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Spinal Stenosis

When a person has spinal stenosis, they will usually undergo the spinal canal narrowing and keep in mind that this will most of the time, occur in persons’ that are fifty years old or older. Remember, with most people, spinal stenosis begins as a result of common arthritis, leading onto the narrowing of one’s spine. It sure does sound scary, doesn’t it? Really, what occurs with the narrowing of one’s spine? The spaces which are open begin to get smaller and that tightness will tend to usually pinch the spinal cord, or at least the nerves surrounding it. A person will tend to feel quite a lot of pain, tingling or even numbness in the arms, legs, as well the torso. Below in a listing format, we are going to provide out some additional reasons as to why a person may get spinal stenosis.

  • Injuries: This is probably more common than any other because during the course of a person’s life, he or she will more than likely endure some type of injury. Some injuries, if bad enough can inflame or fracture a portion of the spine.
  • Herniated Discs: If your spinal cushions are cracked, keep in mind that forms of material can actually seep out, pressing upon a person’s spinal cord.
  • Tumors: Some cancerous growths will interfere with the spinal cord, leading to spinal stenosis.
  • Paget’s Disease: With this condition, a person’s bone will tend to grow unusually big, as well brittle.

Spondylolisthesis

This type of condition effects billions of people worldwide and is very painful. Spondylolisthesis is when one bone in someone’s back slides forward over the other bones underneath it. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? In most cases, people with spondylolisthesis will have issues in the lower back from this condition. In some situations, this could lead to a person’s spinal cord or nerve roots becoming squeezed. What will this cause? That’s right, it will cause numbness and pain, or even weakness in one or both legs. In some rare and serious cases, this condition can also lead to losing control over your own bladder or bowels. Spondylolisthesis is initially caused by many different factors, relating to the pain in your lower back.

The condition all begins within the small joints in the back. Some factors that play in, which lead to spondylolisthesis include having a defective joint that a person has had since birth. Other factors include a joint which has been damaged by a bad accident or some other form of trauma. You could even overuse the joint and that’s called a stress fracture. Another influence that could play into spondylolisthesis is having a joint damaged by an infection or arthritis. Children and teens will be at a higher risk if they are involved with any type of sport. What are some of the symptoms that people will encounter that have this condition?

  • Pain in the back or buttock.
  • Walking with some difficulties.
  • Pain which radiates down one or both legs.
  • Weakness or even numbness in one or both of the legs.
  • When you bend or twist, the leg and buttock pain will tend to get worse.
  • In rare cases, a person may even lose control over his or her bladder and bowels.

Deformity

There are many different types of deformities that a person can inherit from their family. Let’s just be honest here, some people are born with issues right from the start, which is sad but that’s life. Let’s take a quick example right fast. Let’s say a baby was born with scoliosis, which is the curvature of one’s spine. Some cases can be worse than others, but most cases that deal with common scoliosis aren’t severe and most people have a slight curvature, not even realizing it. So, let’s say that this baby was born with a 27% curvature of the spine, which is going to lead into lower back issues later on in life. This would be considered to be a deformity because in the normality of life, babies are not supposed to be born with curvatures of the spine.

Everything connects to our spine and when it’s out of line, the issues can trickle down into so many different levels. There are so many people which are born with deformities that cause lower back pain. One example would be Lordosis and this condition is where a person’s back will curve too far inward. Keep in mind that everyone’s spine will curve a little within your neck, upper and lower back. When a person has Lordosis, their spine will curve severely inward. Some people will refer to this as swayback because the back looks as if it’s swaying, which will lead to a lot of lower back pain.

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