Question
Hi.  About 3 years ago I began noticing that when I would walk for a couple hours shopping, my knees would get extremely weak梟ot just tired. Then a few months ago it began affecting my hips.  When I sit it goes away. Sometime now when I get up in the morning, my knees feel this weakness.  I went to an orthopedic surgeon.  He x rayed both knees.  He said the actually look good for 69 years old - that I do have some minescus problem in the left one.  When that particular thing bothers me (just occasionally) there is some pain,  but chiefly, it is this extreme weakness.  My primary care doc. sent me to a Neurologist thinking it may be spinal stenosis, and after doing research, my symptoms line up with spinal stenosis.  He did an MRI on the lower back, and he said there was no spinal stenosis; no compression, but that there was disc pertrusion in one disc. He did tests on the nerves and muscles in my legs , and all checked out ok.  He did not speak to this disc pertrusion; I am assuming that it is nothing to be concerned about.  A friend suggested a chiropractor. Could an MRI miss stenosis?  Can a chiropractor help spinal stenosis?  Thanks,Martha

Answer
Martha,

Thanks for the question and I hope that I can help.   To answer yours first, it is very highly unlikely that the MRI missed any spinal stenosis. In fact, I would say it is almost 100% unlikely.  The MRI takes a picture of that canal and the radiologist looks for space in the canal.  If they see the space, then there is no stenosis.  

If the disc protrusion were causing the knee pain, you would be having other symptoms such as lower back pain, leg weakness or numbness and tingling.

Yes, a chiropractor can help some with a patient with stenosis depending on how bad the stenosis is that is present. In severe stenosis cases, usually only surgical intervention provides significant help.  But we do not have to worry about this with you because stenosis is not present.

It sounds to me like it is the knees that are the origin of this pain.  The meniscus is a problem, but seeing as how you do not have any bad degenerative changes, you are in good shape.  

MY RECOMMENDATION is that you seek treatment that I utilize with knee pain patients and actually get about a 95% success rate.  The treatment is acupuncture, and yes, I get about a 95% success rate with symptoms like yours. The treatment is simple, doesn't take a long time and is not costly.  I would normally treat a patient like you about 6-12 visits.  You should start to see a change in the symptoms by the 4th visit or so. I use needle acupuncture and utilize knee, leg, ankle, foot and hand points to treat knee pain.  

Chiropractic treatment could probably help you with the knee pain as well, but as I perform both chiropractic and acupuncture, I have found that the acupuncture works better and faster and has longer lasting results.  

Find a qualified acupuncturist or chiropractor/acupuncturist in your area and schedule an exam and consult. As I said I usually get the results within about 12 visits max.  

I hope this helps and let me know how you do.  If you have any other questions, please contact me via allexperts.com.

God Bless,

Dr. Boss