Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is a condition where your spinal canal gets narrower. The spinal canal is the space formed by your vertebrae that surrounds your spinal cord. It protects your spinal cord and provides openings in the vertebrae for the nerves that branch out through your body.

There isn’t much room to spare in your spinal canal. Therefore, if anything happens to your spine that causes it to get narrower, there’s a good chance the nerves coming away from your spinal cord are going to get irritated or pinched.

This kind of nerve compression is known as radiculopathy. More rarely, spinal stenosis can result in pressure on your spinal cord, which is called myelopathy.

Not everyone who has spinal stenosis is troubled by their condition, but it can cause symptoms such as:

• Back or neck pain
• Numbness
• “Pins-and-needles” sensations
• Tingling, burning, or prickling feelings
• Problems walking
• Difficulties with balance
• Weakness in the limbs

Spinal stenosis pain and other symptoms tend to affect your arms if the narrowing is in your neck (cervical spinal stenosis), and your legs if the narrowing is in your lower back (lumbar spinal stenosis). Lumbar stenosis can also lead to bladder and bowel incontinence.

Spinal stenosis can happen for a number of reasons, including:

• Bulging or herniated discs
• Degenerative disc disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Thickened spinal ligaments
• Osteophytes (bone spurs)
• Paget’s disease
• Spinal injuries
• Achondroplasia
• Spinal tumors

You’re more likely to suffer from spinal stenosis when you get older, as one of the primary causes is age-related wear-and-tear. Experiencing spine injuries when you’re younger makes you more prone to developing spinal stenosis.

If you have spinal stenosis, but it’s not causing any symptoms, treatment isn’t necessary. However, if you’re having problems with radiculopathy because of your spinal stenosis, we recommend a program of conservative treatments, to begin with.

Your treatment program could consist of therapies such as:

• Pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory medications
• Physical therapy
• Steroid injections
• Manual manipulation

For many people who have spinal stenosis, these non-surgical approaches are highly successful in relieving their symptoms. If you’re not finding the benefit of conservative methods after several months, we are happy to go over your surgical options.

Dr. Ashraf Guirgues offers two main options for spinal stenosis surgery:

• Laminectomy
  During a laminectomy, the team removes any bone, connective tissue, or bone spurs that are pinching your spinal nerves.
• Spinal fusion
  The team often performs spinal fusion in combination with laminectomy. The procedure involves fusing the vertebrae on each side of the area responsible for the nerve pressure.

We can perform these procedures using minimally invasive spine surgery or, in many cases, robotic surgery.

If you’ve got back or neck pain due to spinal stenosis, call today or book an appointment online.