Can A Chiropractor Help Spinal Stenosis?
Can a Chiropractor help Spinal Stenosis? For stenosis exacerbated or caused by spinal misalignment, chiropractic adjustments are a non-invasive, natural treatment option. Vertebral misalignment and disc displacement may be corrected with manual adjustments, reducing strain on the facet joints, ligaments, back muscles, and bones.
Author:Katharine TateReviewer:Karan EmeryDec 31, 2022147 Shares2.4K Views
Can a Chiropractor help Spinal Stenosis?For stenosis exacerbated or caused by spinal misalignment, chiropractic adjustments are a non-invasive, natural treatment option. Vertebral misalignment and disc displacement may be corrected with manual adjustments, reducing strain on the facet joints, ligaments, back muscles, and bones.
What Is Spinal Stenosis
Chiropractors use a variety of manual techniques to treat patients. The term "chiropractic" derives from the Greek words cheir (meaning "hand") and praktikos (meaning "done"). In many cases, patients first interact with a chiropractor (which means they can see patients without a referral from a GP).
As specialists in spinal care, they use their hands to diagnose and treat diseases of the skeleton, muscles, and joints, with a particular emphasis on the spine (musculoskeletal problems). Chiropractors are qualified to provide nutritional, dietary, and lifestyle counseling in addition to manual manipulation of the musculoskeletal system.
Your spinal bones' gaps between them are squeezed or shortened as a result of the illness. The compression impairs the spine's nerves' ability to convey signals by placing excessive pressure on them. Most often, the illness affects the upper and lower back.
The spinal bones that press against one another obstruct the spinal cord's nerves' ability to transmit signals. These neurological signal deficiencies frequently result in:
- Leg and lower back numbness; pain and tingling in the neck and back
- Balance and stability issues
- Difficulty moving in severe cases of cervical spine stenosis
- Tingling and discomfort in the legs and lower back
How Can Chiropractors Helps?
Chiropractors provide manual examinations and adjustments to the affected bones, muscles, and joints. Back and neck discomfort, headaches, injuries, and joint stiffness are common reasons people seek out chiropractic care.
Chiropractors have been educated to know when their treatment is not appropriate and when to send patients to other medical professionals.
The nerves are decompressed by the adjustments. Stretching will create a tiny amount of extra space, relieving pressure. Spinal manipulation provides pain alleviation but is not a cure.
What is chiropractic?
Can Neck Manipulation Help With Cervical Stenosis?
Your chiropractor applies pressure to the neck using a method called Cox Flexion Distraction and Decompression to widen the canal and relieve pressure by raising the disc height.
Although grabbing the head and neck might not seem particularly pleasurable, we can promise you that it is. There is no discomfort involved, and after their initial procedure, many patients may request to be "drawn apart" or "pulled on."
Your chiropractor can suggest nutritional supplements that can help regenerate cartilage, advise on supportive pillows, and exercises to help strengthen the neck in addition to adjustments, flexion-distraction, and massage therapy. A patient with spinal stenosis who was 75 years old started seeing a chiropractor. The spinal manipulation method known as flexion distraction was used by the chiropractor.
The patient reported that after four sessions, he had less pain in his lower left leg and right thigh. The patient reported having only minor pain in his buttocks and lower back after 16 visits (during a 3-month period), with no pain in either leg.
The Journal of Chiropractic Medicine released this study on the aforementioned topic in March of the same year. Chiropractors employ a range of methods in addition to spinal manipulation to treat stenosis symptoms.
For instance, in a chiropractic session, we can utilize professional massage to assist alleviate pain and reduce inflammation, or we might use a variety of mechanical tools to help address numbness and bring your muscles back to life. Physical strength, flexibility, and the best possible spinal support are ultimately achieved by individualized exercise and physiotherapy, which are also a part of chiropractic care.
Depending on your particular circumstances, your chiropractor may also advise exercise, the use of a TENS device (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation), as well as ice or heat therapy.
If you have spinal stenosis, you are probably already familiar with the daily pain that condition can bring. Most likely, you have been informed that your only options are surgery or highly addictive painkillers. Have you heard that chiropractic care can aid with pain relief on a natural basis?
