What We Want You to Know About Spinal Stenosis and Low Back Pain

If back pain makes itself a problem more days than not, you’re certainly not alone — 39% of adults in the United States struggle with back pain. 

Worse, about 16 million adults in the US have chronic back pain, which means the problem has become a constant and most unwelcome presence that places limitations on their lives.

While there are many different types of back pain, our team of pain management experts at Revive Spine and Pain Center focuses on a common one here — lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), which affects about 11% of older Americans.

Lumbar spinal stenosis — a narrowing spine

At its core, lumbar spinal stenosis is a degenerative condition that describes narrowing in your spinal canal. This narrowing is often the result of one or more of these common changes:

• Thickening ligaments
• Bone spurs
• Disk degeneration

When the space in your spinal canal narrows, it can compress one or more of the sensitive nerve fibers and roots that exit your spine — 31 pairs of nerve roots, to be more exact.

Signs of lumbar spinal stenosis

While LSS can develop anywhere along your spine, it most commonly crops up in areas where your spine enjoys the most movement, which includes your neck and your low back, or lumbar spine. For the purposes of this discussion, we’re focusing on spinal stenosis in your low back. 

By age 50, 95% of people have some signs of degeneration in their spine, but not everyone becomes symptomatic. In fact, 20% of adults over the age of 60 show signs of LSS, yet 80% of this number are symptom-free.

When symptoms do strike, they’re the result of nerve compression, so these symptoms are fairly obvious and include:

• Pain in your low back
• Pain when you stand straight
• Pain, numbness, and tingling in your buttocks and lower legs
• Weakness in your legs

We want to circle back to the pain when you stand up straight, which is a hallmark of LSS. Often, the only way to find relief is to hunch forward, which relieves the pressure on the nerves.

Finding relief from low back pain due to LSS

Now let's get into how we can treat lumbar spinal stenosis. For frontline, nonsurgical treatments, we typically recommend one or more of the following:

• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications
• Epidural spine injections
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Nerve blocks
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Physical therapy
• Acupuncture
• Chiropractic care

As you can see, we have a complete arsenal of treatments that bring relief. To figure out which combination is best for your low back pain, your first step is to see us for an evaluation.

To get that ball rolling, we invite you to contact us at one of our conveniently located offices in Marlton, Hamilton Township, Northfield, or East Brunswick, New Jersey, to schedule an appointment.