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Normal Degeneration Linked with Montreal Spinal Stenosis

Normal degeneration of the spine may sound incongruous when talking about degeneration, but age meets us all. Age generates degeneration normally. Our Montreal chiropractic practice acknowledges 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 effectively, especially when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and following suggestions about supplements that can be beneficial. It is all part of the Montreal chiropractic treatment plan!

NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age

Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking about, but age doesn’t care. It keeps doing its thing. Age contributed much when researchers compared the fatty infiltration of muscle in normal people to that in lumbar spinal stenosis patients 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 obvious 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 due to the intensified mobility of the segment, furthering disc degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal stability. (2) Indeed, the spine and all its muscles are interconnected. Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic looks at them all, to their response to treatment, to their role 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 recuring condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is related to disc inflammation. 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 described that lumbar degenerative diseases caused paravertebral muscle degeneration with higher levels of intramuscular fat infiltration. Women’s paraspinal muscles were significantly smaller. 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 realizes that aging plays a role in back pain’s development, path, and treatment.

LESS IS MORE: Treating Aged Back Pain

Since researchers noticed 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 prudent. A recent study wrote that the addition of fusion to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis heightened 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 frequently when treating back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in decreasing pain. That’s 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 today. 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 set you all on a path of healing. 

 
Montreal degenerative spinal changes  
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"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."