CDE Detailed Report

Degenerative spine disorders present with aging. The most common disorders are lumbar (Abbas et al. 2010; Yasar et al. 2009) and cervical (Tracy & Bartleson 2010; Fehlings & Arvin 2009) spinal canal stenosis, spondylosis and degenerative systemic disorders (like diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) and rheumatoid arthritis). These disorders typically develop slowly with the spinal cord often adapting to extensive morphological changes before notable
impairment. The onset of impairments is usually slow and insidious and therefore not noticed by individuals for a considerable time. However, the degenerative changes can increase susceptibility to spinal cord lesions from relatively minor insults, e.g. minor falls with mild extension/flexion trauma inducing a central cord syndrome (Matz et al. 2009).