Spinal arthritis

or wear and tear in your spine.

Find out more about spinal arthritis or wear and tear changes in your spine.

Neurosurgeon Brisbane

Dr Alex Koefman about spinal arthritis

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Spinal arthritis key points

Spinal arthritis means wear and tear changes in your spine
The two most common symptoms are back/neck pain and nerve pain.
Everyone slowly gets spinal arthritis over time but over 90% of people have no symptoms at all.
Usually, spinal arthritis is treated with physiotherapy, hydrotherapy or medication and steroid injections.
There are 3 reasons that you would need surgery, which I describe below.

Spinal arthritis definition

What is it?

Spinal arthritis means wear and tear changes in your spine. The wear and tear is due to time (as you get older) and to gravity acting on your spine.

Time and gravity have opposite effects on your spine.

With time the bone itself tends to get thinner, called osteopenia or osteoporosis.

Also with time, the spinal disc starts to weaken and collapse. The normal disc is 80% water and over 1cm in height! Gradually as you age the disc dehydrates, and collapses down, sometimes to less than 1mm. This can cause nerve pain or can lead to a condition called spondylolisthesis.

Gravity causes different effects in the joints and ligaments of the spine, causing them to thicken up. It’s a bit like a callus on your hand, which gets bigger the more force or friction your hands are exposed to. Often this excess thickened tissue compresses the spinal nerves and causes pain.

Is spinal arthritis common?

Is it common, do other people get it?

Everyone slowly gets arthritis in the spine over time. Occasionally I see someone with extraordinary genetics that result in the spine looking much younger than they are, but for most of us mere mortals, gradual wear and tear is the norm as you get older, like wrinkles on the face.

The good news is that 95% of the time this wear and tear will not slow you down or cause you problems for the majority of your life.

Also, remember that wear and tear changes are not necessarily bad. Over 90% of people with wear and tear in their spine have no symptoms at all.

Spinal arthritis symptoms

What are the symptoms?

The two most common symptoms are spinal pain (that is, back or neck pain) or nerve pain. It is also common to get muscular pain. When someones back ‘locks up’ or gets stiff, this is usually caused by overactive back muscles.

Is it dangerous?

Almost never. It may hurt and affect your quality of life, but it is rarely a dangerous medical condition.

What causes it? Did I do something to cause it?

The only causes are age and the forces acting on your spine, including gravity and spinal movement during your day to day life.

Some families have better genetics in their bloodline but other than that, there is nothing that will affect the rate of wear and tear.

If you are involved in an accident or lift something heavy and hurt yourself, this is a different story, and I would need to examine you and your scan to advise you on your condition. Feel free to contact my team here if you require this.

Is it genetic, will it affect my family?

Isthmic spondylolisthesis is a genetic condition of the spine. But it is not one you inherit from your parents or pass onto your kids. You can read more about the fascinating condition of spondylolisthesis here.

Spinal arthritis treatment Brisbane

How is it treated?

Usually with physiotherapy, hydrotherapy or medication and steroid injections.

Usually, the condition is not dangerous, we just need to get you comfortable so you can have your quality of life back and continue on.

Spinal arthritis surgery in Brisbane

Do I need surgery?

There are 3 reasons that you would need surgery

Your pain is severe and really affecting your quality of life (either nerve pain, spine pain, or both)
The pain may not be severe but you are sick of it dragging on and on, or sick of the medication.
If there is an obvious mechanical cause like spondylolisthesis, as this responds very well to surgery and there is little point soldiering on when this can be easily fixed. You can read more about spondylolisthesis here.

If you want more information then feel free to contact my team and we will arrange all your scans and an appointment for you.

Does the treatment work?

Highly variable. Once I have seen you and made a thorough assessment I can more accurately assert this for you and your specific situation. Contact my team and we can arrange this for you.

How long before I'll be back to normal again?

There are many factors influencing this. I can answer this more accurately for you once I have seen you.

Is this treatment safe?

There is no inherent risk to injections, medication (other than annoying side effects) and physiotherapy, which is why they tend to be the first line of treatment.

Is spinal stenosis and spinal arthritis the same?

Spinal arthritis is just an umbrella term that means wear and tear. Spinal stenosis is a very specific pattern of wear and tear. If spinal arthritis means music, then spinal stenosis means specifically the rock and roll genre of music.

Spinal arthritis surgeon in Brisbane

What should I do now?

If you would like me to assess your situation properly then contact my team.

Ready to make an appointment?

Alex consults at Queensland Neurosurgery & Spine Surgery (QNS).

Dr Alex Koefman

Ramsay Specialist Centre
Suite 325
Newdegate St
Greenslopes QLD 4120

Phone

(07) 3421 6000

Fax

(07) 3397 4185