STALIF Animation

1. t STALIF Animation In order to stabilise the vertebra most of the disc at the affected level will be removed leaving just a small rim of annulus around the back www. hebackdoor.org.uk Bone graft material is then placed around the fusion site and over the coming months this will become increasingly strong. This irritation can cause impulses to travel up your spine where the brain interprets them and you ‘feel’ pain Ouch! The STALIF prosthesis is then inserted onto the large vertebral body. The small area of annulus left at the rear prevents this from sliding backwards during this process Ouch! If we then replace the anatomy we took away before….. There are 5 vertebrae in the Lumbar spine Ouch! The Spinal Column is made up of 33 bones called vertebrae all stacked up on top of each other. We are concerned with the 24 moveable bones. If there is a structural weakness the large body of the vertebra can become unstable and irritate the surrounding tissue and nerve roots The lumbar spine is the area we are interested in Screws are then inserted through the holes in the prosthesis and fix in to the vertebral body above and below. This provides a solid attachment Cervical or neck There are nerve roots exiting from each level of the spine on both sides shown here in red We split these in to three main sections Created and written by Chris Heywood MSc BSc MCSP Sitting between these are the Intervertebral discs If we remove some of the anatomy you can see more clearly the spinal cord and nerve roots Thoracic Lumbar