Officially: "At L5-S1, there is a disc bulge with superimposed left lateral disc protrusion that abuts the exiting left L5 nerve root and traversing left S1 nerve root. There is severe left subarticular recess stenosis. There is moderate right and severe left neural foraminal narrowing."
I hate it when medical professional call it severe, especially surgeons!
Rum and coke for now. I hope injection for the next month, and then hopefully they can get in there with a razor blade and shave that dang thang off.
Movement of the spine due to bending etc usually occurs between the L5 and S1 vertebrae,so it`s often the site of wear and tear. Including disc protrusion, where the disc protrudes out of the space where it is intended to sit, as a kind of shock absorber, between the vertebrae.
Stenosis is narrowing or restriction, maybe due to bone overgrowth, and takes away space for nerves to sit nicely. Once you have protruded disc pressing on nerve roots, you likely get referred pain down the leg, maybe including foot and toes, and areas of reduced sensation to pin prick testing etc,identifying those areas can tell you the spinal level it is coming from.
From your comment"shave that dang thang off" the idea might be to open up the spaces again by removing bony overgrowth.
I know lots of people love chiropractic, but I`ve seen people who had neck pain, had chiropractic manipulation, and immediately developed pain down the arm, pointing to a disc condition not present pre manipulation.
Dr. C Edmund Graham here had a technique injecting scientifically prepared paw paw enzyme into swollen protruding discs, which shrank the disc back towards normal size.
I`ve an old disc protrusion at L5-S1 contacting the nerve, and more recently sustained a crush fracture of L1. The L5-S1 clinical picture was so apparent to the neurosurgeon he never wanted a CT scan, the one done for the L1# showed it,and was no surprise. I avoid surgery for it by regular swimming.
My imperfect "knowledge" about this area comes from personal experience and from years ++++ of,as a lawyer, regarding back conditions: reading medical reports,researching from textbooks, talking with medicos,talking with claimants, taking evidence, and importantly, correlating medical reports and personal histories. I`m not sure if I`ve helped or hindered and happily defer to anyone with real expertise.
