Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Flashcards
What is lumbar spinal stenosis?
Central canal narrowed by tumour, disk prolapse or degenerative disease
What can cause lumbar spinal stenosis?
Tumour
Disc prolapse
Degenerative disease
What is the main risk factor for lumbar spinal stenosis?
Manual labour
How does lumbar spinal stenosis present?
- Back pain which radiates to thigh/calf
- Relieved by sitting or bending forward
- Better walking uphill than downhill
- Pain progresses as canal is further narrowed
- Symptoms mimicking claudication
Where does the back pain with lumbar spinal stenosis radiate?
To the calf
What relieves the back pain in lumbar spinal stenosis?
Sitting or bending forward
Is the pain with lumbar spinal stenosis better when walking uphill or down?
Uphill
What do the symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis mimic?
Claudication
How is lumbar spinal stenosis diagnosed?
MRI
What is the management of lumbar spinal stenosis?
Laminectomy
Can present
Unilateral leg pain, which has been progressing in severity
Associated with mild weakness of the leg on any activity
Pain radiates posteriorly down the patient’s leg
It is worse on walking, even for a few metres,
Pain seems to improve once the patient sits down or crouches down.
What will there be no history of in someone with lumbar spinal stenosis that differentiates it from cauda equina syndrome?
No history of any bladder and/or bowel dysfunction
What causes the pain in the legs to worsen?
Walking/ activity
What can help to relieve the back pain in someone with lumbar spinal stenosis?
forward flexion or sitting
