Re: Collapsed spine question

[Guest guest]

When I was diagnosed as having osteoarthritis, I was told that my lower spine was collapsing through overuse (in compensating for my lack of movement due to the rods/fusion) It was my understanding of what I was told that it was the discs reducing in some way and the bones starting to rest on each other. This could have been the wrong understanding or a "lies to children" (where a concept is broken down to explain something but is broken down so much it becomes no longer true) kind of thing. This was about 15 years ago though. From: <elizabethrgonzalez@...> Sent: Tue, February 16, 2010 7:51:23 PMSubject: Collapsed spine question

Has anyone here been told s/he has a collapsed spine? Someone just

emailed that she had been diagnosed with this condition. (Naturally the

affected vertebrae are those below the termination of her fusion -- the

ones carrying the big extra load for the decomissioned vertebrae.) She

wanted to know whether others with flatback syndrome have collapsed

spines.

I think I was pretty collapsed by the time I got to revision, but I

don't think my surgeons called it that. I googled the term but did not

find anything too definitive or helpful. I urged the member who had

emailed me to check with people here at the Feisty Forum, but I also

want to ask you all this question for my own edification. I am not sure

this is a specific medical diagnosis referring to one particular form of

vertebral or disk deterioration or fracture . . .? Whatever it is,

exactly, I should definitely become better informed on the subject.

Thanks . . . .