Normal degeneration of the spine may seem strange
when discussing degeneration, but age meets
us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our
Fort Wayne chiropractic practice acknowledges and
respects age for its effect on the spine and its role
in disc degeneration and paraspinal
muscle degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
treats them gently and successfully, especially
when our patients participate fully by coming
to appointments, exercising, and following suggestions about
supplements that can help. It is all part of our
Fort Wayne chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we want to talk about,
but age doesn’t care. It keeps doing its
thing. 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 alterations
in lumbar spinal stenosis patients and normal people were comparable.
Degeneration of these muscles related to age was more obvious
in lumbar spinal stenosis patients particularly 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 due to 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 linked.
Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc 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 adknowledged
intervertebral disc degeneration as being the main cause of
chronic low back pain. It is a familiar and recurrent
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 influence spine stability. As the muscles fill with fat, low back pain changed
to chronic. (3) In a study of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and
sciatica/leg pain, researchers noted that lumbar
degenerative diseases prompted paravertebral muscle degeneration
with greater 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) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc realizes
that aging contributes to 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 makes sense that doing less if back
surgery is done would be prudent.
A new study wrote that the addition of fusion
to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis raised
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’s the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc: gentle
spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
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 Fort Wayne 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 Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc to set you all
on a path to healing.