Few musculoskeletal conditions can hijack your life the way lower back pain can, as pain and limited mobility effectively sideline you. And when it comes to progressive conditions like spinal stenosis, the problem only gets worse as time goes on, leaving you casting about for solutions that will get you back to your active life.
Thankfully, we offer an effective and, perhaps more importantly, long-lasting solution with spinal decompression.
At Advanced Pain Management Center, our team of specialists, led by Dr. Vladimir Fiks, offers a wide range of treatments that target problems in your spine. Of the many conditions that can cause pain and discomfort in this foundational structure, spinal stenosis is one of the more common.
Here’s a look at spinal stenosis and how our innovative and minimally invasive spinal decompression treatment can provide you with years of pain-free movement.
Spinal stenosis is a condition in which the space that serves as your spinal canal begins to narrow over time, usually due to:
Spinal stenosis typically occurs in areas where your spine is most active, which is why lumbar and cervical stenosis are the two most common problems.
When it comes to lumbar stenosis, the condition is progressive and often without symptoms in its earlier stages — in fact, some people lead perfectly normal lives with spinal stenosis. Others, however, aren’t as fortunate; the narrowing irritates the sensitive nerve roots that branch out from the lumbar spine, causing symptoms that include:
Unfortunately, there’s little we can do to reverse the stenosis, but there are techniques that give your spine (and your nerve roots) a little more breathing room — namely spinal decompression.
If you’re struggling with lumbar spinal stenosis and you’re, understandably, frustrated with solutions that provide only temporary relief, spinal decompression may be just the solution you’ve awaited.
As the name implies, spinal decompression is a technique that's designed to create more space in between your vertebrae. At our practice, we use the Superion® system by Vertiflex® — a minimally invasive procedure in which we insert a tiny titanium device that keeps your vertebrae apart, whether you’re sitting or standing.
We perform this procedure on an outpatient basis, and it typically takes us about 30 minutes to insert the Superion device. To accomplish this, we make a very small incision in your lower back and use a long tube to place the decompression unit. This minimally invasive insertion procedure doesn’t damage any of your surrounding tissues, which means your recovery time is greatly reduced.
What about results? The manufacturer conducted a rigorous clinical FDA trial, and the results were impressive — Superion was proven to be durable for up to 48 months, providing patients with a reduction in leg pain by 79% at 48 months.
If you’d like to explore how spinal decompression can finally provide you with the long-lasting relief you’ve been searching for, contact our office in Portland, Oregon, to set up an appointment.
