As you age, your spinal column narrows and starts squeezing your spinal cord. While the narrowing process progresses slowly, with time, it puts pressure on your nerves and causes a condition known as spinal stenosis. This condition causes you to experience lower back pain or neck pain which will create discomfort. Your Georgetown spinal stenosis specialists at Republic Spine & Pain can help if you are struggling with the condition.
Types of Spinal Stenosis
There are two different types of spinal stenosis: cervical stenosis and lumbar stenosis.
Cervical stenosis affects your neck’s cervical spine, causing pain to spread to your upper back and shoulders. Lumbar stenosis, on the other hand, affects your lower back.
What Causes Spinal Stenosis?
Medical Conditions
If you have been suffering from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, you are at a higher risk of contracting spinal stenosis because of the wear and tear on your bones and joints.
Aging
As you age, your body tissues deteriorate, causing them to lose their functional ability throughout your body. During the aging process, your spine tissue may condense and your bones may enlarge, thus compressing the nerves.
Spinal Injuries
Being involved in a car accident that caused fractures or dislocation to your vertebrae can affect your spinal canal. As a result, such an injury could lead to a degenerative condition.
Herniated Disks
If your vertebrae discs dry out or crack due to the aging factor, it allows the soft inner material to be lost which places pressure on your nerves or spinal cord.
Symptoms of Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis symptoms progress slowly and worsen as nerves become increasingly squeezed over time. Different symptoms depend on the affected location.
If your stenosis is in the cervical spine, you will experience pain in your neck. You may also have a walking or balancing problem, as well as urinary incontinence. Additionally, you could experience weakness, numbness, or tingling in your hand, foot, or leg.
If you have lumbar spine stenosis, you will experience lower back pain. You could also have tingling in your leg or foot, as well as numbness and weakness. After standing for a long period of time, you may experience cramping or pain in one or both legs.
Diagnosis for Spinal Stenosis
Your doctor will review your medical history during the spinal stenosis diagnosis. He or she will also conduct some physical examination and note your symptoms and may recommend other tests to confirm the diagnosis. Such tests include:
- X-ray of your spine to examine any presence of bone spurs, osteoarthritis, or narrowing of the spinal canal.
- Your doctor can perform imaging tests, like a CT scan, to take images of your spinal canal and back, while an MRI scan of your spine will capture prints of your nerves and spinal cord.
Spinal Stenosis Treatment
After diagnosis, your doctor will recommend treatment based on your unique needs. Your doctor can recommend a minimally invasive procedure known as vertiflex superion treatment for your spinal stenosis to relieve pressure on your affected nerves.
Your doctor can also recommend other treatments like physical therapy to assist in strengthening your muscles, corticosteroid injections to minimize swelling, and muscle relaxing medications or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to ease your pain.
If you are suffering from spinal stenosis, call or book an appointment online with Republic Spine & Pain to embark on treatment.
