Great question! Spine surgeons are not certain the best treatment plan for spinal stenosis, still conservative care is benefiting from a higher regard in the medical research! Executive Chiropractic of Iowa offers non-surgical care that alleviates pain for West Des Moines spinal stenosis sufferers. Our patients at West Des Moines with spinal stenosis come to Executive Chiropractic of Iowa will find our care gentle and comfortable and applaud the research and practices that are the pillars of its administration.

 

First of all, what is spinal stenosis? Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the spinal canal area. For many of us lumbar spinal stenosis happens with age when degeneration of the spine occurs. One reason this happens may be due to how the spinal elements were constructed from the beginning. (In some cases people are born with narrow spinal canals.) It could also be a disc herniation that is inserting itself into the spinal canal, taking up the space that is supposed to be for the spinal nerves. Whatever the cause, spinal stenosis’ narrowing creates pain.

 

Often when a surgeon identifies that a patient has spinal stenosis they will give surgical options to widen that narrowed space. There are many procedures from which a patient may pick. One option is decompressive surgery. It is a financially friendly choice for lumbar spinal stenosis, but surgical and conservative treatment approaches result in comparable quality of life at one year follow up. (1) Spinal fusion can also be instrumental against spinal stenosis. A Cochrane Database Review, a big deal in the world of research, reports that there is no significant difference at 6 months and 12 months post spine surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis. Cochrane pulled from 12,966 citations to conclude further that they have very little confidence to determine whether surgical or conservative care is better for lumbar spinal stenosis. They, therefore, offer no new clinical practice recommendations for doctors to follow. They do emphasize though that side-effects from surgery range from 10% to 24% and side effects from conservative care, 0%. There were no side effects from conservative care for lumbar spine stenosis in their review. Further, they report that there were no clear benefits seen with surgery versus no surgery. They warn clinicians to carefully inform patients about possible treatment options “especially given that conservative treatment options have results in no reported side effects.” (2)

 

Chiropractors like yours at Executive Chiropractic of Iowa see spinal stenosis and provide chiropractic care and spinal manipulation to conservatively relieve the pain of spinal stenosis. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa is the spot for West Des Moines conservative care of back pain. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa uses the Cox Technic system of spinal manipulation to open the spinal canal area by 28%, allowing the nerves to breathe, and drop intradiscal pressures to as low as -192mmHg. (3,4)

 

For relief of pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis, schedule an appointment with Executive Chiropractic of Iowa, the West Des Moines chiropractic practice for gentle relief of back pain. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa chiropractic care at West Des Moines may well be the answer to the question of “what to do with spinal stenosis?” for you!