{"id":2904,"date":"2026-01-16T03:08:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/excelspinecenter.shopshop.hk\/understanding-intervertebral-disc-metabolism\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T05:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T05:18:23","slug":"understanding-intervertebral-disc-metabolism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/understanding-intervertebral-disc-metabolism\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Intervertebral Disc Metabolism"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Intervertebral Disc Metabolism<\/h4>

The intervertebral disc is lack of blood circulation, and it has a natural metabolic method to keep the cartilage healthy. Nutritional entry and waste discharge are important for the intervertebral disc . If the two are out of balance, the problem of insufficient nutrient or excessive waste accumulation will result in dehydration, degradation and tearing of the cartilage will present. Since there are no blood vessels, how does nutrition enter the intervertebral disc ? Nutrition must enter the intervertebral disc through \u201cDiffusion\u201d and it is also necessary to use the \u201cConvection\u201d method to remove waste.<\/p>

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(pic 1) The method of \u201cconvection\u201d is to discharge the waste, first straighten the spine and then bend the spine backwards. (pic 1)<\/p>

When our cartilage is in a weightless state, it will produce an infiltration effect. For example, it is a good way to lie flat on the body. The rehydration will be carried out while we sleep at night. As for convection, when we bend the spine forward, which will push out the liquid in the cartilage, then straighten the spine, and then bend the spine backwards. This can push the liquid into the cartilage. These exercises can be practiced daily.<\/p>

Poor Posture Are The Enemy Of The Spine<\/h4>

When the spinal muscles cannot withstand the pressure of physical activity, it will directly increase the pressure on the disc, so that the internal pressure of the disc will increase, and the intervertebral disc will be easily squeezed out. Sports trauma or accidents are also common causes of\u00a0disc herniation\u00a0. Depending on which nerve line that is impinged by the disc, the patient may experience muscle pull, pain, numbness or pin and needle sensation. The fifth section of the lumbar vertebra and the first section of the bottom bone (L5-S1) is the most affected one, the fourth and fifth sections of the lumbar vertebra (L4-5) is the second most affected one, the third and fourth sections of the lumbar vertebra (L3-4) is the third affected one out of the whole lumbar spine. Regarding to the cervical vertebra, the fifth and sixth section (C5-6) are the most common affected one. Lumbar\u00a0disc herniation\u00a0can cause pain in the foot; cervical\u00a0disc herniation\u00a0affects the shoulder, back , hand and finger numbness on the patient. In addition, the degeneration of the intervertebral foramen can also affect the severity of the patient\u2019s symptom.<\/p>

The left picture shows a healthy intervertebral disc; the right picture shows degeneration and thinning of the intervertebral disc, the intervertebral distance is narrowed, and the intervertebral disc is pressed against the spinal nerve.<\/p>

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Left side picture indicate of healthy disc, right side picture indicate of unhealthy disc, the vertebral space is narrower and the disc is degenerated. ( pic 2)<\/p>

Complex Spinal Nerve Distribution<\/h4>

The human spine is mainly composed of cervical vertebrae, thoracic vertebrae, lumbar vertebrae, with sacral and tail bone with a total of 33 vertebrae. There is a central canal between each vertebra, allowing the central nervous system connected to the brain to pass through the spine to connect the various parts of our body. For example, the cervical vertebrae extend to the hand; the thoracic nerve connects the visceral, lumbar nerves extends all the way to the foot via the sciatic nerve. Thus, the spine is a very complicated design.<\/p>

In addition to the first and second vertebrae, there is a piece of cartilage between each vertebra, called the\u00a0intervertebral disc\u00a0. The outer layer of the intervertebral disc is fibrous tissue, name annular fiber, and the inner layer is soft nucleus, name nucleus pulposus.\u00a0 Nucleus Pulposus has the function of absorbing shock, absorbing the pressure of the spine when the human body is active, and maintaining the normal movement of the spine. With the increase of age, the nucleus pulposus in the\u00a0intervertebral disc\u00a0begins to dehydrate and degenerate, and the annulus fiber also has minor tear, which greatly reduces shock absorbing ability of the\u00a0intervertebral disc\u00a0. If we still unconsciously make bad postures at this time, the sustained strain of the spine and muscles will inevitably make the\u00a0disc herniated\u00a0.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Intervertebral Disc Metabolism The intervertebral disc is lack of blood circulation, and it has a natural metabolic method to keep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2904"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6223,"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions\/6223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excelspinecenter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}