Chiropractic treatment is non-invasive for spinal stenosis. After making an initial diagnosis, the chiropractor will pinpoint the parts of your spinal cord that are injured and perform manual or mechanically assisted spinal manipulations there.
These actions take place without the need for you to "go under the knife." Because it is non-invasive, requires less time for patients to recuperate following treatment, and has substantially lower costs than other forms of treatment, chiropractic care for spinal stenosis is frequently preferred.
Chiropractic Care For Stenosis Vs. Medications
The goal of chiropractic treatment for spinal stenosis is to reduce or eliminate the need for medication. This is accomplished by a combination of manual spinal adjustment, stretches, and other treatments. Massage therapy may also be included in your treatment plan.
Chiropractic therapy, as opposed to pharmaceuticals, seeks to identify the source of your problems and deal with it. This strategy lacks any of the potential negative side effects of continuing to use medications and is meant to be a long-term solution.
The Role Of Exercise In Relieving Spinal Stenosis
Your back discomfort and any mobility problems caused by the ailment will be addressed by a rehab regimen designed by a chiropractor. The workout will include a number of techniques intended to correct the alignment of your spine and release pressure on the spinal nerves. Regular exercises include pelvic tilts, sitting lumbar flexion, and prolonged lumbar extensions, among others.
After their first appointment, most patients report feeling up to a 50% reduction in pain, and they continue to experience the benefits even two years after starting chiropractic care.
Since every person is unique, every treatment will have a different effect on them. The degree of pain reduction will depend on the patient's age, general health, activity level, and mental condition as well as how far along the spinal stenosis is.
Regular chiropractic adjustments, including flexion-distraction manipulation, provided several advantages for the 70 individuals of this research, according to a review of studies conducted over the past 25 years about the efficacy of chiropractic care for the treatment of those with spinal stenosis. In June 2009, this review appeared in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine.
Chiropractic care is not only secure for people with spinal stenosis, but it also has been proven to be effective! It involves spinal adjustments, stretching, and the right exercises to build muscle and improve posture.
Schedule a visit with your chiropractor if you're looking for alternatives to addictive drugs and surgery. If left untreated, spinal stenosis can result in irreversible harm or even death. It only grows worse with time.
People Also Ask
Can A Chiropractor Reverse Spinal Stenosis?
Yes! Misalignment in the spine or neck is a common contributor to or symptom of spinal stenosis. Your chiropractor can help alleviate some of the pressure on the spinal cord and nerves by adjusting and manipulating your spine.
What Is The Best Doctor To Treat Spinal Stenosis?
- Family or primary care physicians.
- Neurologists are doctors who specialize in the treatment of problems and diseases of the spine, brain, and nerves.
- Neurosurgeons are doctors who do surgery on the spine, brain, and nerves.
- Orthopaedists are doctors who treat and operate on patients with bone and joint problems.
What Is The Latest Treatment For Spinal Stenosis?
When non-invasive treatments fail to alleviate symptoms of spinal stenosis, laminectomy and spinal fusion have been used to correct the problem. With laminectomy, the spinal canal may enlarge, and with spinal fusion, the spine can be made more stable.
What Should You Not Do With Spinal Stenosis?
Avoid high-impact activities like basketball, football, soccer, and martial arts if you suffer from spinal stenosis. Spinal injuries are a real risk during these pursuits because of the potential for rapid impact. Jumping activities, such as jumping rope, should be avoided by those who suffer from spinal stenosis.
Final Words
Can a Chiropractor help Spinal Stenosis? Without the dangers of surgery or injections, and without the negative side effects of medication, chiropractic manipulation and other treatments may give symptom alleviation and improvement in pain. Spinal misalignment, which may exacerbate or even cause stenosis, can be treated with chiropractic adjustments since they are a natural, non-invasive treatment option.
Vertebral misalignment and disc displacement may be corrected with manual adjustments, relieving pressure on the facet joints, ligaments, back muscles, and bones. Soft tissues may feel better and recover quicker with the help of various therapeutic procedures like physical therapy and massage therapy.
Katharine Tate
Author
Karan Emery
Reviewer
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