The Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment For Spinal Stenosis – Spinal Stenosis is a condition when the narrowing of the vertebrae occurs, causing pressure on the spinal cord. Spinal Stenosis usually occurs in the lower back or neck. Most sufferers of spinal stenosis aged 50 years and over.
Before we discuss about treatment for spinal stenosis, we will first discuss the types, risk factors, causes, and symptoms of spinal stenosis.
Spinal Stenosis Types
Based on the location of this condition, spinal stenosis can be divided into several types. A person can experience more than one type of spinal stenosis. The two main types of spinal stenosis are:
Cervical Stenosis.
In this condition, narrowing occurs on the part of the spine in the neck.
Lumbar Spinal Stenosis.
This type of stenosis occurs on the part of the spine in the lower back. Lumbar Spinal Stenosis is the most common form of spinal stenosis.
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Risk Factors for Spinal Stenosis
Most of the spinal stenosis is a person over 50 years old. In addition, people have a history of trauma, congenital spinal deformities such as scoliosis, and genetic diseases involving muscles and bones, as well as a high risk of spinal stenosis.
Causes of Spinal Stenosis
The most common cause of spinal stenosis is aging. As the age progresses, the process of network change occurs throughout the body. The tissues of the spine, like the ligaments begin to thicken and the bones become larger, thus suppressing the nerves. In addition, there are some other conditions that can cause spinal stenosis, among others:
Spinal cord injuries.
The spinal cord can be dislocations or broken bones due to accidents, one of the traffic accidents.
Tumor.
Tumors can appear in the spinal cord, within the membrane lining the spinal cord, or in the chamber between the nerves and the vertebrae of the spine.
Other causes.
- Paget’s disease. The condition when the bones grow abnormally.
- Scoliosis, which is an abnormality of the spine.
- Spinal disorder, since birth.
Spinal Stenosis symptoms
Some symptoms that could be a sign if you have spinal stenosis, such as:
- The body so is not balanced and easy falls.
- The pain and cramps are continuously felt in the lower back while walking and on the feet. The pain will improve if the people bend forward.
- Numbness or tingling in the legs, arms, palms, and soles of the feet.
- Weakness in the legs. This condition can significantly affect motion.
Symptoms experienced in the occurrence of spinal stenosis will occur gradually. It could be that this condition does not suffer any symptoms at the beginning of the occurrence of spinal stenosis. However, if the narrowing is increasingly pressing nerves, the condition will be severe immediately.
Treatment for spinal stenosis.
Treatment for spinal stenosis depends on the location of the stenosis and severity of the signs and symptoms experienced. Drugs, physical therapy, decompression, and surgery, can be a handling option.
Drugs
To treat inflammation and pain, the doctor will recommend a drug that is sold freely like acetaminophen, aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen. If it does not help, the doctor will give steroid injections on the spinal cord to relieve inflammation and pain. Anesthetic drugs can be another option to stop the pain in the infected area.
Physical Therapy
A person with spinal stenosis is generally less active in trying to relieve pain. Because, patients with spinal stenosis experienced muscular weakness, which causes more severe pain. In this condition, physical therapy can be beneficial to:
- Build strength and endurance
- Maintain spinal flexibility and stability
- Improve balance
Decompression procedure
This procedure uses a needle-like tool to remove part of the thickened ligament on the back of the spinal column. The goal is to spread the room in the spinal canal and remove the trapped nerve roots. This procedure is called percutaneous image-guided Lumbar decompression (PILD), or previously called Minimally Invasive Lumbar decompression (MILD).
Surgery
Surgery can be taken if other treatments do not help, or if it becomes limited due to symptoms. One of the purposes of surgery is to relieve the pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots, by creating more space in the spinal canal. Surgery to decompress the stenosis area is the most definite way to overcome the symptoms of spinal stenosis.
Other surgical procedures that can be performed include the following medical measures.
Laminectomy:
This procedure is performed by removing the back of the affected vertebrae. Laminectomy is sometimes called decompression surgery because it is done to reduce the pressure on the nerves by creating a space around the nerve.
In some cases, the affected vertebrae may need to be linked to the vertebrae adjacent to the hardware, which are made of metal and bone graft (spinal fusion). This medical action aims to maintain the strength of the spine. This procedure is usually done in case of severe spinal stenosis, especially when some levels of the spine are involved.
Laminotomy:
This procedure only removes a portion of the lamina, making the holes large enough to reduce the pressure on the nerves at some point.
Laminoplasty:
This procedure is only performed on the cervical vertebrae (in the neck).
Surgery with minimal invasion:
This surgery is done by removing the lamina or bones in a certain way to reduce damage to the surrounding healthy tissues, so that the need for spinal fusion is reduced.
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