Normal Degeneration Linked with Montreal Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may seem odd when talking about degeneration, but age meets us all. Age generates degeneration normally. Our Montreal chiropractic practice recognizes and respects age for its influence on the spine and its role in disc degeneration and paraspinal muscle degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic treats them gently and successfully, especially when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and following suggestions about supplements that can help. It is all part of our Montreal chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking about, but age doesn’t mind. It keeps doing its thing. 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 alterations in lumbar spinal stenosis patients and normal people were comparable. Degeneration of these muscles related to age was more noticeable in lumbar spinal stenosis patients especially in the multifidus muscles. (1) In a radiographic study of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis patients, age-related risk factors were noted. Researchers wrote that larger intervertebral disc height and more severe vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis because of 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 connected. Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic 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 number one cause of chronic low back pain. It’s a common and recuring condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is related to disc inflammation which makes sense as it is avascular tissue. As we humans age, researchers explained that its bone marrow changes to bone marrow fat, triggering an inflammatory response in the disc and paraspinal muscles which have a role in 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 caused paravertebral muscle degeneration with greater levels of intramuscular fat infiltration. Women’s paraspinal muscles were significantly reduced. The erector spinae muscle and multifidus muscle in older aged patients were noted to have more fat in them. (4) Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic appreciates 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 performed would be prudent. A new 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 managing back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic
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.
Make your Montreal chiropractic appointment soon. There’s no escaping age or its accompanying pal, degeneration. If disc degeneration and spinal muscle degeneration are now your pals, trust Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic to get you all on a path of healing.
