A new way to mange slipped or herniated disc is via a single jab in the back. The jab uses a drug generated from bacteria to digest the tissue which broken out of the disc. The tissue then shrivels in a way that they no longer squeeze the nerves.
The disc is a circular pad of cartilage which lies in between the vertebrae and acts as shock absorber. When hard exterior case of disc brakes, then inner core lumps out in between the vertebrae and onto the nerves in the spinal column, stimulating pain. These nerve fibres transmit messages to and from different parts of the body.
So swelling disc causes back pain and sufferer feels discomfort in the part of the body which is controlled by the nerve being compressed. The problem of slipped disc usually happens in the lower back, which contains nerves to the lower limbs. The common symptoms include leg pain, arm pain and in some cases leg spasms can also occur.
The slipped disc is more common in people aged thirty to fifty, with males twice prone to suffer than females. The main causes of the condition are age-related degeneration, lifting heavy weight and sudden awkward movements. The treatment of slipped disc may include physiotherapy and painkiller. In more severe symptoms surgery might be considered.
However, the new treatment, developed by Japanese pharmaceutical company Seikagaku, is intended to have the similar effects as surgery, but with a simple jab. The main constituent of the injected drug is achondroitinase ABC enzyme, which is created naturally by some bacteria.
Injected into the centre of the soft disc matter under general anesthetic, it liquefies the main composites found in the inner disc are chondroitin sulphate, dermatan sulphate and hyaluronic acid. In the latest trail over nearly two hundred patients, half were injected bacteria jab and rest a dummy jab. Those give bacteria jab had significant improvement in leg pain after three months.
According to researchers the enzyme digests only soft matter which is sticking out and not remaining function of the disc. It also has no effect on surrounding tissue like blood vessels and nerves. If it works, an injection to dissolve a herniated disc in order to reduce pain is a good idea which could provide another, non-surgical option for patients, explained a spokeswoman from Arthritis Research UK.