side operating more like a lurabar vertebra, I would think the possibility exists for it to cause some problems in terms of alignment. The body wants to be in alignment and when there is a structure problem that keeps this from happening naturally, sometimes the muscles and soft tissue overcompensate for the "problem" in an attempt to keep the spine in alignment. But I have no medical training so am only speculating....You can ask your spine specialist but it is unlikely that he can tell you for sure whether or not this is increasing or adding to your pain.

I think what the report is telling you is not that you are missing a vertebra but that on one side (left), the vertebra is fused into the sacral area, but on the right side, congenitally it did not fuse, so it functions as an extra lurabar vertebra...if you see the difference. Whether it has caused your other back problems, I could not say or guess!