Normal Degeneration Linked with St Peters Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may seem odd when talking about degeneration, but age encounters us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our St Peters chiropractic practice recognizes and respects age for its effect on the spine and its role in disc degeneration and paraspinal muscle degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. Old Mill Chiropractic treats them gently and successfully, particularly when our patients participate fully by coming to appointments, exercising, and taking supplements that can be beneficial. It’s all part of our St Peters chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we want to talk about, but age does not mind. It keeps doing its thing. 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 obvious in lumbar spinal stenosis patients particularly in the multifidus muscles. (1) A radiographic study of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis found age-related risk factors. Researchers wrote that greater intervertebral disc height and more severe vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis due to the amplified mobility of the segment, promoting disc degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal stability. (2) Truly, the spine and all its muscles are interconnected. Old Mill Chiropractic 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 credited intervertebral disc degeneration as being the main cause of chronic low back pain. It’s a common and recurrent condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is associated with disc inflammation which makes sense as it is avascular tissue. As we humans age, researchers pointed out 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 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 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 seen to have more fat in them. (4) Old Mill Chiropractic realizes that aging plays a role in back pain’s development, path, and treatment.
LESS IS MORE: Treating Aged Back Pain
Since researchers observed 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 recent study wrote that adding 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 seen at surgery. (5) Less is more oftentimes when managing back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That’s the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Old Mill Chiropractic: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Old Mill Chiropractic
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 St Peters chiropractic appointment now. There’s no avoiding age or its accompanying pal, degeneration. If disc degeneration and spinal muscle degeneration are now your pals, trust Old Mill Chiropractic to get you all on a path to healing.
