Spinal Stenosis Laser Surgery

Spinal stenosis is defined as the narrowing of the spinal canal in one or more of the vertebrae.  This narrowing can put pressure on the spinal cord and other nerves that are located along the length of the spine in the spinal canal.  Consequently, this can cause numbness and pain throughout the body.

Spinal stenosis can be classified either as primary or acquired.  Primary spinal stenosis is caused by a birth defect to the spine.  However, this type is uncommon.  Acquired spinal stenosis is developed through changes to the body, mostly due to age, which is much more common.  There are several ways which a person can develop acquired spinal stenosis, but the most common risk factor is age (over 50 years old) and arthritis becomes prevalent.  Other causes include Paget’s disease, herniated disks, spinal tumors, ligament changes and direct injuries that inflict trauma to the spine.

Often, spinal stenosis can lead to intermittent vascular claudication, which causes numbness and pain in the legs because of pressure on the arteries, which results in poor blood circulation to the legs.  A similar symptom is intermittent neurogenic claudication, which puts pressure on the nerves instead.  Compression can also affect the nerves that maintain your balance, presenting difficulties when walking and standing.  Pain can also be experienced in the neck, back and hip areas as well.  In more serious cases, the nerves responsible for bladder control can be hindered as well.

There are quite a few treatment options if you have spinal stenosis.  Simple treatments for less serious cases include physical therapy, NSAIDS (ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.) and analgesics (Tylenol).  Physical therapy can improve the strength and stability of the spine.  NSAIDS reduce inflammation and analgesics can relieve the pain you may experience.  If these treatment options are not sufficient, then epidural steroid injections to battle inflammation and pain may be the next step.  If all else fails, surgery is the best option.

Surgery procedures that can treat spinal stenosis include decompressive laminotomy and foraminotomy.  Fortunately, spinal stenosis laser surgery is a minimally invasive treatment technique.  There are many advantages of these processes because they are simple, successful and present little risk or stress on the body.