Great question! Spine surgeons are not certain what is best for spinal stenosis, after all conservative care is receiving more and more attention in the medical research! Pure Chiropractic performs non-surgical care that is quite soothing to Concord, NC spinal stenosis sufferers. The Concord, NC chiropractic patients with spinal stenosis come to Pure Chiropractic will find our care gentle and comfortable and praise the research and protocols that are the pillars of its administration.

 

First of all, what is spinal stenosis? Spinal stenosis is the result of narrowing in the spinal canal area. Lumbar spinal stenosis comes with age for many of us when erosion of the spine occurs. This may have to do with how the spinal elements at first developed at birth. (In some cases people are born with narrow spinal canals.) It could also be a disc herniation that is injecting itself into the spinal canal, taking up the space that is designed for the spinal nerves. Whatever the cause, spinal stenosis’ narrowing causes pain.

 

When surgeons discover spinal stenosis in a patient they often offer surgical options to open that narrowed space. There are many procedures from which you may pick. One avenue is decompressive surgery. It is an inexpensive option for lumbar spinal stenosis, but surgical and conservative treatment approaches result in comparable quality of life at one year follow up. (1) Spinal fusion is another such option. 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)

 

Chiropractors like yours at Pure Chiropractic recognize spinal stenosis and treat it with chiropractic care and spinal manipulation to conservatively relieve the pain of spinal stenosis. Pure Chiropractic is the location for Concord, NC conservative care of back pain. Pure Chiropractic uses the Cox Technic system of spinal manipulation to open the spinal canal area by 28%, allowing the nerves to breathe, and drop intradiscal pressures to as low as -192mmHg. (3,4)

 

For relief of pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis, schedule an appointment with Pure Chiropractic, the Concord, NC chiropractic practice for gentle relief of back pain. Pure Chiropractic chiropractic care at Concord, NC may definitely be the answer to the question of “what to do with spinal stenosis?” for you!