Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease

This is a disease where there is pain in a persons lower back. This is usually due to an injury where a person may turn their lower half around the lumbar area and hurt it. This also can come from use over time.

The symptoms are usually just pain in the lower back. The pain is usually worse when doing something specific like bending or sitting a certain way. It says that over time it will get better because the disc can no longer inflame surrounding structures and will actually stabalize and no longer move.

This can be helped with medication for the pain and inflammation. Also the person can go through physical therapy and if these do not work then surgery can be looked into but it is treated first without surgery.

My information was found on

http://www.spine-health.com/Conditions/Degenerative-Disc-Disease/Lumbar-Degenerative-Disc-Disease.html

http://www.eorthopod.com/images/ContentImages/spine/spine_lumbar/degeneration/lumbar_degeneration_intro01.jpg

http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/images/b00941chap3fig32.jpg

Jefferson's Fracture

I Jefferson's fracture is fracture named after a man, Sir Geoffrey Jefferson. This was due to the fact that he saw a few cases that were all the same back in the 1920's. This fracture consists of a break in the first vertebrae. Usually is a break in the posterior part and then with this comes break in other parts including the arches. This fracture is known as a 4 break fracture. Not always does it entail 4 breaks sometimes just a couple. The cause of such a break is from some kind of trauma to the head. Falling on the head or diving in a pool and hitting the bottom. The symptoms include pain and sometimes damage to the arteries in the neck. There is usually no neurological signs of damage. To treat this type of fracture they try to first use some kind of brace to stabilize the fracture and heal it without surgery. If this does not work they go in and fuse the first 3 cervical vertebrae.

Information found on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_fracture

http://www.learningradiology.com/caseofweek/caseoftheweekpix2006/cow188arr.jpg

http://www.gentili.net/images/200/JeffersonCT1.jpg

Bow Hunters Syndrome

Bow Hunters Syndrome AKA cervical vertigo or vertebral artery compression is where the veterbral artery that runs up to the brain gets blocked or narrowed with certain turning of the head. This can be due to a cervical spine abnormality. The veterbral artery supplies the back of the brain and with this blood flow being cut off, a stroke can happen. Usually the patient has symptoms of dizziness. A MRI, MRA, or Angiogram can be used to see Bow Hunters Syndrome. They can treat this by preforming surgery to make sure the cervical spine is not putting so much pressure on the Artery. Sometims they just use some type of neck brace to fix it.

infomation and pictures found on the following websites:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://content.revolutionhealth.com/contentimages/images-image_popup-ans7_bowhunter_stroke.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/brain-nerves/stroke/symptoms/bow-hunters-stroke&h=432&w=400&sz=18&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=BmgS8c6Is6touM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbow%2Bhunters%2Bsyndrome%2B%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://rad.usuhs.edu/medpix/tachy_pics/thumb/synpic27426.jpg

http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bppv/positional.htm

Ranula

Ranula means "frog like" and is a cyst under the tongue. It is formed on the floor of the mouth and looks like a frog in the way their mouth bulges when they make noises. A salivary gland is blocked and ruptured and that is what causes a ranula. A ranula can be treated by actually removing it in a surgery known as marsupialization. There is usually a lot of swelling and has a blue appereance in color. Most people do not have symptoms unless they are very large and some pain may be involved.

My information was found on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranula

Images found on:

http://www.radpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/plunging_ranula_1.jpg

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/elsevier/dental/f0533-01.jpg