Normal Degeneration Linked with New York City Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may seem incongruous when discussing degeneration, but age encounters us all. Age generates degeneration normally. Our New York City chiropractic practice recognizes and respects age for its influence on the spine and its role in disc degeneration and paraspinal muscle degeneration. They go together. Rosenberg Wellness Center treats them gently and effectively, especially when our patients do their part in keeping appointments, exercising, and taking supplements that can be beneficial. It is all part of our New York City chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking 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 lumbar spinal stenosis patients matched for age, BMI, weight, etc. The paraspinal muscle changes 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 trigger degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis due to the increased mobility of the segment, progressing disc degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal stability. (2) Indeed, the spine and all its muscles are linked. Rosenberg Wellness Center pays attention to 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 is a familiar and recurrent condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is linked 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, starting 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 noted 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) Rosenberg Wellness Center appreciates 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 wise. A recent study wrote that adding fusion to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis raised 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 seen 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 Rosenberg Wellness Center: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Rosenberg Wellness 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 New York City chiropractic appointment today. There’s no avoiding age or its accompanying pal, degeneration. If disc degeneration and spinal muscle degeneration are now your pals, trust Rosenberg Wellness Center to get you all on a path to healing.
