Sadly, spinal surgery is a common treatment older adults with chronic low back pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis. To curb this trend, researchers are working on an algorithm for physicians to follow when diagnosing and treating older patients with low back pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis. This approach is focused on helping low back sufferers to find relief with conservative treatment focused on keeping and/or returning these patients to functional status.(2)
Chiropractic fits this proposed system. Johnson Chiropractic plans to keep Richmond chiropractic patients with back pain and lumbar spinal stenosis functional, keep them mobile, keep them enjoying life with as little interruption by back pain as possible. Johnson Chiropractic offers Cox Technic. It’s Johnson Chiropractic’s use of Cox Technic is a gentle, conservative approach to relieving back pain and related leg pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis. Chiropractic Cox Technic is research-documented to safely increase the spinal canal area by up to 28% in a doctor directed and controlled manner.
As a side note, a Cochrane review concluded that non-surgical interventions studied had no side effects while surgical interventions produced 10% to 24% side-effects. (1) Johnson Chiropractic offers just that conservative treatment may be worth a try before a surgical intervention for lumbar spinal stenosis.
Johnson Chiropractic knows that Richmond low back pain patients with lumbar spinal stenosis want to know how they’ll respond to conservative, non-surgical care like chiropractic spinal manipulation. That’s quite understandable! Researchers are getting pretty good at identifying some factors that may well answer that question. However, not all outcome predicting measures are consistent. Such uncertainty will keep researchers working for a long time! But factors like age, a patient’s beginning-of-care rating of pain, body mass index and leg pain description are pretty reliable. (3,4) Count on your Richmond chiropractor to ask a variety of questions during the clinical examination!
How many questions might your Richmond chiropractor need to diagnose lumbar spine stenosis? Just 6! Research shows that back pain specialists can be 80% certain of the diagnosis after hearing the answer to just 6 questions. What types of questions are these 6? Simple ones like “do you get leg or buttock pain when you walk?” or “do you feel better when you flex forward?” or “does your back pain go away when you use a shopping cart or ride a bike?” do the trick. (5) Do you see a theme here? Spinal stenosis patients often find relief by flexing forward. Johnson Chiropractic offers Richmond chiropractic spinal care that carefully incorporates flexion to give relief. Fellow Richmond chiropractic patients with lumbar spinal stenosis answer these questions similarly and are thankful for the relief after treatment!
Make time now to contact Johnson Chiropractic to arrange your Richmond chiropractic appointment for conservative management and relief of your back pain. You’ll be glad you did!
