The lumbar spine is compromised of several principal elements: the vertebral bodies, discs, spinal cord and spinal fluid.
All these structures can be identified on a schematic as well as an MRI of the spine.
The vertebral bodies are the building blocks of the spine. There are 5 lumbar vertebral bodies
The disc is a shock absorber that is positioned between each disc. A normal disc is contains water and therefore is bright white in color on certain types of MRI images (T2 images).
The spinal cord is a long thin bundle of nervous tissue that conducts information from the brain to the peripheral nervous system.
The spinal fluid bathes the spinal cord in fluid.
Injury to the disc can result in disc protrusions, tears in the outer fibers of the disc, reduction in disc height and pain. At the Centeno-Schultz Clinic it is our goal to identify the source of a patient’s pain. Regenerative therapies include prolotherapy, PRP and injection of autologous mesenchymal stem cells utilizing the Regenexx procedure.