Does Physical Therapy Really Help With Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis?

What is Physical Therapy?

A patient may receive physical therapy when he or she has had an injury, disease or a deformity. Physical therapy involves treatments such as massages, heat treatments, and also certain routine exercise.

Why Should You Get Physical Therapy?

People with certain physical problems may have trouble moving around and doing everyday tasks. It can help ease the pain, and help resto do so before.

Symptoms of Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis?

Patients who have Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis usually complain of symptoms with lower back pain. They may also have weakness in some areas and numbness in the legs.

Studies That Were Done on Degenerative Lumbar Spinal
Stenosis and Physical Therapy

In some studies, there were no improvements or effects from having physical therapy to help with this condition. Some other studies indicated that physical therapy has a positive impact on recovery.

What Are the Limitations?

Many people have different opinions on what can help with Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis. This article is not trying to conclude which physical therapy treatment would be best.

Lumbar Spinal Stenosis, also known as LSS, is when the central spinal canal, foramen, or lateral recess is narrowed. This leads the common pain that one may feel in his or her back or even leg pain. This condition limits one’s ability to be mobile without feeling pressure in those areas.

One fact that is really interesting is that Lumbar Spinal Stenosis has become more common in adults who are sixty years and older. There has also been a rise in spine surgeries because of this condition over the past couple of decades.

When a patient has a mild or moderate condition of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis, physical therapy may be recommended. When a patient has a severe case, he or she usually has to surgery.

A study in Canada has shown that many patients receive physical therapy because of this condition. The various treatments in physical therapy ranged from massage to help them walk; however, the majority of these patients received massage over all of the other treatments.

One thing to learn about all the different treatments that can help with this condition, but one must decide which treatment is the best for him or her.

As of now, there is no known physical therapy treatment that works with ALL patients. Each treatment in physical therapy is different. Many patients have commented on how physical therapy has helped them relieve some of the pain and help them with their mobility and exercise. Some of their treatments include steroid injections; these are not really physical therapy treatments. These patients have claimed that physical therapy has worked because they took injections, but that is not what physical therapy is really about for helping this condition.

In other studies, with physical therapy and other conditions along with LSS, there was no found evidence that there was a significant impact or difference by doing the exercises that were instructed to correct something.

This article is to help LSS.

Let’s Take a Look at Some Results!

Again, as stated before, when there is a severe case of Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis, surgery is usually referred to see what it can do for them.

According to affect the pain or mobility.

There is another study about a treadmill walking with body weight treatment. This physical therapy treatment was shown that it is really not any better than cycling. This study was done within a three to a six-week time period. Overall, these studies proved that the activities and exercises done in physical therapy were no different or more special than any normal activity one would do on a normal day.

Corsets were also brought into all, and it is not proven that it will one-hundred percent be better than with a patient not wearing a corset at all.

Reviewing with Caution

When looking into relieve back and leg pain. All of these claims are still questionable, and there is no significant evidence proving one thing or another.

It is possible that if more patients were assessed, there could be more statistically data proving what can truly help with LSS. One thing to relieve pain.

There is some evidence that has more data that seems toms; however, a 25 percent reduction of weight was better than no reduction. This should be taken note for.

CLINICAL PRACTICES

There isn’t enough data or information to help these patients than just giving them physical therapy treatments that have very low significant evidence or actually being successful.

Future studies should also look into the corset treatments. Studies did show that the 25 percent reduction was better than none at all, so maybe more research should be done in this area so that it can improve treatments.

As for surgery, some studies showed that it had a higher impact on those who did not have surgery for LSS, however, the data and statistical information is at a low percentage. Claims should not be made or given to patients that surgery will help because evidence and data do not suggest that, yet.

Most of these reviews or studies that have been done on corsets, treadmill walking, surgery, aerobic exercises and more are very weak. There isn’t enough variation or testing being done to be written out and defined for all physical therapy treatments. An example of this was the study with steroids that was mentioned earlier. Some patients claimed that they had steroid injections for their physical therapy treatment, but that is not a physical therapy treatment whatsoever; therefore, they cannot say that the physical therapy treatment that they were receiving was successful because it wasn’t a physical therapy treatment.

In addition to consideration as well that the results are biased or not accurate because not everyone will be on the same medicine, if on any pain medicine at all with their physical therapy treatments or surgeries.

Many people think that if they read some reviews or studies that this treatment or that treatment was successful, they have to make worthy claims about whether or not physical therapy can help a patient.