What it is
Your spinal canal is a bony tunnel that protects the nerves running down your back. With age, this tunnel can slowly narrow because of thickened ligaments, bone spurs, bulging discs, or arthritis in the spine joints. When the canal becomes too tight, the nerves inside have less room and can be squeezed. This is called lumbar spinal stenosis.
Stenosis usually develops slowly over many years and is most common in adults over 60.
Common symptoms
- Aching, heaviness, cramping, or burning in the buttocks and legs
- Leg pain or weakness that gets worse with standing or walking
- Relief when sitting down or leaning forward (for example, on a shopping cart)
- Numbness or tingling in the legs or feet
- Trouble walking long distances
Neurogenic claudication explained
The classic symptom of lumbar stenosis is called neurogenic claudication. It means leg pain that builds up the longer you stand or walk, and gets better quickly when you sit down or bend forward. Many patients say they can only walk one or two blocks before they need to rest, or that they lean on a grocery cart for relief.
This happens because standing upright narrows the canal even more, putting extra pressure on the nerves. Bending forward opens the canal back up and takes pressure off.
How it differs from normal back pain
Ordinary low back pain is usually felt in the back itself and is often related to muscle strain or disc wear. Spinal stenosis pain is mostly in the legs, not the back, and is closely tied to walking and standing. If your back feels okay at rest but your legs ache after walking a short distance, stenosis is a likely cause.