In medical terminology, spinal stenosis is narrowing the spinal canal or the lateral foramen. This narrowing creates compression of the spinal cord or nerve roots, where they exit the spine.
People will spinal stenosis are often referred for decompression surgery or injections. However, we often have excellent results treating this conservatively and avoiding surgery.
Spinal Stenosis is usually a result of arthritis and "wear and tear" in the spine throughout our lifetime.
- Back Pain
- Pain Down one of both legs
- Hip pain
- Discomfort when standing or walking
- Feeling as if you can’t stand up straight
Treatment for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis is a condition in a medical office that will often get referred for orthopedic decompression surgery.
However, the good news: this condition can be managed effectively with proper therapy, and no surgery is often needed.
- For spinal stenosis, our first goal is to find a repeated range of motion that relieves you of pain. The exercise often flexes your lower back to open up the spinal joints, spinal canal, and lateral foramen, giving the nerves room to breathe.
- Our next goal is to improve midback (thoracic) and hip mobility. This mobility will allow your low back to share forces and motion to help take pressure off the affected areas.
- Strengthening of your core and hips to stabilize your spine.
With these steps, this condition can be managed with you returning to normal activities. Our main goal is to avoid surgery and get you back to the activities you want to do.
The management of cervical spinal stenosis is similar to the lumbar region. We will find a pain-relieving movement of your neck, activate and strengthen deep neck flexors to stabilize your cervical spine, and get the proper motion of your midback (thoracic) spine to share movement and stresses with your neck.