Normal degeneration of the spine may sound incongruous
when talking about degeneration, but age meets
us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our
McHenry chiropractic practice recognizes and
respects age for its effect on the spine and its role
in disc degeneration and paraspinal
muscle degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
treats them gently and successfully, particularly
when our patients participate fully by keeping appointments, exercising, and taking
supplements that can be beneficial. It’s all part of our
McHenry chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking about,
but age does not mind. It keeps doing what it does. 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 similar.
Degeneration of these muscles related to age was more obvious
in lumbar spinal stenosis patients particularly 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 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 connected.
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic 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 adknowledged
intervertebral disc degeneration as being the main cause of
chronic low back pain. It is a common and recurrent
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, initiating
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 prompted paravertebral muscle degeneration
with greater 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) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic realizes
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 makes sense that doing less if back
surgery is done would be prudent.
A recent study wrote that adding 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 noted at surgery. (5)
Less is more frequently when treating back
pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That
is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic: gentle
spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
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 McHenry 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 OrthoIllinois Chiropractic to get you all
on a path to healing.