Normal degeneration of the spine may seem incongruous
when talking about degeneration, but age meets
us all. Age generates degeneration normally. Our
Tonawanda chiropractic practice acknowledges and
respects age for its effect on the spine and its influence
in paraspinal muscle and disc degeneration. They go together. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
treats them gently and successfully, especially
when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and following suggestions about
supplements that can be beneficial. It’s all part of the
Tonawanda chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we want to talk 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 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) In a radiographic study of degenerative lumbar
spinal stenosis patients, age-related risk factors were noted. Researchers
wrote that greater intervertebral disc height and more severe
vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar
spinal stenosis because of the intensified
mobility of the segment, promoting disc
degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal
stability. (2) Truly, the spine and all its muscles are linked.
Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation looks at 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 credited
intervertebral disc degeneration as being the number one cause of
chronic low back pain. It is a familiar and recuring
condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is linked to disc inflammation. 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 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 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) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation 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 is logical that doing less if back
surgery is performed would be sensible.
A new study wrote that the addition of fusion
to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis heightened
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 noted at surgery. (5)
Less is more oftentimes when managing back
pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That
is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation: gentle
spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
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 Tonawanda chiropractic
appointment soon. There’s no escaping age or its
accompanying pal, degeneration. If disc degeneration and spinal muscle
degeneration are now your pals, trust Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation to get you all
on a path of healing.