A Short Note on Spinal Arthritis

Sarita Mon^*
*Correspondence: Sarita Mon, Department of Medicine, Sha Medical University, India, Email:

Editorial Note

Spinal arthritis leads to inflammation of the facet joints in the spine or sacroiliac joints between the spine and pelvis. It causes stiffness and low back pain upon waking up in the morning. Fluid built up in the joint due to inactivity overnight causes more swelling. Pain is mostly > 80% - in the back, runs into the buttocks, and often really feels like it’s in the hip. As it gets even worse people will feel burning on the outer aspect of the thigh, and sometimes pain down the leg and nerve root pain some times.

Symptoms of spinal arthritis

• The back and neck stiffness and pain will be worse in the morning, often called "first movement pain."

• Pain will usually reduce with daily activities. Again tends to increase in the evening, and then disrupts sleep.

• Swelling and warmth in joints, particularly when weather changes.

• Tenderness in joints and affected area of spine is pressed.

• Pain in joints increase steadily and gradually reside with time.

• Loss of flexibility in joints, unable to bend.

• A crunching feeling or sound will arise when bone rubs while the joint is moved (called crepitus), particularly observed in the neck.

• A sensation of pinching, tingling, or numbness arise in nerve or the spinal cord.

Basic measures to be taken

• Affected people require treatment; indeed they have to change the life style like exercise, weight reduction, certain conditions such as diabetes, gout, psoriasis, tuberculosis, irritable bowel.

• Have to avoid food like fried sugars and reined carbs, alcohol and tobacco

Osteoarthritis of the spine and disc degeneration

Researchers refer spinal arthritis as osteoarthritis, joint disease which are degenerative, or facet joints. Spinal arthritis commonly occurs mostly in people of age 50 and above and causes degenerative process in the spine. It also associates with degenerative discs in the spine. Degenerative discs and osteoarthritis often occur hand in hand the disc and facet joints. The degenerating discs can indulge stress on the facet joints, then as the time passes it leads to degeneration and formation of osteoarthritis in the facet joints (zygapophyseal joints). Depending on the different classification if arthritis is related to spine or sacroiliac joints it is called axial spondyloarthritis, if it is related to tendons then it is called as peripheral spondyloarthritis. There are different forms of Spondyloarthritis some of them are: Ankylosing spondylitis is the condition in which there is inflammation in the vertebrae. Psoriatic arthritis is associated with psoriasis; firstly develop psoriasis and then arthritis. Enteropathic arthritis is linked to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Other forms include undifferentiated spondyloarthritis and juvenile spondyloarthritis. Spinal arthritis can be diagnosed by X-Ray, CT-Scan, and MRI.

Medical treatments

• Drug of choice for treating mild to moderate spinal arthritis pain is Acetaminophen (i.e., Tylenol)

• Acetaminophen may cause or contribute to liver problems if it is consumed along with alcohol.

• Non-steroidal and anti-inflammatory drugs are suggested to help in relieving the pain.