One of the most frequent conversations in my office is where a patient tells me about a problem they had in the past that has not painful for months or even years and then all of a sudden they get some big pain. My response is that the problem was never corrected and was still a problem even though IT DID NOT HURT!
This issue was handled quite nicely in an article titled “Prespondylosis and Some Pain Syndromes Following Denervation Supersensitivity” by Dr. C.C.Gunn in the Journal “Spine” vol 5, no 2 March /April 1980. In this article Dr. Gunn discusses that spinal degeneration (spondylosis) causes denervation supersensitivity.
When your spine is injured and is not corrected, your body compensates by distorting your posture. When you posture is distorted it creates abnormal stress in the spine. When this abnormal stress is allowed to remain in place for long periods of time, it causes spinal degeneration also known as spondylosis. Early stage degeneration is in most instances PAINLESS. As the spine is damaged due to this painless degenerative process, the nerves lose a number of pain relieving receptors and cause a decrease of pain inhibition. Pain occurs only when the degenerative changes impinge upon local pain sensitive structures to produce local pain or upon pain fibers of the nerve to produce the transmitted pain of “radiculitis’.
Dr. Gunn is clear that these problems are often found in young people, under 30 years of age.
Who was it that said “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”? Get your spine checked today.
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