severe spinal stenosis and travel

Hey Gidget,

I'm in very good shape at 71. I ran marathons in my 30s and 40s, and then succumbed to systemic osteoarthritis. I've had both knees replaced (2023), and this year, my right hip and my left shoulder.

And my lumbar spine has not been spared. It is a disaster area, with stenosis just being one of the problems. My surgeon tells me that my core muscles are supporting my lumbar spine, and to keep up whatever I'm doing in the gym (I work with a trainer 2x/week). I do not want to have spinal fusion surgery, nope.

As in your case, my lower back is stiff in the morning, and it takes about an hour to loosen up, in spite of stretches I do at the gym. It's not painful, just very tight.

On a cruise a few weeks ago, and on a lark, I tried acupuncture for my lower and upper back.

And it worked! I got immediate relief, my heart rate dropped, and I felt relaxed. Since returning from the cruise, I have started "dry needling". The needles are as thin as a strand of hair and are put directly into a troublesome, tight muscle. A "twitch" is generated and the muscle tightens and then relaxes. Again, this works and is not painful (you'll feel a twitch now and then, but the needles are filament-thin).

I'd give it a try. Not much to lose except that nasty morning stiffness.

All the best!

Joe

Hi again Gidget,

You mentioned strengthening your core. Here are two simple exercise you can do right at home.

1) Lie on your back with knees bent. Raise your arms straight up toward the ceiling and keep them there. Pivot from your hips and reach toward the ceiling, raising your entire back off the mat or floor. You don't have to go up far, maybe only a few inches. This will work your abs.

2) Again, lie on your back with your knees bent, raise your butt up from the ground so your torso is at an angle from your knees to your head. You should feel this in your lower back and glutes (the exercise is called Glute Bridge), Hold slightly at the top, then come back down and repeat. I do 10 in a set, two sets total.

If you want to add to this exercise, on your last rep, hold the position for 30 seconds or so.

These exercises will work the front core (abs) and back core (glutes, lower back muscles).

I suggested dry needling earlier. I would find a PT at your hospital who does this. They will perform an evaluation before doing the needling. The evaluation is useful, and the PT will likely find things you hadn't considered. The PT can also suggest stretches for your lower back.

Hope this helps!

Joe

@fifilacarnivali
A thousand thanks again to you "spine sister"!! It just helps frankly to know that you (and others ) have experienced this and are managing and doing well. I know not cured as the spinal stenosis has no "cure" but are managing and finding ways to strengthen the core and for things to at least be better than they were for you last year at this time.

It is scary and upsetting, even though I know there are way worse conditions and diseases. But it is frustrating and yes walking any distance at times is daunting as you mentioned,

We are leaving to visit family back East on Wed and I wish in many ways we were going to be just here where I can concentrate more on PT and looking into the gokhale method and the el paso pt person you mentioned has helped you. I have started the research on it and want the time to devote to it as I am committed to get stronger as I know you were and are.

You mentioned your MRI findings and mine shows L4 L5 anterolisthesis where a vertebra slips forward a bit over the vertebra below and arthropathy of L4-L5 which is a degeneration of the facet joints there and it all results in severe spinal stenosis. The shift involves nerve being pinched as you mentioned for you, The symptoms as I said are better than in April/ May but not dramatically and there are days when it is better than others.

My chiropractor does not do active release therapy but my former Physical Therapist did and she is now retired. It was very helpful and I am in the process of finding someone who does this.

My dr has said surgery for this is 50/50 and I am determined to find non surgical methods and hearing your progress and others has encouraged me, I made it thru the Hawaii trip …good and not so great days and hope things go well with the upcoming one we have had planned for quite awhile to see family. As you said even the little "wins" on the trip I celebrate and never will take mobility for granted again I am sure.

Did you have good and not so good days with this when it was at the worse? I find getting up from sitting awhile to be the worse part . I am doing core exercises and am going to look up those sites and hoping it will help when I can be diligent with them when we are back home,

I was given Celebrex..200 mg to either take once a day or 2 times (100 each) and Extra Strength Tylenol but can't say it helps majorly at times. I have been reading what helps others med wise.

I do have an acupuncture appt set up in Dec on our return from our trip and don't know how much success that will be but it was suggested by the physical medicine dr,

I will keep you posted. But in the meantime thanks so much for telling me your journey with this, I can't tell you how much it helps !! ❤️

@heyjoe415
Thanks, Joe for sharing and your input. I have always been active too and so it is very frustrating the lack of mobility.
Good to hear about your success with acupuncture.It has been suggested for me by my dr. and have an appt in later Dec.
Thanks again for this. it is encouraging to me.

@heyjoe415 Thanks so much for these tips on exercises!! Really appreciate it. One is similar to what I am doing and always helpful to know what helps others.
Thanks again!!

@gidget1280 hello beautiful warrior!
during the couple of months when i was at my worst, there were no good days. and the pain meds and nerve meds did little to ease the pain. i recall even standing on my toes was unbearable. the pain in my hip joint felt like someone was sawing off my leg with a dull blade. 😬
i lived with a stack of clothes at the foot of the bed so i could easily get dressed. there were days i needed help with that.
it appears your cause of the stenosis is a bit different than mine, but all involve disc degeneration. my understanding is some people can have the condition but with few symptoms! but once diagnosed with “severe” stenosis (mine is severe laminal stenosis), it’s a much rougher road to “recovery”. and you have to be extra vigilant in doing only exercises that support your condition. my sister in law has a bulging disc situation and she uses one of those inversion tables and has experienced substantial relief. thought of trying one but don’t really have the space for it!
out of all the meds i tried, the t-3’s helped the most. one t-3 with one extra strength tylenol. helped me sleep at least. 😊 now i occasionally take the tylenol if needed and very occasionally resort to the t-3 combination. when i feel things flaring up, i start doing my glute activation exercises and it seems to calm things down. see, it’s often the muscles around the area that cause a big part of the grief. that’s why doing extreme exercises like sit ups can do more harm than good if we haven’t yet established core strength. 🙏🏼
i too have been very active in my life so it was shocking to all of a sudden be hit with this. im very energetic and i could out-dance the youngers on the dance floor and am more bendy than most. (i was told the flexibility may have gotten me in trouble tho, doing things with my body that stretched areas that shouldn’t be stretched if the core strength wasn’t established).
i have tried acupuncture and dry needling and neither helped me. but it may help you! again, if we don’t do the core work, none of these treatments will “stick” for long. 😅 if only there were a quick fix! 😊 just having to get your head around the fact that this is your life now and you will always have to work on this, is a big pill to swallow. but your body will eventually be stronger for it. it won’t completely eliminate the pain but you will feel more in control and be stronger than many your age. (i’m 67 so i’m determined to get more mileage out of these not-THAT-old bones! 😊🙏🏼 ) i recently had a stretch of ten days without ANY real noteable pain! i can still feel the nerve pain twitches but they haven’t been bad for months and months). but my body is traumatized from what i went thru…(what you are going thru now. ) whenever i get a flare up, i freak out a little, thinking i’m gonna go back to that state. but i recover fairly quickly now! i have learned to rest, walk and activate my glutes when a flare up threatens and it gets under control fairly quickly. there is hope, spine sister. ❤️🙏🏼
yes, sitting can be problematic and i find i have to get up and move around to ward off the muscle contractions. (glokhale method of sitting helps, but i’m a horrible sitter!). or maybe a gentle bend (as instructed by el manual guy).
i understand why you’d want to stay home and take care of your body at this time. but family will bring you love, which is good medicine. just don’t over-do anything! sending positive bealing vibes. 💜