Spinal Stenosis Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

What is spinal stenosis?

The term “stenosis” comes from Greek and means a “choking”. Spinal stenosis, however, has little in common with choking. There are two primary types of spinal stenosis:

• In lumbar spinal stenosis, the spinal nerve roots in the lower back are compressed, or choked, and this can produce symptoms of sciatic pain -- tingling, weakness or numbness that radiates from the low back and into the buttocks and legs -- especially with activity.
• Spinal stenosis in the neck (cervical stenosis) can be far more dangerous by compressing the spinal cord itself and possibly leading to major body weakness or even paralysis. This is virtually impossible in the lumbar spine, however, as the spinal cord is not present in the lumbar spine.

In rare cases, lumbar spinal stenosis can go no further than to produce severe persistent disabling pain and even weakness in the legs. Most cases, however, have pain that radiates into the leg(s) with walking, and that pain will be relieved with sitting. This is called claudication which can also be caused by circulatory problems to the legs, as discussed later in this article.

Spinal stenosis is related to degeneration in the spine and usually will become significant in the 5th decade of life and extend throughout every subsequent age group. Most patients first visit their doctor with symptoms of spinal stenosis at about age 60 or so. Patients need only seek treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis if they no longer wish to live with significant activity limitations, such as leg pain and/or difficulty with walking.

Spinal stenosis can occur in a variety of ways in the spine. Approximately 75% of cases of spinal stenosis occur in the low back (lumbar spine), which is called lumbar spinal stenosis, and most will affect the sciatic nerve which runs along the back of the leg. When this happens, it is commonly called sciatica.

• Article written By:
• Charles Ray, MD

April 3, 2007

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