Symptoms related to lumbar dislocation

If there is a severe impact, lumbar dislocation is likely to occur. This phenomenon is very serious. If it is not relieved immediately, it will cause very serious complications in future life. However, the patient may not feel very strong symptoms when it just happens. As the disease worsens, he will feel very obvious radiating pain in the affected area, unable to move normally, and even normal walking will be affected.

Clinical manifestations

Many patients with vertebral slip never have any symptoms related to it, and the disease is only discovered accidentally during examinations for other diseases. In children, dysplastic or isthmic spondylolisthesis rarely causes symptoms, and even if it occurs, it usually occurs during the growth spurt of adolescence. The most common complaint is low back pain, which is sometimes related to excessive activity or sports, and sometimes there is radiating pain in the buttocks. Children with mild spondylolisthesis will relieve symptoms once they stop exercising. Local low back pain may be accompanied by radiating pain in the back of the thigh, especially in dysplastic spondylolisthesis, which is mainly caused by compression of the nerve roots by the posterior structure of the spine. Herniated disc is rare in children with spondylolisthesis.

Some children with severe spondylolisthesis have an abnormal gait due to an imbalance in the sagittal plane of their spine. These children have a characteristic posture. Due to the slipped vertebra, their center of gravity moves forward, resulting in obvious kyphosis. In order to maintain balance when standing upright, the compensatory lordosis of the spine extends to the thoracic spine, while the sacrum becomes horizontal. The children flex their hips and knees when standing and have a shaky gait when walking. The symptoms of dysplastic and isthmic spondylolisthesis in adults are similar to those in adolescents, and the treatment methods are also similar. In addition, degenerative spondylolisthesis in adults is often accompanied by obvious low back pain or sciatica. These patients are usually over 50 years old, with more women than men. Some patients may also have intermittent claudication (difficulty walking as the walking distance increases).

Intermittent claudication may be caused by excessive edema of the structure that compresses the nerve, resulting in obstruction of blood circulation to the nerve root. Degenerative spondylolisthesis is sometimes accompanied by obvious coronal plane deformity. Degenerative changes can also extend to the vertebrae adjacent to the spondylolisthesis, resulting in multi-plane deformities, which poses a great challenge to spinal surgeons in their treatment.