Spinal Stenosis Truths

Spinal stenosis is a condition that many people fall victim to, sometimes causing them life-altering symptoms like chronic back pain, muscle weakness, and numbness. How can this be? Well, spinal stenosis simply means a narrowing of channels in the spinal column, and many of these channels surround important nerve tissue that can be affected by the narrowing. It's bad enough that pain and stiffness can be felt locally at the site of constriction where stenosis is in place. However, sometimes the even worse consequence is that spinal stenosis symptoms can be felt elsewhere in the body at numerous different locations.

When already tight spaces in the spinal column are narrowed, it is possible, even likely, that a nerve root will be impinged upon. As nerve roots experience constriction or irritation, they will respond by sending messages along the path of the nerve, and sometimes their messages will be disrupted. This results in the sensation of pain, numbness, tingling, muscle weakness, and muscle spasms in the extremities.

Stenosis in the Lower Back and Sciatica

The most common place where spinal stenosis is experienced is in the lumbar spine, or the lower back. This is largely the case because this location of the spine serves as a focal point of weight distribution and movement, and not surprisingly, spinal abnormalities like stenosis are more likely to occur in areas that must endure the most stress on a daily basis.

As passageways in the spinal column are constricted, a nerve root may suffer some impingement, and in the lower back, oftentimes this nerve root is the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the longest and largest nerve in the body, branching out of the lumbar spine and traveling on both sides of the body down the buttocks, legs, feet, and toes. As stated above, the irritated nerve roots can send symptoms to be felt along the course of the nerve, and in the case of the sciatic nerve, throughout the lower body. These symptoms experienced in the lower body (pain, tingling, numbness, etc.) are collectively known as sciatica.

Stenosis in the Neck

Though spinal stenosis is most prevalent in the lower back, it can also be found elsewhere along the spine. The second most common place where stenosis will be detected is in the cervical region, or neck area. Similar to the lower back, spinal stenosis in the neck can be felt elsewhere as well. The neck anchors nerve roots that extend through the shoulders, arms, hands, and even into the fingers. As a result, symptoms similar in nature to sciatica can be felt in the upper extremities when nerve roots stemming from the cervical spine are irritated.