Normal degeneration of the spine may seem incongruous
when talking about degeneration, but age encounters
us all. Age brings on degeneration normally. Our
Plainville chiropractic practice acknowledges and
respects age for its effect on the spine and its role
in disc degeneration and paraspinal
muscle degeneration. They go together. Layden Chiropractic
treats them gently and successfully, especially
when our patients do their part in keeping appointments, exercising, and following suggestions about
supplements that can be beneficial. It is all part of the
Plainville chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we enjoy talking about,
but age does not care. It keeps doing what it does. Age played a considerable role when researchers
compared the fatty infiltration of muscle in normal people to that
in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis who were 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 noticeable
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 larger intervertebral disc height and more severe
vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar
spinal stenosis due to the amplified
mobility of the segment, furthering disc
degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal
stability. (2) Indeed, the spine and all its muscles are connected.
Layden 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 credited
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 explained
that its bone marrow changes to bone marrow fat, triggering
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 transitioned
to chronic. (3) In a study of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and
sciatica/leg pain, researchers noted 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 noted
to have more fat in them. (4) Layden Chiropractic appreciates
that aging plays 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 performed would be sensible.
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 oftentimes when managing back
pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That
is the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Layden Chiropractic: gentle
spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Layden 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 Plainville 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 Layden Chiropractic to get you all
on a path to healing.