That is  a superb question! Spine surgeons are not sure what is best for spinal stenosis, but conservative care is gaining a higher regard in the medical research! Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka gives non-surgical care that is quite soothing to Sitka spinal stenosis sufferers. Sitka patients suffering from spinal stenosis know come to Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka will find our care gentle and comfortable and praise the research and guidelines backing its administration.

 

You may be thinking, “what is spinal stenosis?”. Spinal stenosis is what happens when the spinal canal area is narrowed. For a good number of us lumbar spinal stenosis happens with age when degeneration of the spine develops. This may have to do with how the spinal elements were formed from square one at birth. (From time to time some people are born with narrow spinal canals.) It could also be a disc herniation that is inserting itself into the spinal canal, taking up the space that is supposed to be for the spinal nerves. Regardless of the cause, spinal stenosis’ narrowing is painful.

 

Often when a surgeon sees that a patient has spinal stenosis they will offer surgical options to broaden that narrowed space. There are many directions from which one may take. One choice is decompressive surgery. It is a financially friendly choice for lumbar spinal stenosis, but surgical and conservative treatment approaches result in comparable quality of life at one year follow up. (1) Spinal fusion can also be a weapon against spinal stenosis. A Cochrane Database Review, a big deal in the world of research, reports that there is no significant difference at 6 months and 12 months post spine surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis. Cochrane pulled from 12,966 citations to conclude further that they have very little confidence to determine whether surgical or conservative care is better for lumbar spinal stenosis. They, therefore, offer no new clinical practice recommendations for doctors to follow. They do emphasize though that side-effects from surgery range from 10% to 24% and side effects from conservative care, 0%. There were no side effects from conservative care for lumbar spine stenosis in their review. Further, they report that there were no clear benefits seen with surgery versus no surgery. They warn clinicians to carefully inform patients about possible treatment options “especially given that conservative treatment options have results in no reported side effects.” (2)

 

Chiropractors like yours at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka diagnose spinal stenosis and treat it with chiropractic care and spinal manipulation to conservatively relieve the pain of spinal stenosis. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is the location for Sitka conservative care of back pain. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka uses the Cox Technic system of spinal manipulation to open the spinal canal area by 28%, allowing the nerves to breathe, and drop intradiscal pressures to as low as -192mmHg. (3,4)

 

For relief of pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis, schedule an appointment with Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka, the Sitka chiropractic practice for gentle relief of back pain. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka chiropractic care at Sitka may definitely be the answer to the question of “how to alleviate my pain from spinal stenosis?” for you!