What to Expect from Your Spinal Stenosis Treatment

Stenosis is a medical term for any unnatural narrowing. It’s often used to describe spinal issues because the spaces through which nerve roots pass aren’t large, and these frequently suffer issues that steal much-needed clearance. 

Spinal stenosis can cause symptoms such as back and neck pain, as well as radiating sensations down your arms and legs. Managing this pain can be complex, depending on your symptoms and the location of nerve compression. 

As spinal stenosis specialists, the team at Florida Pain Management Institute in Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, Florida are ready to help when you’re dealing with the effects of nerve compression or irritation resulting from a narrowing of the passageway. 

Recognizing spinal stenosis

Back and neck pain are both common, and in most cases, they’re everyday aches and pains that resolve themselves with rest and conservative treatment. Sometimes, though, degenerative conditions like arthritis or deterioration of spinal discs mean that stenosis will be an ongoing concern, eventually requiring surgery. 

Once nerve compression begins, you’ll experience symptoms like: 

• Aching or burning sensations in your arms or legs, usually on one side or the other
• Numbness and tingling that also follow the affected nerve’s 
• Muscle weakness
• Pain that gets worse when you stand or walk

Between the time that your chronic stenosis symptoms start and the point where surgery is the only alternative, pain management could be your best option for maintaining your ability to function and enjoy life. 

Pain management assessment

Your personalized program starts with an assessment of your medical and symptom history, the severity of your pain, how often it interferes with your daily functions, and its impact on your sleep. We’ll review the solutions you’ve tried so far and how effective they might be, if at all. 

Because of the wide variation of conditions and symptoms that can cause stenosis, every treatment plan must be customized to your experience. 

Treatment options

Many pain management plans are built around complementary therapies, integrated strategies that maximize effectiveness while minimizing side effects. The days of exclusively drug-based pain management are fading. 

Today, when we prescribe medications, it’s usually part of a multi-stage plan. Typically, we continue to use: 

• Anti-inflammatories: irritated tissue tends to swell, making a stenosis condition worse
• Nerve pain meds: these address radiating symptoms, like burning, numbness, pain, and tingling
• Dedicated pain relievers: for short-term symptom episodes
• Muscle relaxants 

Drugs are only one part of your pain management plan, which can also include: 

• Injection-based: such as corticosteroids, nerve blocks, and facet joint injections
• Physical therapy: builds flexibility and strength, as well as stimulates blood flow
• Increased low-impact activities: helps posture and reduces pain
• Hot and cold therapy: to ease stiffness and swelling

If pain still persists, we can consider radiofrequency ablation and spinal cord stimulators, two very effective minimally invasive pain management techniques. 

There’s an answer to your spinal stenosis symptoms. Contact Florida Pain Management Institute at our nearest location, online, or by phone, to book your consultation today.