Call us to set up an appointment! 716-833-1239

Normal Degeneration Linked with Tonawanda Spinal Stenosis

Normal degeneration of the spine may seem incongruous when talking about degeneration, but age meets us all. Age generates degeneration normally. Our Tonawanda chiropractic practice acknowledges and respects age for its effect on the spine and its influence in paraspinal muscle and disc degeneration. They go together. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation treats them gently and successfully, especially when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and following suggestions about supplements that can be beneficial. It’s all part of the Tonawanda 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 researchers compared 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 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 greater intervertebral disc height and more severe vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis because of the intensified 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. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation 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 credited intervertebral disc degeneration as being the number one cause of chronic low back pain. It is a familiar and recuring condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is linked to disc inflammation. 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 play a role in spine stability. As the muscles fill with fat, low back pain transitioned to chronic. (3) In a study of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and sciatica/leg pain, researchers described that lumbar degenerative diseases prompted paravertebral muscle degeneration with higher levels of intramuscular fat infiltration. Women’s paraspinal muscles were significantly reduced. The erector spinae muscle and multifidus muscle in older aged patients were described as having more fat in them. (4) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation appreciates that aging has 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 performed would be sensible. A new study wrote that the addition of 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 noted at surgery. (5) Less is more oftentimes when managing back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.

CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation

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 Tonawanda 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 Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation to get you all on a path of healing. 

 
Tonawanda degenerative spinal changes  
« View All Featured Articles
"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."