I just recently saw a 40 year old woman who had been suffering chronic low back pain for several years. This pain radiated into both her legs intermittently and most recently she had been totally incapacitated by this pain.  With her symptoms progressing she received a MRI of her Lumbar Spine. The report showed multiple levels of degenerative disc disease and facet arthropathy causing central canal and bilateral foraminal stenosis throughout the entire lumbar region. Her physician dismissed these findings as normal due to aging. I have been in practice for 9 years and on my side of the view box this is not normal. It is certainly not acceptable to be 40 years of age, to live with daily pain and to restrict the activities of your daily life due to the fear of being totally incapacitated.  

 Granted our spines do have a tendency to degenerate with age. Yes, if we were to take a MRI of a cross section of our population we would see that many of our middle aged would have mild bulging discs that are asymptomatic.   The point is that I find many physicians are quick to dismiss spinal pain as normal due to aging.   Certainly it is not normal for a 40 year old woman of good general health to have extensive degeneration of her spine and bilateral pain down her legs.  I do not buy into “Normal Pain” that prevents you from living an active life because someone labled you as getting old.

Fortunately we employee the most advanced technologies of non-pharmaceutical pain management to treat spinal stenosis at our facility. We have been using the DRX 9000 Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Device with great success. Spinal Stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal due to the encroachment of disc material or bony growths that squeeze or irritate the spinal cord and/or extending nerve roots. This can lead to pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness in the legs, feet or buttocks. The benefits that many stenosis patients derive from Spinal Decompression are due to its positive repositioning and rejuvenating effect on the herniated and degenerative discs that often accompany stenosis. Spinal Stenosis, which may be found in conjunction with any of the above conditions, is commonly a contributing cause for sciatic symptoms.

This patient received two trial sessions at our office and has already drastically reduced her pain. If you or someone you know is suffering in pain from spinal stenosis or sciatica visit us at www.marinspine.com or call 415.389.1145 to schedule a consultation.