The vertebrae are the bones that make up the spinal column. The 33 vertebrae go from the neck all the way to the pelvis. They give support to the head, chest and abdomen, and completely surround and protect the spinal cord. Vertebral diseases can be hereditary, caused by nerve and muscle diseases or caused by reasons yet unknown.
Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a disorder in which the spine curves. It can be caused by a muscle or nerve disease, or it can be congenital. Physicians do not know why this disorder occurs, since most children with scoliosis are not born with it and do not have a muscle disease or nerve disorder. Two to four percent of children who are 10 years old to 16 years old have this vertebral disease, writes Frank Pessler, M.D., Ph.D., notes in "The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals." Girls have scoliosis just as much as boys do, but it progresses approximately 10 times more in girls, so they need treatment more than boys. Children with scoliosis will have one shoulder higher than the other one, seen by the way their clothes hang. They may feel weakness and backache in the lower back after standing or sitting for a while.
Klippel-Feil Syndrome
The neck contains seven cervical vertebrae. In Klippel-Feil syndrome, some or all of the cervical vertebrae are fused together. Approximately 60 percent of children with this disorder also have scoliosis, 35 percent have kidney abnormalities, 30 percent are deaf and 14 percent have congenital heart problems, according to Serena Hu, M.D., states in "Current Diagnosis & Treatment in Orthopedics." Children usually have a short neck and may have torticollis, a condition where the head is tilted to one side. The fused vertebrae can press on nerves and lead to neurological problems. Any normal cervical vertebrae can degenerate or become unstable because of their extra workload. The instability between the normal and abnormal vertebrae can increase, resulting in weakness, increased reflexes, paralysis in both arms and legs, and sudden death.
Morquio Disease
Morquio disease develops in children who do not have enough of an enzyme called galactose 6-sulfatase. Enzymes are proteins that speed up the time that a process takes. In children lacking sufficient quantities of galactose 6-sulfatase, substances called acid mucopolysaccharides accumulate in the brain, heart, connective tissue, bone and spinal cord, as explained by Allan Ropper, M.D., in "Adams & Victor's Principles of Neurology." Mucopolysaccharides are groups of proteins and polysaccharides, and their accumulation leads to abnormalities in the skeleton. Children with Morquio disease will start to develop symptoms when they are between one year old and four years old. They will have a spine that is shorter than normal, short arms and legs, osteoporosis, scoliosis, kyphosis and unstable first and second cervical vertebrae. Kyphosis is the medical term for hunchback.
References
- "Adams & Victor's Principles of Neurology"; Allan Ropper, M.D., Martin Samuels, M.D.; 2009
- "Current Diagnosis & Treatment in Orthopedics"; Harry Skinner, M.D., Ph.D.; 2006
- The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals: Idiopathic Scoliosis
