Normal Degeneration Linked with Richmond Spinal Stenosis
Normal degeneration of the spine may sound odd when discussing degeneration, but age encounters us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our Richmond 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. Johnson Chiropractic treats them gently and effectively, especially when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and taking supplements that can be beneficial. It’s all part of the Richmond chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking about, but age does not care. It keeps doing what it does. Age contributed much 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) 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 trigger degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis because of the intensified 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. Johnson 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 is a familiar and recuring condition in spine surgery realms. 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, activating 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 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) Johnson Chiropractic appreciates that aging contributes to 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 makes sense that doing less if back surgery is done would be prudent. A recent 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 oftentimes when managing back pain. Gentler treatment can go far in decreasing pain. That’s the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Johnson Chiropractic: gentle spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
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 Richmond 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 Johnson Chiropractic to get you all on a path of healing.
