IT man has trouble walking at desk for 12 hours a day
Sedentary, heavier body, less exercise, and lumbar disc herniation is getting younger and younger
Wuhan Evening News (Reporter Liu Xuan, Correspondent Liu Wang) 42-year-old IT engineer was unable to walk due to the pain of lumbar disc herniation. On the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, he underwent spinal endoscopic surgery at Wuhan Sixth Hospital (Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University) After that, normal walking was resumed.
On the 22nd, the reporter learned from many hospitals in Wuhan that patients with lumbar disc herniation are getting younger and younger, and patients under 45 years old account for nearly half.
These people have one common characteristic: sitting still for a long time.
42-year-old Mr. Guo is a network engineer. It is commonplace to sit and work for more than 12 hours a day. He rarely spares time to exercise, and his weight soars to more than 200 kilograms.
Since last year, Mr. Guo began to have frequent low back pain. He was diagnosed with a herniated lumbar intervertebral disc in the hospital. He has been receiving conservative treatments such as traction, acupotomy, and physical therapy.
Since August this year, Mr. Guo’s condition has significantly worsened. The pain radiated to his legs and even walking was very difficult.
On the morning of September 17, Mr. Guo was sent by his family to the Orthopedic Surgery Department of the Sixth City Hospital (Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University).
After the doctor Tong Jie who was admitted to him, he read the CT film again and found that Mr. Guo's fifth lumbar vertebrae was obviously protruding and the compression symptoms were very serious. He must be operated on immediately.
On the afternoon of the 19th, Mr. Guo was pushed into the operating room.
Tong Jie and the team doctor made two small openings less than 1 cm in his spine, cut off the herniated intervertebral disc, and relieved the nerve compression.
On the second day, Mr. Guo was able to get out of bed and walk, and on the third day he recovered and was discharged from the hospital.
On the morning of the 22nd, Mr. Guo went to work as usual.
"The proportion of young people suffering from lumbar disc herniation is getting higher and higher." Ren Guohai, director of the Department of Orthopedics at the Sixth City Hospital, said that the youngest patient he received was only 20 years old.
Why do young people suffer from this "senile disease"?
Ren Guohai told reporters that people who sit for a long time, stand for a long time, and those who work with their heads down for a long time are high-risk groups of lumbar disc herniation.
Today's young people spend significantly more time sitting at the table, and there is a lot of pressure on the intervertebral disc when people are sitting.
When a person is sitting, the force on the lumbar spine increases by 50% compared to when standing; when sitting with extreme flexion, the force on the lumbar spine increases by 100% compared to when standing.
"When a person is playing mobile phones, playing games, or typing words with a computer, the lumbar spine is in a state of flexion." Ren Guohai explained. This is because when the upper body leans forward, the weight of the head, torso and upper limbs is all concentrated on the lumbar spine. On this one point of support.