Symptoms of lumbar intervertebral stenosis

Lumbar stenosis syndrome is an orthopedic disease. Because lumbar stenosis compresses the patient’s nerves, patients often suffer from low back pain. Generally, those who suffer from this disease are middle-aged and elderly people, and they are male. The probability of suffering from this disease is much higher than that of women, so patients cannot maintain the same movement for a long time, or how to treat lumbar intervertebral stenosis?

Lumbar spinal stenosis refers to a type of disease in which the diameters of the spinal canal are shortened due to various reasons, compressing the dural sac, spinal cord or nerve roots, resulting in corresponding neurological dysfunction. It is one of the causes of common lumbar spondylosis such as low back pain and low back and leg pain. It is also called lumbar spinal stenosis syndrome and mostly occurs in middle-aged people over 40 years old. There are often no symptoms when you are still or resting. After walking a certain distance, symptoms such as lower limb pain, numbness, and weakness will appear. You need to squat or sit down and rest for a period of time before you can continue walking. As the condition worsens, the walking distance becomes shorter and shorter, and the time required to rest becomes longer and longer.

Cause

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a common disease in orthopedics. Its causes are very complex, including congenital lumbar spinal stenosis, degenerative diseases of the spine, spinal fractures or dislocations caused by trauma, or spinal fractures caused by lumbar surgery. Canal stenosis. The most common one is degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. Primary lumbar spinal stenosis: caused solely by congenital bone development abnormalities, which is rare clinically; secondary lumbar spinal stenosis: caused by intervertebral disc, joint degeneration or spondylolisthesis, traumatic fracture and dislocation, deformity Osteitis etc. The most common of these is degenerative spinal stenosis.

clinical manifestations

The onset of this disease is often insidious, and its course is slow. It mostly occurs in men between the ages of 40 and 50. The causes of stenosis are very complex. Depending on the location of the clinical stenosis, typical patient symptoms may include: long-term lumbosacral pain, leg pain, progressive weakness and numbness of both lower limbs, intermittent claudication, and difficulty walking. Among them, numbness can gradually develop from the feet upward to the calves, thighs and lumbosacral areas, and a belting sensation may appear in the abdomen. In severe cases, abnormal urination and defecation, paraplegia, etc. may occur. Hyperextension of the waist can cause increased numbness and pain in the lower limbs. This is a positive hyperextension test and is an important sign in the diagnosis of spinal stenosis.

examine

1. Frontal and lateral X-rays of waist;

2. Lumbar puncture and myelography;

3. CT and CTM examination;

4． MRI examination;

5. Others, such as electromyography (can help determine the location of compressed nerves and differential diagnosis).

diagnosis

1. Low back and leg pain

Long-term and repeated low back pain can sometimes radiate to the lower limbs.

2. Intermittent claudication

When the patient stands or walks, he or she may experience lower back pain, leg pain or numbness, weakness, and cramps, which gradually worsen to the point where they are unable to continue walking. The above symptoms disappear after sitting or squatting for a few minutes and you can continue walking. Because there are intermittent periods, it is named intermittent claudication.

3. Some patients

There may be symptoms such as numbness of the lower limbs, cold sensation, fatigue, certain muscle atrophy, numbness of the sellar area, incontinence of urine or feces, or urgency or difficulty in urination.

4. Do waist hyperextension movements

It can cause increased numbness and pain in the lower limbs. This is a positive hyperextension test and is an important sign in the diagnosis of spinal stenosis.

5. Generally, it is necessary to take anteroposterior and oblique X-rays of the lumbar spine.

Sometimes it is necessary to take additional extension and flexion lateral radiographs. Narrowing of the intervertebral space, bone hyperplasia, osteoarthritis changes in the facet joints, etc. can be seen, mostly between L4-5 and L5 S1.