If you have been diagnosed with canal stenosis, you may have some questions and concerns about developing a treatment plan. Here are four tips that can help you work more closely with your doctor to give you the best chance of finding lasting relief.

1. Follow your doctor’s instructions

You may be advised to rest or limit certain activities. If your job requires you to perform physically stressful tasks, you may need to consider taking time off or working with your supervisors to lighten your load if possible. Your doctor may even recommend that you avoid certain tasks altogether — such as heavy lifting — especially if these tasks will worsen the underlying source of your spinal stenosis.

2. Get ready to make lifestyle changes

You might expect that you’ll be prescribed medications to address your pain, but you also may be recommended to make changes to improve the overall health of your spine. That might include improving your diet and performing regular low-impact exercise. If you’re overweight, dropping some extra pounds can help reduce the amount of strain you place on your spine.

3. Have the right expectations

It’s important to understand the nature of conservative canal stenosis treatment. There are a range of nonsurgical approaches available but they are all intended to address symptoms of spinal stenosis, rather than the underlying source. To directly address the herniated disc or other source of the spinal stenosis, you may be recommended to undergo spine surgery. In many cases, however, conservative approaches provide sufficient relief for patients.

Also, keep in mind that you’ll need to be patient as you try to find the course of action that is best for you. Some canal stenosis treatment routes like physical therapy may not produce immediate results. However, closely following a treatment plan for a few weeks or months may mean significant improvement in your quality of life.

4. Know when to consider surgery

Many patients will experience relief from their symptoms through conservative methods but if your symptoms don’t show signs of improvement over the course of several weeks, or if the symptoms have dramatically diminished your physical mobility, surgery may be a consideration.

USA Spine Care, the leader in minimally invasive spine surgery, provides minimally invasive spine surgery for the treatment of canal stenosis that is a safer and effective alternative^ to traditional open spine surgery.

To learn more about our procedures and find out if you may be a candidate for one of our procedures, reach out to our caring team today for a no-cost MRI review.*

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