- Anatomy of The Spine
- Back Pain in Children
- Caring for your Spine
- Emerging Spinecare Trends
- Evaluation of Spinal Disorders
- Exercise and The Spine
- Intervention - Spinal Disorders
- Intervertebral Disc
- Non Surgical Options
- Nutrition and Spinecare
- Options for Spine Treatments
- Pregnancy and Back Pain
- Prevalence of Spine Disorders
- Sleep and the Spine
- Spinecare Introduction
- Spinehealth and Disease
- Surgical Interventions
- Treatment with Medications
- Understanding Back Pain
Spinecare Topics
Spine - Health and Disease
The Healing Spine
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The Healing Spine
Research has established that after spinal cord injury, highly reactive chemicals called oxidants or "free radicals" are released. These chemicals attack the body's natural defenses and critical cell structures. Trauma also results in the release of excess neurotransmitters, leading to excitotoxicity, or secondary damage from overexcited nerve cells. Understanding how to block oxidative damage and excitotoxicity may provide avenues for reducing damage following spinal cord injury.
Until recently, most cell death in spinal cord injury was attributed to necrosis, the common, uncontrolled form of cell death in which cells swell and break open. Recent experiments have shown that some cells die as a result of apoptosis, a form of "cell suicide" in which damaged cells eliminate themselves with less harm to their neighbors. Blocking apoptosis appears to improve recovery after spinal cord injury in rodents.
Damage to axons - nerve fibers that signal to other cells - causes most of the problems associated with spinal cord injury. Until recently, most researchers assumed that the physical forces of spinal cord trauma immediately tear axons. New evidence suggests that many axons deteriorate more slowly because the vital transport of molecules and cell components to and from the ends of axons is disrupted. This delay in axon loss allows time for intervention.
Nerve Regeneration and Recovery in SCI : For successful regeneration of neural elements to occur following spinal cord injury, damaged nerve cells must survive or be replaced, and axons must regrow and find appropriate targets. This process of finding their target connections is referred to as reinnervation. Axons and their targets must then interact to construct synapses, the specialized structures that act as the functional connections between nerve cells.
The nerves within the brain and spinal cord require the right combination of biochemical called trophic factors to repair, survive and grow.
Until recently, most cell death in spinal cord injury was attributed to necrosis, the common, uncontrolled form of cell death in which cells swell and break open. Recent experiments have shown that some cells die as a result of apoptosis, a form of "cell suicide" in which damaged cells eliminate themselves with less harm to their neighbors. Blocking apoptosis appears to improve recovery after spinal cord injury in rodents.
Damage to axons - nerve fibers that signal to other cells - causes most of the problems associated with spinal cord injury. Until recently, most researchers assumed that the physical forces of spinal cord trauma immediately tear axons. New evidence suggests that many axons deteriorate more slowly because the vital transport of molecules and cell components to and from the ends of axons is disrupted. This delay in axon loss allows time for intervention.
Nerve Regeneration and Recovery in SCI : For successful regeneration of neural elements to occur following spinal cord injury, damaged nerve cells must survive or be replaced, and axons must regrow and find appropriate targets. This process of finding their target connections is referred to as reinnervation. Axons and their targets must then interact to construct synapses, the specialized structures that act as the functional connections between nerve cells.
The nerves within the brain and spinal cord require the right combination of biochemical called trophic factors to repair, survive and grow.
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