1.What is lumbar spinal stenosis?
Lumbar spinal stenosis refers to a series of low back pain and a series of neurological symptoms caused by various forms of narrowing of the spinal nerve canal and intervertebral foramina and soft tissue-induced changes in the volume of the spinal canal and narrowing of the dural sac itself.
2.What are the causes of lumbar spinal stenosis?
There are many causes of spinal stenosis, which can generally be divided into two categories: congenital (primary) and acquired (secondary). Congenital spinal stenosis is common due to congenital malformations and lack of development of the spinal canal, and is a generalized stenosis. Acquired spinal stenosis is often caused by thickening of the spinal canal wall (bones and ligaments) and protrusion of soft tissue or new organisms around the spinal canal into the lumen. It can be caused by degenerative changes, trauma, secondary changes from surgery and lumbar spondylolisthesis.
3.What are the symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis?
(1) Intermittent claudication: Specifically, the patient feels pain, numbness, soreness and weakness in one or both calves and feet after walking about one or two hundred meters, or standing for about several minutes or more than ten minutes, so that he cannot continue walking and must squat or bend over for a moment before walking again. However, the pain appears again soon after walking, and this phenomenon of walking and stopping is intermittent claudication.
(2) Lower back pain: the pain is generally mild, and is relieved or disappears when resting in bed, and is unaffected by forward flexion of the lumbar region, while the pain is aggravated by backward extension.
(3) Nerve root compression symptoms and signs: manifesting as persistent radiating nerve root symptoms, mostly soreness, numbness, swelling and scurrying pain, with different degrees of pain.
(4) Cauda equina compression: Lumbar spinal stenosis can lead to compression of the cauda equina nerve, and in severe cases, symptoms of urinary and faecal and sexual life disorders can occur.
4.How to diagnose lumbar spinal stenosis?
Imaging examinations include X-ray plain film, myelography, CT scan, MRI examination.
5.How to treat lumbar spinal stenosis?
Conservative treatment.
(1) Physical therapy: activate blood circulation and relax tendons, disperse blood stasis, and loosen adhesions to relieve symptoms.
(2) Drug therapy: Analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs such as Fotarine and Fenbid can be used for sterile inflammation of nerve roots.
(3) Closure therapy: Epidural closure can be used to eliminate swelling, loosen adhesions and relieve symptoms.
(4) medical sports: proper rest and attention to the bed should be moderate in softness, relieve lumbar muscle spasm, strengthen the back extension muscle, abdominal muscle strength exercise, so that the stability of the lumbar vertebrae increased, thus delaying the rate of evolution of lumbar joint degeneration. Playing Taijiquan has a better effect on this disease.
(5) Lumbar circumference protection can increase the stability of the lumbar spine to reduce pain, but should be applied for a short period of time to avoid atrophy of the lumbar muscles.
Surgical treatment: It is suitable for those who are ineffective in non-surgical treatment and have severe symptoms of nerve compression. (Special attention: careful use of “traction, heavy massage, massage reset” treatment) The surgical method is: standard extensive laminectomy decompression, nerve root decompression.
6.How to prevent lumbar spinal stenosis?
(1) waist protection: sleep in a soft and hard bed, avoid sleeping in a bed that is too hard or too soft, so that the lumbar muscles get sufficient rest; avoid the waist being attacked by wind and cold, avoid the waist being in a posture for a long time, the muscles are not balanced, causing strain on the waist.
(2) waist application: correct use of the waist, lifting heavy objects should first squat, use the waist for too long should change the posture of the waist, more lumbar activities, to prevent the gradual occurrence of strain injury, the nature of the work and excessive use of the waist or has produced mild strain injury, should pay attention to rest, to avoid further aggravation of strain injury, and eventually cause degenerative changes in the lumbar spine.
(3) lumbar health care exercise: adhere to the lumbar health care exercise, often carry out activities in all directions of the lumbar spine, so that the lumbar spine always maintain the physiological stress state, strengthen the lumbar muscle and abdominal muscle exercises, the strength of the lumbar muscle and abdominal muscle, can increase the stability of the lumbar spine, the protection of the lumbar strengthen the ability to prevent degenerative changes in the lumbar spine.