Spinal Stenosis Specialist

Interventional Spine and Pain Institute

Pain Management Specialists & Interventional Pain Management Specialists located in Vero Beach, FL & Palm Bay, FL

Some 500,000 American adults will suffer from persistent back pain caused by spinal stenosis this year. Interventional Spine and Pain Institute offers conservative treatments and minimally invasive spine surgery to reduce spine pain and improve mobility. Michael Esposito, MD, specializes in regenerative medicine therapies, spinal decompression, and other treatments. All are offered in his office so that you can get back to your usual activities without a long recovery. Call the office in Vero Beach or Palm Bay, Florida, to schedule a consultation for spinal stenosis or book your appointment online today.

Spinal Stenosis Q & A

What is spinal stenosis?

Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the spinal canal inside your spine. As the space gets smaller, it presses on nearby nerves, causing pain and other symptoms that affect your quality of life.

Spinal stenosis can be a side effect of the natural aging process or degenerative conditions like arthritis. Other causes of spinal stenosis include:

Tumors
Scoliosis (curvature of the spine)
Bone spurs
Herniated discs
Thickened ligaments

If you fall, suffer a sports injury, or are in a car accident, your risk of developing spinal stenosis increases.

What are the symptoms of spinal stenosis?

Spinal stenosis symptoms differ depending on what area of the spine is narrowing.

If you have narrowing in your cervical (neck) spine, you experience persistent neck pain and weakness, numbness, and tingling in your shoulders and arms.

When the narrowing happens in your lower (lumbar) spine, you can have back pain and tingling, numbness, or weakness in your legs and feet.

In severe cases of spinal stenosis, you can also develop problems with your bladder and bowel function, like unexpected urine or stool leakage.

Schedule a diagnostic evaluation at Interventional Spine and Pain Institute if you have symptoms of spinal stenosis that you can no longer manage on your own. Dr. Esposito uses on-site diagnostic technologies to evaluate your spinal health and identify changes common with spinal stenosis.

How is spinal stenosis treated?

In the early stages of spinal stenosis, you might be able to manage your pain well with anti-inflammatory medications and pain relievers.

If over-the-counter medications aren’t enough, Dr. Esposito can prescribe more potent or injectable drugs that he delivers directly into your spine. You could also benefit from physical therapy to restore your spine’s strength and flexibility.

When spinal stenosis pain is too great to engage in therapy, Dr. Esposito can recommend:

Regenerative medicine

Regenerative medicine therapies can relieve persistent spinal inflammation and pain. Injections of stem cells and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) stimulate your body to produce new cells to replace those damaged by injury or disease.

Spinal decompression

Spinal decompression uses a needlelike instrument to remove thickened ligaments in your spine. This increases the space in your spinal canal to relieve pressure on surrounding nerves.

Minimally invasive spine procedures

Dr. Esposito offers minimally invasive procedures to relieve chronic lower back pain caused by spinal stenosis. These include Intracept® from Relievant Medsystems Inc., Vertiflex™ from Boston Scientific, and mild® from Vertos Medical Inc.

Intracept

Intracept uses radiofrequency energy to destroy the basivertebral nerve in the lower spine to stop pain signals from traveling to the brain.

Veriflex

Vertiflex uses a small titanium implant (the Superion® Indirect Decompression System) to create more space in the spinal canal, relieving pressure on nearby nerves.

mild

This minimally invasive treatment removes excess ligaments from the spinal canal to create more space.

Call Interventional Spine and Pain Institute or book a consultation online today to learn which treatment will best relieve your spinal stenosis pain.