Is Chiropractic Safe For Spinal Stenosis?

Chiropractic care is a natural process of treating musculoskeletal disorders that the body faces. The major role it plays as a health treatment practice is to help reduce and liberate patients from a life of constant pain.

It has also been used as a means to reduce or even eradicate a patient’s frequent visit to the hospital. Apart from that, it also helps in reducing their addiction to pills.

This health treatment is known to work for migraines and other body pains. However, there is a question as to whether Chiropractic care can help solve a matter as chronic as spinal stenosis.

What Is Spinal Stenosis?

Spinal stenosis has to do with the abnormal narrowing of the natural spinal canal or neural foramen in the spine. This abnormal narrowing causes there to be pressure on the nerve roots or the spinal cord that travel the spine.

Some people show symptoms of this disorder like pain, weakness in the legs, arms or both, and numbness while others have to go through a scan to be able to detect it.

The popular cause of spinal stenosis has to do with the wear and tear changes in the spine relating to the degeneration of some parts of the joints. It is common among older people and most times it is recommended that people go through surgery.

Surgery for many older people can be a nightmare because their bodies do not heal or respond as fast as that of young people. Apart from that, surgeries can cost a fortune and the benefits may not always outweigh the risks.

Stenosis is primarily divided into two main areas: Cervical stenosis which affects the area of the spine in the neck and lumbar stenosis which is the narrowing that affects the lower back. Between both types, the most common is the Lumbar stenosis.

54 in 1 million of the people living in the US go through pains in their spines. The causes of stenosis are different based on every patient’s life experiences and health habits. However, there are popular causes of spinal stenosis, especially among the elderly.

Causes of Spinal Stenosis

• Spinal Injuries

Spinal injuries are caused by experiences that include fractures or dislocations of the vertebrae. This injury could affect one or more parts of the body’s vertebrae. It is mostly caused by car accidents or other similar traumatic experiences.

• Spinal Tumors

The number of people that witness abnormal growths on their spinal cord or in the space between their spinal cords and vertebrae is not so many.

However, it cannot be denied that spinal tumors can possibly cause concurrent signs of degenerative changes like spinal stenosis of the spine. They are identifiable on scan imaging of CT or MRI.

• Herniated Disks

As a result of aging, the cushions that normally serve as shock absorbers between the vertebrae can begin to dry out. The cracks that surface on the spinal discs may then let soft inner material protrude outward pressing on the body’s spinal cord or the nerve roots.

Symptoms of Spinal Stenosis

The symptoms of spinal stenosis differ slightly between the two different types. The general symptoms of stenosis involve tingling and numbness in a foot, leg, hand, or even the arm. Another symptom that is common to both is a bodily weakness in a leg, hand, foot, or arm.

However, cervical stenosis causes pain in the neck area of the body. The narrowing in that area causes patients to witness strain or pressure in their neck area.

It also includes great walking and balance difficulty which is even worse for older people. In very severe cases, spinal stenosis could produce a dysfunctional bowel or bladder which uncontrollably gives way.

For those suffering from the Lumbar spine, they suffer back pain making it difficult for them to straighten up properly. This kind of pain makes it uncomfortable for them to properly position their body because that is the spine’s work. When they also walk for a long time, it causes one or both of their legs to cramp.

One indisputable fact about both spinal pains or stenosis is that they cause pain. Pain is one thing that humans always look and search for diverse ways to assuage or alienate. This type of pain has a way of disrupting the entire body’s functionality.

Can Chiropractic Help Stenosis?

Having identified the symptoms and causes of spinal stenosis in the human body, finding a solution to it is what matters. The popular ways to help stenosis include the use of drugs like pain relievers, anti-depressants, opioids, and anti-seizure drugs.

However, patients have complained that drugs do not solve the root problem but only help patients mask and manage the pain to a certain degree.

One other popular option is surgery, however, not all patients can undergo surgery due to other existing health issues. Also, finding an experienced doctor is important because if not properly done, surgery could lead to complications.

It could lead to a tear in the membrane or cause a blood clot around the leg area.

Chiropractic care can help stenosis because it is a method that provides a direct solution to spinal pain. It corrects and structures the spine properly to create pain relief.

To crown it all, it is a 100% safe procedure that includes great testimonies by those who have tried it. This procedure is effective in alleviating pain of stenosis.

However, it must be mentioned that the level of severity of spinal stenosis will significantly reduce or eliminate the possibility of any alleviation of pain.

Stenosis and Chiropractic Treatment

Stenosis and Chiropractic treatment need to come together to help proffer solutions to spinal issues in society. The benefits of Chiropractic treatment to stenosis cannot be overlooked. Chiropractic care helps patients to get over their drug addiction and obsession.

Naturally, since stenosis causes recurring pain, patients have to continuously use drugs to relieve their pain. The result is that it makes it impossible for them to exist without the use of some drugs. Steroid injections also fall under this category.

Going into surgery, especially for the elderly, is not a very great idea all of the time. Some of them already have other existing health complications and operating on them could be more risky than beneficial.

Chiropractic care is a procedure that can work for any age and it does not involve having to open any body parts. Regardless of age, Chiropractic helps provide relief from devastating back or neck pain. Again, depending on the severity of spinal stenosis.

Conclusion

People are often skeptical and questioning the efficiency and relevance of Chiropractic care especially to spinal stenosis. You may be wondering how something that normally requires surgery could get treated by merely popping spinal joints.

However, Chiropractic is beyond that, it is a certified, safe, preventative health and wellness recommended practice that has saved lives.