What is spinal stenosis?
Spinal stenosis happens when spaces in your spine narrow. This leaves less room for your spinal cord and spinal nerve roots. It can cause nerve pinching, pressure, and damage.
Spinal stenosis can affect the neck (cervical spinal stenosis) or the back (lumbar spinal stenosis). It usually affects adults over 60.
What are the symptoms of spinal stenosis?
The symptoms vary with the type of stenosis, and they aren’t necessarily in the area of spinal narrowing.
Cervical spinal stenosis
You could experience numbness, tingling, or weakness in a hand, arm, leg, or foot with cervical spinal stenosis. You might also suffer neck pain, balance issues, and, in very severe cases, bowel and/or bladder control problems.
Lumbar spinal stenosis
With lumbar spinal stenosis, you can have numbness, tingling, or weakness in a foot or leg. Some people also have leg pain and cramping with prolonged standing or walking. Back pain that can shoot down your leg is another common symptom of lumbar spinal stenosis.
Spinal stenosis doesn’t always cause symptoms, so it’s essential to see your doctor for regular check-ups. It’s during these check-ups that doctors often find spinal stenosis.
What causes spinal stenosis?
Arthritis is the most common cause of spinal stenosis. The most common kind of arthritis, osteoarthritis, happens after many years of wear-and-tear on the spinal joints, which is why it’s also called wear-and-tear or degenerative arthritis.
About 95% of people experience some kind of age-related spinal degeneration by age 50, and any of those spinal issues can potentially lead to spinal stenosis.
Spinal trauma, for example, a herniated disc, can also lead to spinal stenosis. Uncommonly, spinal tumors can cause spinal stenosis. Congenital spinal stenosis (something you’re born with) is rare.
What is the best treatment for spinal stenosis?
Hudson Valley Bone & Joint Surgeons offers personalized spinal stenosis treatment. The team’s goals include relieving inflammation, encouraging tissue regrowth, and improving your physical well-being. All of this comes together to relieve your pain and allow you to resume your normal activities.
In most cases, nonoperative treatments like physical therapy, steroid injections, and oral medication are very effective against spinal stenosis. But for particularly severe spinal stenosis, you could need surgery, like surgical decompression to relieve pressure in your spine.
The Hudson Valley Bone & Joint Surgeons, LLP team can help with your chronic back pain and other spinal stenosis symptoms. Call the office nearest you today or book an appointment with online scheduling.
