Foraminal Stenosis

Stenosis in greek means “choking” and foraminal stenosis is a type of spinal stenosis, which is infact the most common type of spinal stenosis. Spinal stenosis is generally referred to the degeneration of the spine and foraminal stenosis is referred to that state where without any herniation of the discs narrowing of the cervical discs occurs.

Regarding the causes of foraminal stenosis, we have a myriad of reasons for it. Ankylosing, Osteoarthritis, Hip Osteoarthritis are some of the dominant factors. Also, the cause could be due to some particular type of strenous activity or a particular position or posture of yours. The symptoms are quite difficult to track down as the pain progresses very slowly and it might take years to become a severe one. The pain is not even a continuous one. Sometimes you might persist the problem for years and do not even know that you have the problem, so you need to confirm whether you really have foraminal stenosis only through a CT Scan or an MRI SCAN with myelogram.

Treatment options for these type of spine disorder are numerous. But the simple types of treatments like prescribed medicines and exercise are not of much help although traction might palliate some bit of pain. The two most preferred type of treatments available for foraminal stenosis are the Activity modification and surgery. Activity modification refers to some types of special exercises to correct our sitting or standing postures and also some back pain therapy to treat our back and lower back pain.

In the case of surgery, the disc is removed in order to create more room for the spine nerves. The surgery is an absolutely safe and quite an effective one, and normally takes 4 to 6 weeks for the patient to recover. But, before you go for a surgery do think over it seriously and always consult a good doctor.