Uncovertebral Joint Degeneration

Vertebrae are very fundamental to our body, they allow movement as well as to offer protection to our nerves, blood vessel and other internal body structures. Thus any defects at the vertebrae can lead to various levels of disabilities. In this post, one of the spinal condition - Uncovertebral Joint Degenration will be discussed.

Lets start discussing about it by learning from the term~

Uncovertebral Joint

Cervical Spine

First, we know that this condition involves uncovertebral joint! (as the name tells) You can only find uncovertebral joint in cervical spine (more specifically is from C3 - C7). Here's a diagram on the right showing the structure of cervical vertebrae. You can see that the upper border of the vertebral body forms a line of smile, where both sides slope upwards instead of staying flat all the way. This is a specific feature of cervical vertebrae - existance of uncovertebral joint. It cannot be found in other levels of spine i.e. thoracic/ lumbar/ sacral.

Degeneration
- There are different causes leading to this condition, below I will be using disc degeneration as an example (disc degen => joint degen)

So, here we come to the second part of the name - degeneration, what does it tell us about the condition?

Smile like the upper border of C vertebral body!

In between two vertebral bodies of the vertebrae, there is a disc which act as a shock absorber as well as to facilitate spinal movement. There are three basic structures composite the disc: the nucleus pulposus, the annulus fibrosus and the vertebral end-plates.

Using a car tire as an analogy: nucleus pulposus is like the air trapped inside the tire while annulus fibrosus is the circular wall of the tire. Normally the air pressure within the tire is sufficient enough to be fully inflated in a good shape. A degenerative disc happens when there is air leak out of the tire. The drop of pressure deflates the tire and it becomes flatten under pressure. Same thing happens in our spine: water leaks out through annulus fibrosus in a degenerated disc. The disc is then unable to withstand pressure and its height reduces under weight. When this happens, the uncovertebral joint space is narrowed, increasing pressure against it in spinal movements. Osteophytes (often called bone spurs) then formed around the affected area in order to increase stability of spine.

What is worrying?
It is believed that the cells within the nucleus pulposus requires oxygen and nutrients to work efficiently to produce fluid within the disc. Without the nutrients, pressure within the disc drops due to reduced production of fluid. The above disc degeneration will then occur. It is inevitable with increasing age...The best way to prevent it to happen in an early stage of life is to exercise the spine regularly. It can facilitate the exchange of fluid within the disc, so nutrients can be transported into the disc and wastes can be removed from the disc constantly. Therefore, the disc is kept healthy and fresh as much as it can =]

Reference:
http://neckandback.com/conditions/cervical-degenerative-disc-disease