Your spine is a collection of bones and soft tissue that forms a strong column of support for your body that’s also flexible with a versatile range of motion. This mobility depends on the freedom of joints between adjacent vertebrae.
When a patient develops a condition called bamboo spine, the name references the appearance of the spinal column in X-rays. Usually the result of a condition called ankylosing spondylitis, spontaneous fusion of vertebrae creates a resemblance to the Asian grass plant rather than a healthy, functioning spine in diagnostic imagining.
The spine specialists at Bahri Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinic diagnose and treat this chronic inflammatory disease to minimize the effects of the condition on your daily life. Today, we’ll take a deeper look at ankylosing spondylitis and bamboo spine.
A normal spine has 33 bones called vertebrae, with rubbery discs between them. Tasked with protecting the spinal cord, the spine also supports the upper body while permitting motion like arching, bending, and lateral twisting.
In adults, several of these vertebrae naturally fuse with maturity, at the lower end of the spine. This is normal and doesn’t affect spinal mobility.
The vertebral body is the load-bearing portion of a vertebra, at the front of the bone. The rear of each spine segment features the vertebral arch, forming the canal through which the spinal cord passes.
The spinal discs between vertebrae pairs absorb shock from movement while permitting the bones of the spine to move about each other.
A chronic inflammatory form of arthritis that typically begins early in the adult years, ankylosing spondylitis (AS) usually starts where the spine meets the pelvis, the sacroiliac joints. AS usually affects the spine, but in rare cases can also form in the hips, knees, or shoulders.
Over time, the inflammatory effects of AS can cause adjacent vertebrae to fuse. Bone growth is part of your body’s healing response to the disease, and this growth starts the fusion process.
Fused vertebrae can limit the amount of motion you have in your spine, as well as flattening the natural (and necessary) curves of the spinal column. Treatment can help preserve spinal mobility while also addressing pain and slowing the progression of the disease.
Not everyone with AS will develop bamboo spine. It’s an advanced symptom occurring when AS progresses beyond the sacroiliac joint, up the spine through the lumbar and thoracic regions.
Bamboo spine creates a single structure out of these normally independent vertebrae. Bony growths fill the space between vertebrae, leading to the bamboo-like appearance of the spine in radiography.
As well as spinal mobility, bamboo spine can affect your breathing if it extends far enough up the spine. There’s no cure for either AS or bamboo spine, but early diagnosis and treatment can limit the effects.
Contact Bahri Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinic at the most convenient of our two Jacksonville offices any time you experience ongoing back pain or stiffness. Call or click to schedule a consultation today.
