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What helps spinal stenosis besides surgery?
Spine Health | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (193)Comment receiving replies
PT has been a godsend for me and my sciatica.
WITH my roll-a-tor, I could barely make twenty feet to get the newspaper from mid driveway.
That was then. This is now. A six-minute endurance test got me EIGHTH HUNDRED SIXTY NINE FEET!!!!!
I am starting my FOURTH extension from Medicare from petitions from me, my therapist, and my pain Dr.
Cervical issues are a 'rider' via the pain Doc for the primary issue of the sciatica. And my therapist has been able to provide routines for both that I continue at home.
I can and DO repeat about 80% of my 'gym' exercise here at home. I don't have elastics. Besides walking, I have not needed to whack my neck (an 'activator' chiropractic method I picked up) or try to pull my head off (a traction technique I gleaned).
I will do near anything to avoid 'the blade'.
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@kaptainkat That's wonderful that through physical therapy you have gained so much more strength and function. I did chuckle at your description of traction.
However, if you have a deteriorating spine and discs that have lost strength and integrity, the "WHACK YOUR NECK" move might be just the thing to put you on a collision course with "the BLADE". Seriously, all I had to do to pop a disc ( also known as a herniation or rupture) was to turn my head, and yes, I actually heard it POP and my head suddenly turned further. My disc was weaken from a prior whiplash injury some 20 years earlier. If you are applying pressure, that could happen so easily. The rupture set in motion rapid growth of bone spurs and compression of my spinal cord... and yes... I met "the BLADE", the nippers, and the power tools under anesthesia of course, but that was a very good thing and I got my life back. I was even curious enough to look at the table of shiny instruments set up just for me in the operating room. I was the center of attention on that stage. It is expensive, and then there is Medicare to deal with which I have now too. You may want to discuss what things are safe for you to do with your physical therapists and doctors. They are experts in how to avoid surgery and your advocates when it is necessary.
You may be interested in this discussion in the Spine Group:
---Chiropractic Treatment for Degenerative Spine
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/chiropractic-treatment-for-degenerative-spine/
Stay strong!
Jennifer