[MR] Interesting health tidbit (Heavies - take note!)

[Rosine]

   While I was getting ready for my spinal-fusion surgery, I was required to
attend a class about the fusion and what had lead to it, what is done, and
how to best recover. A couple of interesting bits stayed with me because had
I known them _prior_ to my injury, it's possible I would have escaped such a
serious surgical procedure. So in the hopes that someone can gain by my
ignorance, I'm passing these little gems of medical info on to you.

   Firstly - there's no capillary system within a spinal disc. Each one
receives it's hydration via osmosis from the fluid around it WHILE YOU ARE
LAYING DOWN. IF you don't get enough sleep or spend at least 6-8 hours prone
every day, you are in danger of your discs shrinking and becoming brittle
from lack of hydration. That means any stress that the disc deals with is
more like a good blow to a ceramic plate than a blow to a water balloon. See
the difference? You can avoid some serious back pain simply by getting a
good night's sleep (or by reading/watching tv while laying prone).

   Injuries to discs are not always noticeable at the time of the injury.
Again, this goes back to the "plumping" action that takes place while you
sleep. If you've strained a muscle, you'll feel the "twinge" almost
immediately. If you've damaged a disc, you'll likely not know about it until
the next morning, or even the morning after that, until the disc swells back
to normal size and the trauma is "stretched out" enough to be noticed (like
a thin spot on a balloon's surface).

   If you've been unlucky enough to actually cause herniation of a disc, a
bit of the "filler" is going to come out. Our instructor placed a jelly
donut between two napkins and smacked it - the resultant leak of raspberry
goo was - disconcerting. Here's the bad news - the body DOES NOT re-absorb
that material. Instead, it hardens, wherever it is, and stays there for the
rest of your life - if you're lucky. I say lucky, because (do your own donut
experiment), frequently it comes out as a fat blob on a skinny stem. IF the
skinny stem is stressed, say from swinging a heavy sword or shield in the
wrong manner or by pulling on a too-heavy packing item, it will break away
from the "mother disc". And now you've got a hard lump of owie floating
around your spinal column  _with a ragged "edge" at the breakage point_, as
well as another one at the break-away point on your disc. Surgery is the
only known way to remove that material.

   So there's your medical lesson for today. May you take it to heart faster
than I did (since I heard it too late) and benefit from the easy
preventative measures - - be lazy! For at least 6-8 hours a day! It's good
for your back!!!!

In service,
Still in the "pickle barrel"
(I laugh that it's actually kevlar),

Rosine
--Feel free to forward this to any list that might have someone at risk on
it... like the fighter's list, the Iron Rose, the Artificer's list, the
"mom's with heavy babies" list  - you know, where folks regularly use their
backs in sudden and demanding fashion. Please don't clip my words - I
ramble, but that's just the way it is.  nothingbutadame at inthe.sca.org