Spinal Stenosis

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This post is of the longish kind. Yet, I’m sure it is of interest to whom it may concern. What is it? Stenosis means narrowing of the channels in the spine where the nerves run. When it occurs in the lower back (as it did in my case), it’s called lumbar spinal stenosis. Arthritis may cause it but it may also come simply because of the normal aging process and *walking upright*! The soft tissues and vertebrae may harden or become overgrown or slightly shift their position thus narrowing the channels and squeezing the nerves which carry the messages from the brain to the muscles of the legs and feet. Symptoms The disease starts slowly and subtly. I stumbled more than is normal. The neurologist made an electroencephalogram of my brain and measured the electrical activity of my legs. My brain activity was OK, the one in my legs wasn‘t. He told me that obviously the messages sent off from my brain into my legs didn‘t arrive properly. When I was walking along a street, it happened more and more often that my feet suddenly became numb and felt heavy. It was as if I was wearing shoes made of iron. Either together with this numbness or without it the feet tingled as if someone was pricking needles into them. The disturbing thing was that I could never detect what started the sensations. Later I also occasionally got a pain in the buttocks radiating down the legs to the hollow of the knees (the scientific term is ‘sciatica‘) and a general muscle ache as if I had done a lot of sportive exercises the day before. The phenomena didn’t all occur at once, but there was always something. Like all patients with spinal stenosis I felt relief when leaning slightly forward. In the end I only left the house with a walking stick when I didn‘t have a trolley (for my shopping) to lean on. People with Spinal Stenosis may or may not have back pain, I was fortunate and didn’t have any. I felt good when sitting on a chair or lying down, which is typical. So I did this more than walking. Understandable but not advisable as you can imagine. Therapy A radiologist made a computer scan which proved without doubt that I had Spinal Stenosis. I then went to an orthopaedist to be sent to a physiotherapist (this is the way it must be done in Germany). The orthopaedist gave me some injections on either side of the affected part of the spine although I had never had any pain there. The physiotherapist explained me that injections pay well and that they’d do the physician good if not me. Aha! At the physiotherapist’s I got manual therapy, a kind of massage of the area where the lumbar vertebrae were affected. This didn’t improve the situation. When I needed a new prescription, I went to a different orthopaedist who sent me to a different physiotherapist who kept up the manual therapy and in addition made me do exercises at workout machines to strengthen the muscles of the back which would do my spine good. I did this twenty times (always twice a week for one hour). My muscles got indeed stronger, the affliction stayed the same. When I reported this to the orthopaedist, he suggested I stop doing these exercises and prescribed lying for some time in the slings of a sling table after the manual therapy instead. No improvement whatsoever. All in all I went to physiotherapist sessions for one and a half year. I had heard that patience was needed. The more I understood my problems, however, the less I believed in the therapies I got. Why should a massage and stretching the body in a sling table influence dislocated or arthritic vertebrae? When an acquaintance told me about an orthopaedist in the next big city specialised in Spine problems, I decided that I didn’t want to go on in the same way and went there. This orthopaedist explained that in his opinion there were two further treatments for me: 1) 5 injections (once a week for five weeks) directly into the arthritic vertebrae which wouldn’t do away with the cause of my problems but would possibly numb the nerves so that I wouldn’t feel the symptoms any more. I agreed, but unfortunately the effect of this treatment was nil. 2) A minimal invasive operation with general anaesthesia during which he’d abrade the protruding arthritic parts of the vertebrae with a diamond file. The operation isn’t without risk. The orthopaedist wanted o comfort me and said that less than one percent of the operations could result in problems. That’s not a good ratio, I’d have liked one in 100.000 better. A mistake during the operation and paralysis (=wheelchair) can be the result. As this was the last treatment on offer, however, I decided to have it done. If I had done nothing, I’d also have ended in a wheel-chair eventually. It’s not advisable to wait too long as the nerves get damaged when they’re squeezed in the nerve canal. The operation lasted two hours because I had two near-closures in my lower spine and the membrane covering the nerves had become attached to the vertebrae. A lot of precision work was necessary. When I woke up from the general anaesthesia, I could move my feet and wriggle my toes and knew that all had gone well. No nerves had accidentally been cut and I was saved. Conclusion I’m glad I took the risk of the operation. Should you or someone you know have the symptoms I’ve described, find a specialist for spine problems. Don’t just go to any orthopaedist. Find out how severe the condition is and don’t lose time doing useless physiotherapy. It may alleviate the symptoms if they’re still light. In my case the Spinal Stenosis was already so advanced that it was wasted time and money. I’m aware how lucky I am to live in a highly developed country in which Spinal Stenosis is recognised and treated. If I lived in a third world country, I’d only be given a stick and would have to hobble along, maybe for years, and then end in a wheelchair - if wheelchairs were available at all. The orthopaedist said that he couldn’t work miracles and make me into a young deer again. This expression is used in German to describe a person who capers around merrily. As I wasn’t a young deer before the operation, I’m content to be an elderly deer without walking problems. ----- Photo: pixabay