Open Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 2017, 5, 36-42
http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojtr
ISSN Online: 2332-1830
ISSN Print: 2332-1822
DOI: 10.4236/ojtr.2017.51004 February 15, 2017
Lumbar Stenosis of the Aging Spine:
Evaluation and Treatment According
to the Evidence Based Medicine for
the Improvement of the Quality of Life
Luca Collebrusco
1,2*
, Luca Palmieri
3
, Giovanna Censi
4
, Rita Lombardini
5
1
Research Department C.R.O.M.O.N., EDUCAM School, Rome, Italy
2
Rehabilitation Unit, National Health Service of Umbria, Perugia, Italy
3
Freelance Consultant, Perugia, Italy
4
INRCA University Polytechnic of Marche, Ancona, Italy
5
Departmen of Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Abstract
The lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a syndrome with a wide economic and so-
cial impact on the adult population. It is a particular form of narrowing of the
lumbar vertebral canal or the intervertebral foramina which can compress the
neural and vascular elements in the lumbar spine. It is a degenerative process
which predominantly affects the geriatric population. The increase of the life
expectancy has increased the health needs of this target of population. The
(LSS) is a syndrome that can manifest itself with lower back pain and pain to
the inferior limbs, and functional disabilities which affects mobility and motor
skills. Given the complexity of the clinical presentation, an accurate clinical-
functional evaluation is needed that includes: The combination of clinical
signs from the patient’s history, a physical evaluation and diagnostic imaging,
excluding possible red flags. In this respect, the use of Rehabilitative Ultra-
sound Imaging (RUSI) might be useful in the evaluation and treatment
process, enhancing the effectiveness and documenting the benefits of it. The
aim of this work is to propose an integrated evidence-based approach that
may be useful for improving the quality of life of LSS patients.
Keywords
Physical Therapy, Lumbar Spinal Stenosis, Rehabilitative Ultrasound Imaging,
Regional Interdependence, Rehabilitation
How to cite this paper: Collebrusco, L.,
Palmieri, L., Censi, G. and Lombardini, R.
(2017) Lumbar Stenosis of the Aging Spine:
Evaluation and Treatment According to the
Evidence Based Medicine for the Improve-
ment of the Quality of Life. Open Journal
of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 5, 36-42.
https://doi.org/10.4236/ojtr.2017.51004
Received: December 14, 2016
Accepted: February 12, 2017
Published: February 15, 2017
Copyright © 2017 by authors and
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access