Healthy News January 2023

Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is reportedly one of the most common spinal conditions in the US, impacting over 500 million people over the age of 62. (1) As researchers grapple with a more systematic approach to managing patient care for lumbar spinal stenosis sufferers, your Minster chiropractor provides gentle, safe, pain easing treatment. The latest effort at a system underscored that each LSS patient is unique in her/his experience which restrains any algorithm to be “soft guidance” as to its treatment plan based initially on the LSS patient's pain relief with spinal flexion. (2) Since spinal stenosis is typically a systemic issue, meaning if you have spinal stenosis in the lumbar spine, you likely have it in other spinal areas like the cervical as well, you do not want to overlook it. Further, lumbar spinal stenosis isn’t a condition that appears and disappears forever. Its pain can be contained, but its status as a condition remains one that researchers classify as “chronic,” meaning it lasts beyond 90 days. Be hopeful! Your chiropractor can help with lumbar spinal stenosis relief. One study reported that flexion distraction significantly decreased pain and disability for lumbar spinal stenosis patients. (3) Another study stated that chronic back pain sufferers with moderate to severe symptoms got better the most with the chiropractic technique, Cox® Technic Flexion Distraction Decompression (CTFDD), compared with physical therapy. (4) Those same patients had significantly lower pain scores over the following 12 months than did patients who did physical therapy. (5) LSS patients also have altered gait and balance concerns. (1,6) CTFDD helps these issues, too! A study about the influence of spinal manipulation on balance problems in LSS patients documented that flexion distraction spinal manipulation enhanced function, symptoms, and performance-based mobility in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. (6) We also anticipate the outcomes of a prospective data collection study in its second year for follow-up with patients who were treated with CTFDD for relief of their LSS-associated back pain. Data collection will be completed later this year with findings being published in the years to come. Minster lumbar spinal stenosis is everywhere, and its relieving partner is your Minster chiropractor here at Minster Chiropractic Center!

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Dean Greenwood on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains his alleviating treatment of a spinal stenosis patient with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

As a set of researchers starts a new study to see if a 6-week education and exercise program will improve the walking capacity of lumbar spinal stenosis patients who also have neurogenic claudication (7), Minster Chiropractic Center suggests