Normal Degeneration Linked with Juneau Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may seem incongruous when discussing degeneration, but age meets us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our Juneau chiropractic practice acknowledges and respects age for its influence on the spine and its influence in disc degeneration and paraspinal muscle degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. Aurora Chiropractic Center 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 Juneau 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 played a considerable role when comparing 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 similar. Degeneration of these muscles related to age was more obvious in lumbar spinal stenosis patients especially in the multifidus muscles. (1) A radiographic study of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis found age-related risk factors. Researchers wrote that larger intervertebral disc height and more severe vertebral endplate failure may trigger degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis because of the intensified mobility of the segment, promoting disc degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal stability. (2) Indeed, the spine and all its muscles are interconnected. Aurora Chiropractic Center looks at them all, to their response to treatment, to their contribution 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 since 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 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 prompted 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) Aurora Chiropractic Center 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 is logical that doing less if back surgery is performed would be wise. A new study wrote that the addition of fusion to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis increased 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 treating back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in decreasing pain. That is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Aurora Chiropractic Center: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Aurora Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Joseph Beissel on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for a patient with chronic low back pain.
Make your Juneau 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 Aurora Chiropractic Center to get you all on a path of healing.
