Spinal Stenosis Specialist

Spinal stenosis results in your spinal canal narrowing enough to pinch the nerves. If you’re suffering from pain and other spinal stenosis symptoms in your neck or back, the pain medicine specialists at Alliance Spine Associates, LLC in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, can help. They offer advanced treatments for spinal stenosis, including epidural steroid injections, intradiscal electrothermal therapy, and decompression surgery. Call their office or book an appointment online today for the best spinal stenosis treatments.

What is spinal stenosis?

Spinal stenosis is a back and neck problem where your spinal canal gets narrower. It tends to develop from middle age onward. Many people have spinal stenosis without realizing it because they experience no obvious symptoms. But if there’s nerve compression (radiculopathy) because of the narrowing, it can cause chronic (ongoing) back pain.

You might get buttock, hip, and leg pain when you have spinal stenosis in your lumbar (lower) spine. You might have shoulder and arm pain with spinal stenosis in the cervical spine (neck). You could also experience numbness or weakness in your legs or arms and sensations like prickling or tingling.

Spinal stenosis commonly causes sciatica. This condition develops when the sciatic nerve at the bottom of your spine comes under pressure in the narrowed spinal canal. Sciatica causes a burning or shock-like pain through your hip and leg.

You’ll probably find your spinal stenosis pain is worse if you’re standing but eases when you sit down. Leaning forward helps reduce the pain because it relieves pressure on the spinal nerves.

What causes spinal stenosis?

Some people have spinal stenosis because they’re born with a narrow spinal canal. But most often, it develops with age. Common spinal stenosis causes include:

Disc herniation

Spinal discs cushion the vertebrae (bones) in your spine. A herniation occurs when the soft core of a disc pushes through a weak spot or tear in the outer casing. The herniated disc material fills the space in your spinal canal and often irritates or presses on the spinal nerves.

Bone overgrowth

Osteoarthritis (age-related bone wear-and-tear) in your spine is common. Your body might produce new bone growth (spurs) to support the damaged spinal column, but these bone spurs might grow into the spinal canal and take up space. Paget’s disease can also cause bone overgrowth.

Thickened ligaments

The ligaments in your spine connect the vertebrae. The ligaments become stiffer and thicker with age, intruding into the spinal canal.

Trauma

Spinal injuries can fracture or shift your vertebrae, narrowing the spinal canal. Soft-tissue swelling after an injury or surgery can also cause spinal stenosis.

How is spinal stenosis treated?

Alliance Spine Associates, LLC offers patients spinal stenosis treatments tailored to their needs. Possible treatments include:

• Physical therapy
• Anti-inflammatory medications
• Epidural steroid injections
• Facet joint injections
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Intradiscal electrothermal therapy 
• Spinal cord stimulation
• MILD procedure (Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression)

You usually begin with conservative treatments. If you aren’t improving, your doctor can move on to injectable treatments and minimally invasive procedures.

You might need spine surgery for severe, treatment-resistant spinal stenosis. This might involve decompression — widening the spinal canal by removing bone and tissue.

Call Alliance Spine Associates, LLC today or book an appointment online to get relief from your spinal stenosis symptoms.