Conditions / Diagnoses
Adult Tethered Cord
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Basilar Invagination
Chiari Malformation
Degenerative Disc Disease (Cervical and Lumbar)
Disc Herniation
Facet Joint Syndrome / Facet Blocks
Fibromyalgia
Myelopathy
Osteomyelitis
Osteoporosis / Vertebral Fractures
Osteoarthritis of the Spine
Osteoarthritis of the Peripheral Joint
Platybasia
Radiculopathy (Cervical and Lumbar)
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Scoliosis
Spinal Compression Fractures
Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal Cord Tumors
Stenosis
Syringomyelia
Trochanteric Bursitis
Adult Tethered Cord
Adult Tethered Cord is characterized by a spinal cord that is located at an abnormally low
position within the spinal canal. The position in which it comes to rest in an adult (L1
or L2) is caused by the growth of the individual. Tethered cord results when the spinal cord
cannot normally ascend with growth, which causes it to stretch or become damaged.
Symptoms: This condition presents differently, and sometimes less obviously, in adults
than in children. For example, children experience difficulty walking, and adults usually
have pain and weakness in the legs, back, and foot arches. Adult symptoms also include limb
muscle atrophy, sensory deficit (numbness), and urinary frequency and urgency accompanied
by a sense of incomplete emptying and even incontinence. In adults, symptoms are aggravated
by trauma, maneuvers associated with stretching of the spine (flexion), disc herniation,
and spinal stenosis.
Diagnosis: Adult tethered cord is determined by an MRI, which shows a low level of the
conus medullaris (below L2) and thickened filum terminale.
Treatment: How tethered cord is treated is based on the underlying cause. If the only
abnormality is a thickened, shortened filum, then a limited lumbo-sacral laminectomy with
division of the filum may be sufficient to relieve the symptoms.