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All About Lateral Recess Stenosis |
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With our growing age,
there occurs a lot of changes in the body and even the spine is not
spared. Lateral recess stenosis is a condition where, due to
narrowing of the foramen , a pinch-like feeling occurs in the spinal
nerve. This happens because of the compression of the discs which
makes the openings of the foramen so small, that ultimately the
nerves get pinched against the vertebrae.
With age, the discs in our body lose
the ability to act as shock absorbers and as a result the vertebrae
bounce against one another and bone matter of the vertebrae begins to
grow. This growth pushes the foramen and the spinal canal to become
smaller. Ultimately, this causes the pinching of the spinal nerves.
Symptoms of lateral
recess stenosis is generally intense pain and sometimes numbness or
weakness in the legs. Often people are troubled by the fact, that
while they suffer from acute pain because of lateral recess stenosis
their peers who are of the same age are perfectly alright.
The answer to this question lies in the
fact that everybody has a spine that is different from one another.
While some have spines which are so strong that they do not even
experience any kind of back pain till the time they die. Others have
relatively weaker spines, which could suffer from acute pain even
while lifting a box. We also have to look at some other factors which
do play an important role, like weight , height , standing, or
sitting postures and even the level of physical activity undertaken.
It is imperative to mention here that
lateral recess stenosis is a disease that progresses with age and
perfect cure is almost impossible. For mild cases, one can go for
simple medications prescribed by a doctor and also some form of
physical exercises like yoga, aerobics, and jogging can help to
alleviate the pain. The severe cases need surgery – like
decompressive lumbar laminectomy is the most preferred one. But
before you go for surgery, do weigh in all the options available and
do not take any decision in a haste.
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