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DESCRIPTION:
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of spaces in the spine that results in pressure on the spinal cord and/or nerve roots. The narrowing may involve a small or large area of the spine. Pressure on the lower part of the spinal cord or on nerve roots branching out from that area may lead to pain or numbness in the legs. Pressure on the upper part of the spinal cord may produce similar symptoms in the shoulders, or even the legs. This disorder is most common in people over 50 years of age. However, it may occur in younger people who are born with a narrowing of the spinal canal or who have suffered an injury to the spine.
How does spinal stenosis develop?
The vertebrae are held together by multiple ligaments. Once these ligaments are weakened by injury or the natural aging process, additional pressure is put on the discs, and to help stabilize the area, muscles spasms result. And once the muscle spasms can no longer hold the vertebrae in place, osteophytes or bone spurs result. This overgrowth of bone is the body's attempt to stabilize the vertebral segment, and leads to a narrowing of the spaces in the spine and pressure on the nerves. The narrowing of the canal may also be inherited or acquired. Some people inherit a small spinal canal or have a curvature of the spine, or scoliosis, which produces pressure on nerves and soft tissue and compresses or stretches ligaments. In the inherited condition called achondroplasia, defective bone formation results in abnormally short and thickened pedicles that reduce the diameter of the spinal canal. Acquired conditions that can cause spinal stenosis include osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
What are the symptoms of spinal stenosis?
Spaces within the spine can narrow without producing any symptoms. However, if the narrowing places pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots, there may be a slow onset and progression of symptoms. The back itself may or may not hurt. Some people experience numbness, weakness, cramping or general pain in the legs that occurs during flexing the lower back while sitting. Muscle spasms may also occur. It is common for patients with spinal stenosis to develop pain in the buttocks or legs while walking. Patients with severe stenosis can usually barely walk even the length of just one city block before they have to stop. Many patients with spinal stenosis feel relief when bending forward. People with more severe stenosis may experience abnormal bowel and bladder function and foot disorders, sexual dysfunction and, in very rare instances, compression above the area where the lumbar vertebrae and sacrum meet, resulting in partial or complete paralysis of the legs. In general, pain is felt only during activity and not while sitting or lying down.
Conventional medical treatments may help relieve the symptoms of spinal stenosis, but they do not address the root of the problem. By strengthening structural weaknesses in the body, as natural medicine treatments like Prolotherapy do, pain associated with spinal stenosis may be alleviated permanently.
Discover why we believe that natural medicine treatments are the best way to treat spinal stenosis.
Prolotherapy Research:
Click here to read Prolotherapy research by Dr. Ross Hauser and his team on Prolotherapy injections for low back pain.
Click here to read Prolotherapy research by Dr. Ross Hauser and his team on Prolotherapy injections for neck pain.
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