Spinal Stenosis

I can understand your sister feeling upset after hearing words like that. How severe is the spinal stenosis, and is it throughout her entire spine?

I actually have mild to moderate stenosis in my lumbar spine, although I only was ever "diagnosed" with it by reading my MRI that I had because of chronic low back pain. I believe it's fairly common as we get older, unfortunately. I'm 44 now, but have been dealing with this for years.

I've had chronic low back pain for years and have been to chiropractors and physical therapy. I think the chiro is beneficial, but I found more benefit from PT. I was given exercises that I still do, because I think strengthening the muscles around the affected area is very important. However, back exercises may actually be aggravating the problem. I do spinal extensions, but not for strengthening, more as part of a treatment to help with the spine (the ones given by the PT). For me, strengthening my glutes and core (especially lower abs/transverse abs) has been very important to my rehab, but it's all individual. I also just have to be super aware of my posture, because I tend to sit with a slightly rounded back and stand with and overarched back, which only exacerbates the problem.

As far as my activities now, I'm doing all the things I want to: heavy lifting (even deadlifts and squats), dancing with some jumping, and long walks. OF course, I have to really listen to my body and make sure my form is on at all times, esp. with the heavy lifting. A few years ago, there was a point when after a long day of work (in which I am mostly sitting on the floor), I couldn't even stand up straight. That doesn't happen anymore. My back will never be 100% the same and I do have flare-ups, but I feel I have more tools to help. I'm even in PT again now, but for a shoulder issue (although it's probably all related). It is frustrating at times, but I've learned to manage.

Stop talking to a chiro and talk to a physio therapist and/or orthopaedic surgeon.

Plenty of people live with spinal stenosis. Often the best course of action is physio therapy.

I'm curious. How was she diagnosed if she hasn't already had these conversations?

I'm so sorry she's dealing spinal stenosis, especially after going through a rough time with her husband and his surgery. I have spinal stenosis too, as well as other back issues. I have some chronic back pain but for me, I've found that if I keep active, the pain is more minimal. Riding a stationary bike or a bike outside works well for me as does walking, yoga, and weights. The key is listening to your body. I now know what activities can cause me pain and while I don't always avoid them, I do those activities in more measured amounts. For instance, I love our hardwood floors but cleaning the floors all at once will set me back. So I divide the task up into smaller areas. And as crazy as it sounds, I stretch afterward!! Sounds nuts but it does help!

I had stenosis, did a lot of PT which helped, but didn't cure it. Mine was in the neck after accident, it was pretty bad. Every dr I went on the consultation with, told me i was at risk for complete paralipsis. So after much consideration and seeing few different orthopedic surgeons, i had operation. I'm so glad i did, i regained my movement, most of my symptoms are gone. I have some lingering unpleasant numbness in my foot, but I'm active and not terrified anymore of any small thing that can cause paralipsis. I think chiropractor should be not the person to diagnose and treat your mom. Think what's involved, spinal cord injury can become permanent and have terrible consequences. PT is better, but seeing the specialist is the best way, imo. Hopefully your mom can get help, can reach out for help. Just keep the conversation going, maybe she'll listen.

ReenieHJ wrote: »

Thanks again everybody. I had a talk with my sister yesterday and tried to convince her to make an appt. with her dr. so she could get a referral for PT or a specialist. She'd like to but is in the midst of now receiving bills from everything her dh went through, plus she had to get new insurance for herself at the beginning of the year and has no clue what it'll cover or not. Told her to call the ins. co. and she said she tried that but got discouraged. All in all, she's in a very vulnerable discouraging place ATM and is finding it hard to make headway anywhere. She's putting herself last(as she does too often ) and is having a hard time all around moving forward. And let's face it, dealing with an ins. co. doesn't make life any easier.
It's coming down to money for her. Her dh has only been gone a month so she's truly recovering from that being so fresh and raw; she's trying to do simple things to get herself better. I'm glad for the things she IS doing, like eating, getting outside, simple exercises, but if something gets difficult, she cannot handle it yet.

I think I'll connect with her dd and talk with her about it.

Thank you everybody

I'm so sorry. It sounds like it's just "One more thing," for her to have to handle, and she doesn't have the capacity to do that just yet. I understand. It's also very frustrating dealing with insurance companies and doctor bills.

If she can't get to a PT right now, I'm thinking there has to be online or book resources to help with spinal stenosis. Maybe that's something you or her daughter could help with, since it sounds like she's not yet in a place to actually be able to go to PT?

Also, why would someone disagree with your post?

Avidkeo wrote: »

I've definitely accidentally disagreed on posts due to the position of the disagree button and scrolling. It's so easy done.

Hugs to your sister, it sounds like she's going through a lot, and grief is so hard.

FWIW, if you mistakenly post a "Disagree," " or any of the other "ratings" at the bottom of a post (or just chg your mind), you can easily "undo" the rating by touching that rating under the post again and it will be deleted from the cumulative total for that rating.

Unlike edits to a post, this is NOT time limited and can be done at any time.

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BTW, I have minor spinal stenosis too which was only discovered after an MRI was taken to assess a SI joint injury I sustained while improperly doing back squats.

Was given a couple of cortisone shots via ultrasound to attempt 2 relieve the SI joint pain wc really didn't work.

The stenosis never caused me any pain and the pain from rhe SI injury eventually went away w/regulsr exercise (hiking, walking & rowing) but I still feel some tenderness there and am very concious about form and still have not attempted to squat using max wts since then.

I'm a well known patient at the Orthopedic Dept of the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. They have fixed and are still treating a variety of orthopedic problems for me, for wc I am extremely thankful.