Spinal Canal Stenosis

A 59-year-old man came to my practice with the medically confirmed diagnosis of spinal canal stenosis in the area of the cervical spine. He was suffering from movement-specific pain in the area of the right shoulder blade as well as in the right arm (C-7 syndrome). From the biomedical perspective, a conservative therapeutic approach was advised, but the relevant examinations (MRT, NLG) suggested that surgery was also indicated.

In my examination, it struck me that even a mild mobilization of the cervical spine triggered or increased the typical pain. The situation thus presented itself as very acute. I thus chose a therapeutic approach in which the cervical spine was not treated at all. Instead I treated the nerves of the brachial plexus in their path into the right arm on those locations where they can be constricted in addition to the constrictions in the cervical spine. These locations are a number of structures in the area of the upper thorax (major supraclavicular fossa, subclavian space, axilla, etc.). In the space of six weeks, I carried out eleven treatment sessions of thirty minutes each. The pain was clearly reduced and a biomedical control examination after this time confirmed the positive result - surgery was no longer necessary!

Spinal canal stenosis is a clinical picture that does not always respond to treatment as well as in this case. Nevertheless, a conservative osteopathic treatment should be attempted in all cases.