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MediFocus Guides Help Answer Key Questions about Spondylolisthesis:
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What are the standard treatments for Spondylolisthesis?
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What are your treatment options?
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Are there any promising new and effective treatments on the horizon?
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Where can you find the doctors, hospitals, and medical centers with specialized interest and expertise in Spondylolisthesis?
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Which organizations and support groups can help you cope more effectively with Spondylolisthesis?
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Medifocus Guidebook:
Spondylolisthesis
Updated: July 15, 2008
- Comprehensive overview of
Spondylolisthesis
- Explore your treatment options
- Learn about new developments
- Read medical journal abstracts
- Find doctors, hospitals, research centers
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Introduction
The skeletal anatomy involved in spondylolisthesis is complex but, in brief, it works like this: Each vertebra in the spine has a thick anterior body (called the centrum). A vertebral (or neural) arch on the surface of the centrum encloses a "vertebral foramen," which the spinal cord passes through. On each side of the neural arch on each vertebra, a pair of "superior articulating processes" projects up, and pair of "inferior articulating processes" projects down, supplying support and flexibility.
Spondylolysis is the degeneration or deficient development of these articulating parts of the vertebra. It can range from a serious condition to a mild one.
Spondylolysis may permit forward slippage of a vertebra onto the next vertebra below it, producing a spondylolisthesis. Spondylolysis occurs in 6% of the population, but only in people who can stand upright and walk. Spondylolysis is more common among athletes active in sports that require repetitive hyperextension, such as diving, weight lifting, wrestling and gymnastics.
Children and teens with this condition may have no symptoms, though symptoms often develop during the preadolescent growth spurt. The magnitude of symptoms does not always correlate with the severity of the slipped vertebra. Many people with this condition don't require treatment. Spondylolysis or low-grade spondylolisthesis may be managed conservatively without surgery. However, young ("skeletally immature") people with more than 30 to 50% slippage are at increased risk for progression and are candidates for spinal fusion without delay. For other patients, treatment can vary from surgery to physical therapy to modification of activities.
Spondylolisthesis has an emotional impact because pain can limit function and impair quality of life. Education is important in giving the patient a sense of control and the information necessary to make informed treatment decisions.
The MediFocus Guidebook on Spondylolisthesis contains information that is vital to anyone who has been diagnosed with this condition.
You will learn about the causes, risk factors, common signs and symptoms, medical tests that are used to establish the diagnosis, and standard treatments. You will also learn about the latest clinical advances in the management of Spondylolisthesis as well as about the newest treatment options that are available.
The MediFocus Guidebook on Spondylolisthesis will also inform you about important new, exciting research in the area of Spondylolisthesis. You will also learn about the doctors, hospitals, and medical centers that are at the leading edge in conducting clinical research about Spondylolisthesis.
Information about clinical trials, quality of life issues, a list of questions to ask your doctor, and a useful directory of organizations and support groups that can help patients with Spondylolisthesis complete this valuable Guidebook.
You won't find this combination of information anywhere else. It is easily accessible right here. We invite you to preview the MediFocus Guidebook on Spondylolisthesis so that you can decide if this comprehensive, trustworthy information may help you or someone you care about who has been diagnosed with Spondylolisthesis.
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