Interesting Fact #1

I am actually preparing material for my entrance exam presentation -- and of course a lot of paper reading takes place. And reading some fact is quite interesting. So, might as well I utilise this space as some part of knowledge sharing thingy -- and get over the 'aku emotional' mode that I usually channel in this space. BTW, aku tak emotional pun sekarang. Getting used to married life -- abroad -- and alone. Eh, tak alone pun. Cute baby in the womb! Haha.

Anyway, my study is actually related to the intervertebral disc -- we'll call it IVD from this point onward. And if you wonder what it really is, see the picture below. 

Our spine system

The IVD is the so-called-absorbing-pad in between of each vertebral bone along the spine system. If we are to cut the IVD along its transverse section, you can see its structure consists of layers of fibre (at the outer wall - known as annulus) and at the centre of it is the nucleus, very soft gel-like property. (See below).

The cross-section of the IVD

So, to make it easier for you to understand the feature of IVD's nucleus -- soft-gel-like properties means that it consists of a lot of water compared to solid material -- that's why it's soft-gel-like (not liquid, mind you). So, when there is water, there's pressure. When you are in motion, you exert load onto the spine system, and to avoid vertebrae bone clashing with one another disrupting your motion, the pressure within the nucleus push the spine away from one another allowing you to move in smooth motion. 

A study by J. Nixon (1986) highlighted that the pressure in the nucleus actually influences the variation of your height, daily. Dalam erti kata lain, waktu pagi mungkin kau tinggi, by night time, you may have shorten by few cm. 

The paper highlighted the differences to skeletal height among kids, young adults and old people. Macam budak-budak, their height shorten about 2% at the end of the day, compared to the beginning of the day. Adult -- on the other hand -- was found to shorten about 1.1cm at the end of the day. But older people around 70 years old -- doesn't show that much difference -- sebab as you age, you kind of dry out -- the water content within the nucleus are loss -- which result to drop of nucleus imbibition pressure -- and that's why the motions pun dah jadi a wee bit difficult for older people. 

So ---- those yang terasa diri kiut-kiut renek2 tu, maybe you can look for some supplement that boost your nucleus' pressure.  Mungkin -- boleh jadi tinggi?

Haha. Till then!