PATIALA: Navtej Singh, 26, an architect bend to pick his pen from floor, something clicked into his back bone and he lay down and couldn't get up. Doctor has suggested him one month long complete bed rest and held his work profile responsible for it. Similar is the story of Mrs. Mohinder Kaur, 40, a house wife, felt pain and strain in her right leg for four days and when consulted doctor it was disc prolapse, the reason couldn't be found.
         

symptom is light pain in back and then slowly transforming into strain in leg. We discussed with some orthopedics of the city and questioned about the factors playing roles behind it.
         
Dr. R.L.Mittal, an Orthopedic in Lal Bagh Colony, Patiala says," out of every twenty atients ten are having problem of Disc Prolapse and we receive about 60-70 such cases in a month from both Patiala and out stations and 5 to 10 percent are those cases where surgery is

compulsion to undergo." He further added that disc problems have now become the common seen hings and the shocking aspect is that even kids in schools are also becoming prone to disc related problems.  He explained triple F combination (Fat Female Forty) to depict proneness of disc problem which means women aging around forty are most sensitive to the disc prolapse and fatness pours more oil into fire. He warned that people with heavy bodies must be careful about their backbone and body postures.

Discussing about the reasons he mentioned fatness and less moving activities as major factors responsible for this. In contemporary diet chart of youngsters, they are lacking intake of calcium and vitamin D, which play a vital role for strength of bones, he clarifies. He also said that junk food and cold drinks are nothing more than pouches of calories. As the backbone

holds the whole body centrally so it is prone to damage due to weakness, he disclosed.   Another Orthopedic in Lehal Colony, Dr. Subhash Mahajan is of view that number of cases is stable but the problem has become more probable among people of young age. He said that the decease of disc prolapse is rounding people of every age group, beyond the fact that people have become more fitness conscious these days.

He observes that people opting for Yoga and Aerobics are the easiest target of disc prolapse ue to wrong postures. People should acclimatize their bodies first before exercise and the arsh exercises should be followed only according to stamina. Even the wrong postures in routine life, jerks in traffic and exertion of fast life also play major part to it.  He disclosed that among his own patients 60 percent are suffering from disc prolapse and 10 percent are the cases who have to undergo surgery for the disc excision.

Both the Orthopedics are united to hold wrong postures most responsible in every kind of back ache. Dr. Mahajan suggests that in  routine life too, one should put more stress on knees in spite of back bone while bending or lifting things from ground, especially in case of heavy ones.

Whereas Dr. Mittal says on the part of children that children are becoming pouch potatoes with the wrong eating habits, like excessive intake of junk foods but less physical movement in comparison to the diet. He also told that coir mattresses are good for the backbone but on the contrary Dunlop mattresses add to the harm.

There are many treatments gifted by medical science available in the city. In normal cases wearing a belt, special exercises, medicines and use of hard bed are enough. But if they do not work then disc excision is the way to recovery. Disc excision costs around 10 thousands to wo Lakhs. Now modern techniques of disc excision have also bobbed up, which include Endoscopic disc excision surgery, Disc excision with Laser technique and Robotic Disc surgery.

Artificial Disc Transplant has also entered the field but it has limited life so could be less trusted. But after all prevention is better than cure, so do not put excessive strain on back bones, suggests Dr. Mittal.