According to the Gospels, Jesus healed the two blind men of Galilee, the blind man of Bethsaida, the blind man of Jericho and the man who was born blind. The parable of the blind men and an elephant has crossed between many religious traditions and is part of Jain, Buddhist, Sufi and Hindu lore. In various versions of the tale, a group of blind men (or men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement. "Three Blind Mice" is a medieval English nursery rhyme about three blind mice whose tails are cut off after chasing the farmers wife. The work is explicitly incongruous, ending with the comment Did you ever see such a sight in your life, As three blind mice? Modern times
Poet John Milton, who went blind in mid-life, composed "On His Blindness", a sonnet about coping with blindness. The work posits that [those] who best Bear [God]s mild yoke, they serve him best. The Dutch painter and engraver Rembrandt often depicted scenes from the apocryphal Book of Tobit, which tells the story of a blind patriarch who is healed by his son, Tobias, with the help of the archangel Raphael.Slaver-turned-abolitionist John Newton composed the hymn "Amazing Grace" about a wretch who "once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see."
Bertolottis syndrome is a commonly missed cause of back pain which occurs due to lumbosacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV). It is a congenital condition but is not usually symptomatic until ones later twenties or early thirties. However, there are a few cases of Bertolottis that become symptomatic at a much earlier age. It is named for Mario Bertolotti, an Italian physician who first described it in 1917. Presentation
A chronic, persistent low back pain along with buttock pain is the most important presentation. Radicular pain is observed. Pathophysiology
Bertolottis syndrome is characterized by sacralization of the lowest lumbar vertebral body and lumbarization of the uppermost sacral segment. It involves a total or partial unilateral or bilateral fusion of the transverse process of the lowest lumbar vertebra to the sacrum, leading to the formation of a transitional 5th lumbar vertebra. Of importance is that this syndrome will result in a pain generating 4th lumbar disc resulting in a "sciatic" type of a pain correlating to the 5th lumbar nerve root. Usually the transitional vertebra will have a "spatulated" transverse process on one side resulting in articulation or partial articulation with the sacrum or at time the ilium and in some cases with both. This results in limited / altered motion at the lumbo-sacral articulation. This loss of motion will then be compensated for at segments superior to the transitional vertebra resulting in accelerated degeneration and strain through the L4 disc level which can become symptomatic and inflame the adjacent L5 nerve root resulting in "sciatic" or radicular pain patterns.