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Normal Degeneration Linked with Fort Wayne Spinal Stenosis

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. 

 
Fort Wayne degenerative spinal changes  
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"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."