Normal Degeneration Linked with Manchester Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may seem strange when talking about degeneration, but age meets us all. Age generates degeneration normally. Our Manchester chiropractic practice recognizes and respects age for its effect on the spine and its role in paraspinal muscle and disc degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries treats them gently and effectively, particularly when our patients do their part in keeping appointments, exercising, and taking supplements that can be beneficial. It is all part of the Manchester chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking about, but age doesn’t care. It keeps doing what it does. 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 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 larger intervertebral disc height and more severe vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis because of 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 interconnected. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries 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 credited intervertebral disc degeneration as being the number one cause of chronic low back pain. It’s a familiar and recuring condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is associated with disc inflammation which makes sense since it is avascular tissue. As we humans age, researchers pointed out 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 transitioned to chronic. (3) In a study of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and sciatica/leg pain, researchers saw 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 described as having more fat in them. (4) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries 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 makes sense that doing less if back surgery is done would be sensible. A new study wrote that the addition of fusion to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis increased 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 managing back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in decreasing pain. That is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries
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.
Schedule your Manchester 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 Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries to get you all on a path to healing.
