Spinal Stenosis - Precautionary Measures & Disease Prevention. When the disease is present: When should you go to the physician or hospital?

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Spinal stenosis. Precautionary Measures & Medical Advice

Spinal canal stenosis: A side-effect of age-related degeneration of the spine

Spinal stenosis is not a disease when you look at the proper meaning of the word. Instead, it is a side-effect of the age-related degeneration of the spine and is unavoidable to a certain extent. Spinal stenosis is an important factor for the political economy as the average age of the population is increasing. From all the surgery carried out on the lumbar spine in patients over 65 years of age, decompression due to spinal stenosis takes the 1st place. The elderly are unable to walk as far, with the result that they are often no longer able to look after themselves and have to be placed in care homes with nursing.

Consult your physician if unsteadiness is increasingly becoming a problem

All too often, patients and relatives accept clumsy hands, unstable gait or painfully short walking distances as the "natural" side-effects of getting older. If these symptoms increasingly affect quality of life, the patient should not remain satisfied with pacifying comments, but rather demand examination by a medical specialist. The spinal stenosis diagnosis can be confirmed with a MRI scan.

Hardly any risks

The conservative and surgical treatments currently available make effective treatment possible in the majority of cases. Patient age, the presence of risk factors for general anaesthetics and the number of segments to be treated play a lesser role. Excess weight is the only negative prognostic factor, whereby overweight patients also profit from the widening of the spinal canal, though not to the same extent as patients with normal body weight.

What measures are available to prevent spinal stenosis?

It is not possible to prevent spinal stenosis as such as it the result of age-related degeneration of the spine. However, the function of the discs can be positively affected by avoiding excess body weight, not smoking and looking after your neck and back. The healthier the discs are, the later the clinical symptoms of spinal stenosis will develop, if at all.