Everything You Should Know About Spinal Stenosis Treatment
The spinal column supports many functions of the body, chiefly mobility, and motion. Any issues that threaten the health of your Spinal column threaten your very being. The spinal column is long, stretching out from the neck to the pelvic area. In most cases, spinal stenosis is a problem for the lumbar area.
If you have been experiencing back pains that are progressing, do not downplay them. There is no shame in seeking treatment, especially when it can save you from consequences as critical as permanent immobility.
What Is Spinal Stenosis?
It is a condition that features the narrowing of the spinal canal. This narrowing becomes problematic when it begins to compress the nerves that travel through the lower back of your body into the legs.
In most cases, this illness is considered a degenerative condition. This means that it often affects old people. However, it is not unusual to find younger patients seeking spinal stenosis treatment in Houston, TX. In such a case, the condition is termed as a developmental issue.
Understanding More About The Condition
Spinal stenosis treatment is not among those treatments you can choose to overlook as you do with your dental health by dismissing your Houston dentist. When your back is in pain, most of your body’s functions are derailed.
The narrowing of the spinal column is not abrupt. Unfortunately, it happens gradually over time. You may not notice it happening. It could take years and even decades before you first detect an alarming issue meriting a visit to Rehab centers in Houston TX for treatment.
What happens is that the discs that comprise the spinal column become less spongy and harder over time, as you age. This in turn affects the height of the disks, and instead, bulging is experienced. The bulging of the hard disks into your spinal column, along with bone spurs are what contributes more to the narrowing of the spine’s central canal.
A major counter-reaction of what is happening in your spinal region is usually inflammation or constriction and compression of the nerves in that area. Sometimes it is both.
Symptoms Of Spinal Stenosis
The only way to know when to seek treatment at Woodway rehab and wellness is by considering the symptoms you experience. Depending on how extensive the narrowing is, the symptoms will come up with you differently. Some include:
- Pain – it is by far the most common symptom. Patients experience pain differently. For some, the pain will radiate into their legs and thighs. Others feel it at the calves or buttocks. This pain can be significant with any attempts to move your body. However, sitting down, bending forward or lying down can help improve the pain and discomfort.
- Cramping when you walk – usually, you will feel the pressure in your calves, making it hard to move about for long distances.
- Numbness – feelings of numbness may be experienced in your lower body.
- Loss of normal bowel and/or bladder functions – usually for severe cases of spinal stenosis.
Treatments Alternatives for Spinal Stenosis
If you allow the spinal problems to go untreated, you are settling for major ligament and overall body issues long-term. Worse, you could be signing up for permanent mobility problems. Some of the treatments you can seek include:
- Anti-inflammatory drugs – they can help reduce the inflammation, relieving some of the tension on your spinal column.
- Epidural injections – these injections also deliver medication in your system that works to reduce the inflammation.
- Physical therapy – moving your body is therapeutic enough to treat the stiffness. Some physical exercises may even be prescribed by your doctor, to boost your flexibility and build endurance.
- Surgical alternatives – if it comes to the place where you need surgery, then you have very severe symptoms that require intense treatment. Different surgeries can be performed for this procedure. The common ones are:
- Laminotomy – helps relieve pressure to the nerves.
- Medial Facetectomy – creates more space in the spinal column by removing part of the overgrown facet.
- Lumbar interbody fusion – works to fuse the bine of the body of the vertebrae below and above, after removing the degenerative disk.