Normal degeneration of the spine may sound incongruous
when discussing degeneration, but age meets
us all. Age generates degeneration normally. Our
Ashburn chiropractic practice recognizes and
respects age for its influence on the spine and its influence
in paraspinal muscle and disc degeneration. They go hand-in-hand. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
treats them gently and effectively, especially
when our patients do their part in keeping appointments, exercising, and following suggestions about
supplements that can be beneficial. It’s all part of the
Ashburn chiropractic treatment plan!
NORMAL DEGENERATION: Age
Age. Not a topic we want to talk about,
but age does not mind. It keeps doing what it does. Age played a considerable role when researchers
compared the fatty infiltration of muscle in normal people to that
in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis who were matched for age, BMI, weight, etc. The paraspinal muscle changes
in lumbar spinal stenosis patients and normal people were similar.
Degeneration of these muscles related to age was more noticeable
in lumbar spinal stenosis patients particularly in the
multifidus muscles. (1) In a radiographic study of degenerative lumbar
spinal stenosis patients, age-related risk factors were noted. Researchers
wrote that greater intervertebral disc height and more severe
vertebral endplate failure may stimulate degenerative lumbar
spinal stenosis due to the intensified
mobility of the segment, promoting disc
degeneration. Weakened paravertebral muscles may weaken lumbar spinal
stability. (2) Indeed, the spine and all its muscles are connected.
Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn pays attention to them all, to their response to
treatment, to their role in the pain.
BACK PAIN AND ITS PALS
Low back pain has friends. It brings with
it degeneration, change, fat, imbalance and more. Researchers credited
intervertebral disc degeneration as being the number one cause of
chronic low back pain. It is a familiar and recurrent
condition in spine surgery realms. Disc degeneration is linked to disc inflammation. As we humans age, researchers pointed out
that its bone marrow changes to bone marrow fat, activating
an inflammatory response in the disc and paraspinal muscles which play
a role in spine stability. As the muscles fill with fat, low back pain changed
to chronic. (3) In a study of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and
sciatica/leg pain, researchers described that lumbar
degenerative diseases prompted paravertebral muscle degeneration
with higher levels of intramuscular fat infiltration. Women’s
paraspinal muscles were significantly reduced. The erector spinae
muscle and multifidus muscle in older aged patients were described as having more fat in them. (4) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn realizes
that aging has a role in back pain’s
development, path, and treatment.
LESS IS MORE: Treating Aged Back Pain
Since researchers noticed that
with age comes fatty infiltration of paraspinal muscles and inflammatory
responses in the disc, it makes sense that doing less if back
surgery is done would be sensible.
A new study wrote that adding fusion
to a decompression back surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis heightened
the odds of new stenosis on an MRI two years later at the operated
level or at an adjacent spinal level even when spondylolisthesis (a condition
that one vertebra slipped on another one) was noted at surgery. (5)
Less is more oftentimes when managing back
pain. Gentler treatment can go far in reducing pain. That’s the motto of the CTFDD treatment plan at Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn: gentle
spinal manipulation, gentle exercise, etc.
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Joseph Beissel on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the relief with The
Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for a patient with chronic low
back pain.
Schedule your Ashburn chiropractic
appointment soon. There’s no escaping age or its
accompanying pal, degeneration. If disc degeneration and spinal muscle
degeneration are now your pals, trust Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn to set you all
on a path to healing.