Normal Degeneration Linked with Sitka Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may seem odd when talking about degeneration, but age meets us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our Sitka chiropractic practice acknowledges and respects age for its effect on the spine and its role in paraspinal muscle and disc degeneration. They go together. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka treats them gently and successfully, especially when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and taking supplements that can help. It’s all part of our Sitka chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking about, but age does not mind. It keeps doing what it does. Age contributed much 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 comparable. Degeneration of these muscles related to age was more obvious in lumbar spinal stenosis patients particularly in the multifidus muscles. (1) In a radiographic study of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis patients, age-related risk factors were noted. Researchers wrote that greater intervertebral disc height and more severe vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis due to the amplified mobility of the segment, promoting disc degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal stability. (2) Truly, the spine and all its muscles are linked. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka 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’s a common and recurrent condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is related to disc inflammation which makes sense since it is avascular tissue. As we humans age, researchers explained that its bone marrow changes to bone marrow fat, starting 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 noted 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 described as having more fat in them. (4) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka realizes that aging has a role in back pain’s development, path, and treatment.
LESS IS MORE: Treating Aged Back Pain
Since researchers observed that with age comes fatty infiltration of paraspinal muscles and inflammatory responses in the disc, it is logical 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 increased the odds 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 noted at surgery. (5) Less is more oftentimes when treating back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Joseph Beissel on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates the relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for a patient with chronic low back pain.
Schedule your Sitka 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 Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka to set you all on a path to healing.
