Are you experiencing any unexplained backaches and neck pain? Do you belong to the above 50 age group? If you answer "yes" to these questions, then there is a possibility that you might have spinal stenosis.
  Spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal cord and associated nerves are compressed, due to the narrowing down of the spinal canal.
It usually takes place among older people, as with age, the degeneration on their spinal column may start taking place.
Due to the pressure being exerted over the spinal cord, the person may experience a great deal of pain.
There are a number of ways one can cope with the chronic pain and this condition, such as the following: To begin with, most patients of spinal stenosis are asked to have physical therapy.
This is done so that the muscles of the back are strengthened, becoming capable of supporting the spinal cord.
This also helps in reducing the symptoms of nerve compression.
In order to get rid of the pain, it is very important for the person to lose some weight.
It may be difficult for him or her to do so, but remember, losing even a little amount of weight can help lessen the pain to a great extent.
Furthermore, anti-inflammatory medicine also plays an important role in reducing pain.
These should, however, be only used after the doctor has prescribed them.
Another way of reducing the intensity of symptoms is using oral steroid medications.
These are very useful when symptoms start showing up suddenly with great intensity.
Apart from these, epidural steroid serve the same function of reducing compression on the nerves.
This works at a faster rate as the injected medicine travels directly to the infected area, which in this case is the spinal cord.
Spine surgery may also be used as a last resort, in case other symptoms are not effective.
The surgery decompresses the nerves so that more room is given to them.
For this reason the excess bone, soft tissue and ligaments from that area are removed.