Progressing
I’m new here but have had lumbar stenosis symptoms since 2022 with MRI confirmation in 2024.
I have constant tightness in my lower back after walking for 5 to 15 minutes and it always feels as if I need to stretch out my glutes and my hamstrings and no amount of stretching ever relieves the feeling.
Leaning forward, generally relieves the pain. Back extensions always causes it.
When it first started, I was a runner and I started noticing some shooting pains down my leg while I was jogging. Then I got into a terrible car accident, and while I was recovering from, it didn’t really feel any symptoms at all, but once I was recovered, they came back and I’ve gotten worse.
I started going to Orangetheory to work out and since that time I noticed some progressing numbness down my left leg in particular and on the bottom of my foot.
Now, if I go on a longer walk like a hike, I experience numbness up from the bottom of my foot up above my knee and feel as if if I weren’t looking down, I might trip or lose my balance.
This feels like a serious issue and I have scheduled another MRI to compare with the one that I got two years ago and I also have signed up for PT starting next week.
Once I have the results from the new MRI I’m planning to go see a neurologist to evaluate my options.
It’s really rough to deal with the constant pain every day all day and also at night and it’s hard to focus on work or family or other things with this in the background.
I’ve read that some people are taking gabapentin which I’ve never tried so I’m thinking about giving that ago and also anti-inflammatories seemed to help a little bit here and there, but they don’t really get to the root.
I’ve just today started learning about energy medicine and I’m curious if anybody here has tried it and what their experiences have been. And really if there’s any other advice or suggestions than anybody has at this point, I’d appreciate it.
Here’s the MRI report from a couple years back:
…FINDINGS:
Anatomy: Five lumbar-type vertebral bodies are present. The most inferior well-formed disc space will be referred to as L5-S1 for purposes of numbering in this report.
Prior surgical findings/hardware: None.
Vertebral bodies: Normal in height. Minimal dextrocurvature of the lumbar spine. Small Schmorl's node along the superior L2 endplate. Mild retrolisthesis of L2 on L3.
Bone marrow: Normal for age. Focal fat deposition at L1.
Intervertebral discs: Multilevel disc desiccation. Mild disc height loss at L1-L2.
Conus medullaris: Normal. Positioned at: L1.
Paraspinal muscles: No evidence of denervation or inflammation.
Congenital shortening of the pedicles bilaterally. The following axial levels are detailed below:
T12-L1: Unremarkable.
L1-L2: Minimal posterior disc bulge, mild facet arthropathy. Mild spinal canal stenosis. Mild to moderate bilateral neural foraminal narrowing.
L2-L3: Posterior disc bulge, ligamentum flavum thickening. Moderate spinal canal stenosis. Mild bilateral neural foraminal narrowing.
L3-L4: Posterior disc bulge, ligamentum flavum thickening, mild facet arthropathy. At least moderate spinal canal stenosis. Moderate bilateral neural foraminal narrowing.
L4-L5: Posterior disc bulge, ligamentum flavum thickening, mild facet arthropathy. Mild spinal canal stenosis. Mild right neural foraminal narrowing.
L5-S1: Mild facet arthropathy. No significant spinal canal or neural foraminal stenosis.
Visualized sacrum and bony pelvis: Unremarkable.
Muscles: Right renal cyst.
IMPRESSION:
Multilevel degenerative changes of the lumbar spine superimposed on congenital shortening of the the pedicles, most pronounced at L3-L4 where there is at least moderate canal stenosis and moderate bilateral neural foraminal narrowing.