Great
question! Spine surgeons aren’t
sure the
best treatment plan for
spinal stenosis, but
conservative care is acquiring more
consideration in the medical research! Aaron Chiropractic Clinic
offers
non-surgical care
that is quite relieving to Fort Wayne spinal stenosis sufferers. Fort Wayne patients suffering from spinal stenosis know come to Aaron Chiropractic Clinic will find our care gentle and
comfortable and appreciate the
research and
procedures behind its administration.
You may be
thinking, “what is spinal stenosis?”. Spinal
stenosis is the narrowing of
the spinal canal area.
For a good number of us
lumbar spinal stenosis happens with age when degeneration of the spine takes place. This
may have to do with how the spinal elements first
developed at birth. (From time to time
some people are born with narrow spinal canals.) It may be due to a disc
herniation that is pushing itself into the spinal canal, taking up the space that is supposed
to be for the spinal nerves. Whatever the cause, spinal stenosis’ narrowing creates
pain.
When surgeons see
spinal stenosis in a patient they often give surgical choices
to widen that narrowed space. There are many directions
from which a patient may pick. One avenue
is decompressive surgery. It is cost-effective for lumbar spinal stenosis, but surgical and conservative
treatment approaches result in comparable quality of life at one year follow
up.
(1) Also a patient may consider spinal fusion. A Cochrane Database Review, a big deal in the world of
research, reports that there is no significant
difference at 6 months and 12 months post spine surgery for lumbar spinal
stenosis. Cochrane pulled from 12,966 citations to conclude
further that they have very little confidence to determine whether surgical or
conservative care is better for lumbar spinal stenosis. They, therefore, offer
no new clinical practice recommendations for doctors to follow. They do
emphasize though that side-effects
from surgery range from 10% to 24% and side effects from conservative
care, 0%. There
were no side effects from conservative care for lumbar spine stenosis in their
review. Further,
they report that there
were no clear benefits seen with surgery versus no surgery. They warn clinicians to carefully
inform patients about possible treatment options “especially given that
conservative treatment options have results in no reported side effects.”
(2)
"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."