What is Spinal Stenosis?
What is Spinal Stenosis?
Spinal stenosis is a condition where the pathway or canal the spinal nerves
travel through becomes narrowed. This causes compression of the spinal cord
and or the exiting nerve roots. When these structures become compressed this
leads to pain in the low back or pain down the legs. Other symptoms include
burning, tingling, numbness or weakness. Classically the symptoms of spinal
stenosis are increased pain with standing or walking, and the pain
immediately improves when sitting down.
What are the standard treatments?
Steroid injections are used to decrease swelling and inflammation around a
compressed nerve. These injections generally involve high doses of steroids,
which unfortunately can cause further degeneration. While these injections
may help reduce patients’ symptoms, the pain relief is generally temporary
requiring patients to repeat injections multiple times per year.
The other most common treatment for spinal stenosis is neurosurgery. This
generally involves removing bone and/or disc material to open up the spinal
canal or the foramen the exiting nerve roots travel through. While these
procedures can be effective for patients symptoms, they are far from
perfect. All surgeries have failure rates and procedures for spinal stenosis
are no different. They also result in weakening of the supporting structures
leading to further degeneration down the road.
Many people are told by their doctors that these are the only options for
spinal stenosis otherwise they can use opioid pain medications that come
with their own set of risks.
Thankfully there are new cutting-edge treatments that can decrease pain
while at the same time improving the strength and stability of the lumbar
spine.
How do we treat Spinal Stenosis?
At Integrative Rehab Medicine we use a comprehensive strategy to address all
the contributing factors to provide the best results for spinal stenosis
called our Integrative Advantage.
The mainstay of our treatment includes precise image guided injections of
Platelet Rich Plasma to the affected spinal structures. These include the
ligaments and muscles that support the spine, the facet joints that allow
the spine to move, and epidural injections to decrease the swelling and
inflammation of the spinal nerves.
Platelet Rich Plasma or PRP can be thought of as a gift from our own body to
help us heal. PRP is a solution of concentrated platelets made from your own
blood. It can be used to decrease pain, stimulate healing and improve tissue
function. It is obtained from a simple blood draw that is performed on the
same day as your procedure.
Our injections are combined with one-on-one physical therapy to strengthen
and reeducate the muscles and nervous system, an anti-inflammatory diet with
nutritional supplements to support the healing process, and state of the art
energy modalities including giga laser treatments and pulsed electromagnetic
field therapy to kick start the healing process.
If you are tired of symptoms of spinal stenosis stopping you from being more
active give our office a call and schedule your consultation with Dr.
Sebastian and the team at Integrative Rehab Medicine.