Good Morning Spine

Archive for August, 2009

Many patient come to my office with leg and back pain. We called this symptom sciatica or irritation of the large cable-like nerve that goes down the back of your leg. The reason for the pain is usually related to compression above in the lower back. In patients younger then 50,the cause may be from the jelly-like material leaking out from disc space or closure of the window where the nerve exits. The latter condition is called stenosis meaning closure of a space.In most cases, surgery is not necessary rather pain management and physical therapy can lessen the acute pain.

There continues to be many new procedures for treatment of spinal stenosis that gives hope to millions of people. This condition is a natural aging of the spine where the space for the spinal nerves becomes smaller.New surgeries use small implants to hold these spaces open such as x-stop,aspen, and even a certain type of cortical bone. This new type surgery takes less then one hour and allows patient to be active and recover much more rapidly.

If a person wants to make the spine stronger and prevent future problems ,then exercise and proper nutriton is important. Most people do not realize first spinal disc surgery was recent around 1935. Prior to that time, exercise kept the disc strong and very few people needed surgery. Even walking your dog 20 minutes twice a day can help. All of us need to think prevention by eating and maintaining proper weight.

I encourage the audience to submit their questions regarding spinal stenosis and less invasive treatment. The staff will be bringing several articles and videos from Ortho-spine.com.Thank you from the staff at “good morning spine”.

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