an extremely small spinal canal and develop the symptoms of spinal stenosis as early as in their teens.
Not even the doctors agree if the pain is from my back or my hip
The symptoms of spinal stenosis in the upper lumbar spine between the first, second, and third lumbar discs can be confused with symptoms coming from an arthritic hip or knee joint. Since spinal stenosis most commonly occurs in the age groups who suffer from arthritis of these joints, symptoms can be coming from the spine and joint arthritis at the same time. I published a study of the symptoms of 97 patients who had symptoms of spinal stenosis alone, symptoms of hip arthritis alone, or symptoms of spinal stenosis and hip arthritis together. The study showed that if you have groin pain and a limp with loss of motion in the hip, you are more apt to have hip arthritis. If you have a positive femoral-stretch test, which means you have pain in the front of your thigh when you bend your knee while lying on your stomach, you are more likely to have spinal stenosis. A combination of these findings would suggest that both conditions are symptomatic at the same time.
A patient once consulted me because of back pain, aching in her legs while walking, a limp, groin pain, and loss of motion in one hip. She had an MRI scan of her spine that showed spinal stenosis and an x-ray of her hip that showed osteoarthritis. She was exercising for an hour a day on an exercise bicycle and had lost 50 pounds on a diet over the previous year. Her quality of life was moderately impaired because she could no longer play tennis. She did not want to have her hip replaced or have spinal surgery for stenosis. Her reason for the consultation was to get my reassurance that she was not harming herself by delaying surgery on her spine. I reassured her that, on the contrary, she was helping herself by exercising and waiting for surgery until either condition significantly impaired her quality of life. If she had been unable to keep up her exercise routine and was getting out of shape, I would have recommended surgery for her hip as well as her spine. The order in which I would have recommended the surgery, hip versus spine, would have depended on which symptoms were bothering her most — those coming from the hip or those coming from the spine.
In this pain drawing, the patient shows pain in the right groin from arthritis of the right hip and pain down the backs of the legs and sides of the thighs from spinal stenosis in the low back. The patient describes the pain from both conditions as aching in nature.
Symptoms of spinal stenosis in the low back, neck, and both places at the same time
Twenty percent of people with symptomatic spinal stenosis in the lumbar spine (low back) can have stenosis in the cervical spine (neck). The normal diameter of the spinal canal in the neck is the size of a nickel. The spinal cord in the neck is the diameter of a dime. The combination of disc narrowing and bulging, facet enlargement, and ligament thickening can narrow the spinal canal in the neck to less than the diameter of the spinal cord. When this occurs, the blood supply to the spinal cord in the neck can be shut off and parts of the spinal cord will stop functioning (myelopathy). This is exactly what happened to my aunt (read her story in Chapter 1 ).
Loss of balance, stumbling, tripping, falling, and lack of coordination may be symptoms of spinal stenosis in the neck. Although some patients will experience pain in the arms with exercise that is relieved by rest (neurogenic claudication), it is not as common as leg pain from spinal stenosis in the low back. This presents a real problem for patients who have severe symptomatic spinal stenosis in the neck and low back at the same time. Occasionally I will see a patient with severe spinal stenosis in the low back and neck who cannot walk more than a few hundred feet because of leg pain. They are so preoccupied with their leg pain that they do not realize
Not even the doctors agree if the pain is from my back or my hip
The symptoms of spinal stenosis in the upper lumbar spine between the first, second, and third lumbar discs can be confused with symptoms coming from an arthritic hip or knee joint. Since spinal stenosis most commonly occurs in the age groups who suffer from arthritis of these joints, symptoms can be coming from the spine and joint arthritis at the same time. I published a study of the symptoms of 97 patients who had symptoms of spinal stenosis alone, symptoms of hip arthritis alone, or symptoms of spinal stenosis and hip arthritis together. The study showed that if you have groin pain and a limp with loss of motion in the hip, you are more apt to have hip arthritis. If you have a positive femoral-stretch test, which means you have pain in the front of your thigh when you bend your knee while lying on your stomach, you are more likely to have spinal stenosis. A combination of these findings would suggest that both conditions are symptomatic at the same time.
A patient once consulted me because of back pain, aching in her legs while walking, a limp, groin pain, and loss of motion in one hip. She had an MRI scan of her spine that showed spinal stenosis and an x-ray of her hip that showed osteoarthritis. She was exercising for an hour a day on an exercise bicycle and had lost 50 pounds on a diet over the previous year. Her quality of life was moderately impaired because she could no longer play tennis. She did not want to have her hip replaced or have spinal surgery for stenosis. Her reason for the consultation was to get my reassurance that she was not harming herself by delaying surgery on her spine. I reassured her that, on the contrary, she was helping herself by exercising and waiting for surgery until either condition significantly impaired her quality of life. If she had been unable to keep up her exercise routine and was getting out of shape, I would have recommended surgery for her hip as well as her spine. The order in which I would have recommended the surgery, hip versus spine, would have depended on which symptoms were bothering her most — those coming from the hip or those coming from the spine.
In this pain drawing, the patient shows pain in the right groin from arthritis of the right hip and pain down the backs of the legs and sides of the thighs from spinal stenosis in the low back. The patient describes the pain from both conditions as aching in nature.
Symptoms of spinal stenosis in the low back, neck, and both places at the same time
Twenty percent of people with symptomatic spinal stenosis in the lumbar spine (low back) can have stenosis in the cervical spine (neck). The normal diameter of the spinal canal in the neck is the size of a nickel. The spinal cord in the neck is the diameter of a dime. The combination of disc narrowing and bulging, facet enlargement, and ligament thickening can narrow the spinal canal in the neck to less than the diameter of the spinal cord. When this occurs, the blood supply to the spinal cord in the neck can be shut off and parts of the spinal cord will stop functioning (myelopathy). This is exactly what happened to my aunt (read her story in Chapter 1 ).
Loss of balance, stumbling, tripping, falling, and lack of coordination may be symptoms of spinal stenosis in the neck. Although some patients will experience pain in the arms with exercise that is relieved by rest (neurogenic claudication), it is not as common as leg pain from spinal stenosis in the low back. This presents a real problem for patients who have severe symptomatic spinal stenosis in the neck and low back at the same time. Occasionally I will see a patient with severe spinal stenosis in the low back and neck who cannot walk more than a few hundred feet because of leg pain. They are so preoccupied with their leg pain that they do not realize
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