Let me get the bad news out of the way first: There are BAD reasons why one can have Spinal Stenosis. A spinal tumor, Pagets Disease or a direct injury (like a spinal fracture) to the spine can create spinal stenosis.
But there is also a way more harmless reason for spinal stenosis. It is defined as a narrowing of the spinal canal and it seems to the the most common reason for this condition. Let’s look at it in a bit more detail: Your spine is made up of a series of vertebrae. In between them are discs which act as shock absorbers. These discs and bones are forming small canals in the back through which the spinal nerves exit. If one of these bones (vertebrae) misaligned, the small canal can get occluded and put pressure on the nerve. The result can be pain, numbness or tingling down your extremities or torso. This condition is being called spinal stenosis, because the size of the spinal canal is being compromised by a misalignment.
The medical approach to this problem can be pain killers, anti inflammatory medications, muscle relaxers to numb the pain as well as alternatives which are meant to stretch and strengthen the spine. The chiropractic approach is completely different:
Chiropractors are trained in analyzing and correcting spinal misalignments which in turn can cause many different conditions, such as spinal stenosis and are meant to correct these conditions.
You may ask how yourself how. This is how we do it in our office:
1. Consultation and an examination (case history, etc.)
2. High quality digital x-rays if necessary (for safety and to determine the amount of degeneration and see the angle of correction)
3. Gonstead chiropractic adjustments (a specific correction done by hand without any rotation to the spine to reposition the misaligned vertebrae).
If you have any questions in regards to this, just contact us.
