Normal degeneration of the spine may seem strange
when talking about degeneration, but age encounters
us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our
Minster chiropractic practice recognizes and
respects age for its effect on the spine and its role
in disc degeneration and paraspinal
muscle degeneration. They go together. Minster Chiropractic Center
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
Minster 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 contributed much 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 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 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 interconnected.
Minster Chiropractic Center looks at them all, to their response to
treatment, to their role in the pain.
BACK PAIN AND ITS PALS
Low back pain has associates. 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’s a familiar and recuring
condition in spine surgery fields. Disc degeneration is related to disc inflammation. As we humans age, researchers explained
that its bone marrow changes to bone marrow fat, starting
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 changed
to chronic. (3) In a study of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and
sciatica/leg pain, researchers described that lumbar
degenerative diseases caused paravertebral muscle degeneration
with higher levels of intramuscular fat infiltration. Women’s
paraspinal muscles were significantly smaller. The erector spinae
muscle and multifidus muscle in older aged patients were described as having more fat in them. (4) Minster Chiropractic Center realizes
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 is logical that doing less if back
surgery is performed would be sensible.
A recent 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 oftentimes when managing back
pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That’s the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Minster Chiropractic Center: gentle
spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center
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 Minster chiropractic
appointment today. There’s no escaping age or its
accompanying pal, degeneration. If disc degeneration and spinal muscle
degeneration are now your pals, trust Minster Chiropractic Center to set you all
on a path of healing.