Neural Foraminal narrowing is a narrow or tight opening where the nerves pass through the spinal cord to other parts of the body. The area affected depends on the part narrowed where the nerves pass through. The most common symptoms of such condition includes weakness, numbness, tingling and pain.
The most common cause of neural foraminal narrowing is disc degeneration. As one advance in age, the disc may bulge out leading to a narrowed foramen. As this continue to happen nerves then are compressed resulting to the symptoms above.
Other causes of neural foraminal narrowing is rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. Cause can be congenital too which means the condition is present at birth due to environment influence or heredity. Any kind of neural involvement should be treated immediately to avoid any permanent damage.
Diagnosis of the condition can be difficult since mostly it is a degenerative condition where the pain and symptoms are gradual and slow to show. But with thorough and careful discussion of your physician with your medical history and physical examination. Your physician will most likely identify the condition and to confirm such diagnosis some imaging test may be needed like the MRI, CT scan and X-ray.
Conservative or non-invasive form of treatment may offer short term relief although others may find relief in modifying their lifestyle that is to avoid specific activities which can ease some of the symptoms especially pain.
But for one to experience full relief, surgery might be necessary. Today there are minimally invasive procedures that is seen to be very successful in treating neural foraminal narrowing and it brings a lot of benefits to patients compared to traditional surgery. Discuss with your doctor you options for surgical procedure and as much as possible get all the details and ask all your questions, it can help you make a sound decision.