Normal Degeneration Linked with Fort Wayne Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may seem odd when discussing degeneration, but age encounters us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our Fort Wayne chiropractic practice acknowledges and respects age for its effect on the spine and its role in paraspinal muscle and disc degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc treats them gently and effectively, especially when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and taking supplements that can be beneficial. It is all part of our Fort Wayne chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we want to talk about, but age does not mind. It keeps doing what it does. Age played a considerable role when comparing the fatty infiltration of muscle in normal people to that in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis who were matched for age, BMI, weight, etc. The paraspinal muscle changes in lumbar spinal stenosis patients and normal people were similar. Degeneration of these muscles related to age was more noticeable in lumbar spinal stenosis patients particularly in the multifidus muscles. (1) A radiographic study of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis found age-related risk factors. Researchers wrote that larger intervertebral disc height and more severe vertebral endplate failure may trigger degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis because of the increased mobility of the segment, furthering disc degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal stability. (2) Indeed, the spine and all its muscles are linked. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc looks at them all, to their response to treatment, to their part in the pain.
BACK PAIN AND ITS PALS
Low back pain has friends. It brings with it degeneration, change, fat, imbalance and more. Researchers adknowledged intervertebral disc degeneration as being the main cause of chronic low back pain. It is a common and recuring condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is associated with disc inflammation which makes sense since it is avascular tissue. As we humans age, researchers pointed out that its bone marrow changes to bone marrow fat, activating an inflammatory response in the disc and paraspinal muscles which influence spine stability. As the muscles fill with fat, low back pain changed to chronic. (3) In a study of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and sciatica/leg pain, researchers saw that lumbar degenerative diseases prompted paravertebral muscle degeneration with greater levels of intramuscular fat infiltration. Women’s paraspinal muscles were significantly smaller. The erector spinae muscle and multifidus muscle in older aged patients were seen to have more fat in them. (4) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc realizes that aging has a role in back pain’s development, path, and treatment.
LESS IS MORE: Treating Aged Back Pain
Since researchers documented that with age comes fatty infiltration of paraspinal muscles and inflammatory responses in the disc, it makes sense that doing less if back surgery is done would be wise. A recent study wrote that adding fusion to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis heightened the risk of new stenosis on an MRI two years later at the operated level or at an adjacent spinal level even when spondylolisthesis (a condition that one vertebra slipped on another one) was seen at surgery. (5) Less is more frequently when treating back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in decreasing pain. That’s the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Joseph Beissel on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for a patient with chronic low back pain.
Schedule your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment now. There’s no escaping age or its accompanying pal, degeneration. If disc degeneration and spinal muscle degeneration are now your pals, trust Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc to get you all on a path to healing.
