Author: George Wang

Bell’s Palsy

Posted on June 5, 2021 by

What is Bell’s Palsy ?

Bell’s palsy is a condition that includes rapid weakness in facial muscles. For most cases, the condition is temporary and improved over weeks. The weakness of facial muscle causes half of patient’s face appears to drop, one sided smile and inability to close the eye from that side.

Bell’s palsy is also known as acute peripheral facial palsy. The exact cause of weakness in facial muscle is still unknown, but it can occur at all ages. However, it is believed that the weakness is caused by following two. One could be the result of inflammation of the seventh cranial nerve, which carries electrical signals between the brain and facial muscles. The other one could be a reaction of viral infection.

Bell’s palsy is temporary for most cases. Usually within weeks, the muscle weakness will start to improve and completely recover in half of a year.

Symptoms

Rapid onset of mild weakness to total paralysis on one side of the face

Facial droop and difficulty to make facial expression, such as closing eyes or smiling

Drooling

Pain around the jaw or in or behind the ears on the affected side

Increased sensitivity to sound on the affected side

Headache

Loss of taste

Changes in the amount of tears and saliva you produce

See A Doctor

See a doctor when you experience any type of paralysis because you may have a stroke. Although Bell’s palsy is not caused by a stroke, the symptoms are similar. Typically, most cases recover fully with or without treatment and surgery is rarely an option for Bell’s palsy. Go to visit your GP when you experience facial weakness or drooping to seek underlying causes and severity of the illness.

 

Citation 

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2020, April 2). Bell’s palsy. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bells-palsy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370028.

Cause of Different Types of Back Pain

Lower back pain is common among population. Prior to treatment by health care professionals, it is useful to have an understanding on different diagnostic categories of lumbar discs terminology.

Normal

Defines discs that are morphologically normal, without the consideration of the clinical context and not inclusive of degenerative, developmental, or adaptive changes that could be considered clinically normal (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.3).

Congenital/developmental variation

Includes discs that are congenitally abnormal or that have undergone changes in their morphology as an adaptation of abnormal growth of the spine, such as from scoliosis or spondylolisthesis (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.3).

Degeneration

Includes subcategories of annular fissure, degeneration, and herniation

Annular fissure refers to separations between the annular fibers or separation of annular fibers from their attachments to the vertebral bone (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.3).

Degeneration refers to all of the following: desiccation, fibrosis, narrowing of the disc space, diffuse bulging of the annulus beyond the dis space, fissuring, mucinous degeneration of the annulus, intradiscal gas, osteophytes of the vertebrae apophyses, defects, inflammatory changes, and sclerosis of the end plates (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.4)

Herniation refers to a localized r focal displacement f disc material beyond the limits of the intervertebral disc space. The disc material may be nucleus, cartilage, fragmented apophyseal bone, annular tissue, or any combination thereof (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.4).

Herniated disc may be classified as protrusion or extrusion, contained or uncontained (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.5-6).

Trauma

Includes disruption of the disc associated with physical and/or imaging evidence of violent fracture and/or dislocation and does not include repetitive injury, contribution of less than violent trauma to the degenerative process, fragmentation of the ring apophysis in conjunction with disc herniation, or disc abnormalities in association with degenerative subluxations (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.6-7).

Inflammation/infection

Includes infections, infection-like inflammatory discitis, and inflammatory response to spondyloarthropathy. Includes inflammatory spondylitis of subchondral end plate and bone marrow manifested by Modic Type I MRI changes and usually associated with degenerative pathological changes in the discs (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.7).

Neoplasia

Refer to primary or metastatic morphologic changes of disc tissues caused by malignancy (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.7).

Miscellaneous paradiscal masses of uncertain origin

Refer to a paradiscal mass or an increase in the size of herniated disc material may be created by epidural bleeding and/or edema, unrelated to trauma or other known origin (Fardon, Williams, Dohring, Murtagh, Rothman & Sze, 2014, p.7).

 

Citation

Fardon, D. F., Williams, A. L., Dohring, E. J., Murtagh, F. R., Gabriel Rotheman, S. L., & Sze, G. K. (n.d.). Lumbar disc nomenclature: Version 2.0 Recommendations of the combined task forces of the North American Spine Society, the American Society of Spine Radiology and the American Society of Neuroradiology. The Spine Journal. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spinee.2014.04.022

Link to the article: https://ruperthealth.com/research/lumbardisc.pdf