I have been diagnosed with spinal Stenosis .

Piece of cake. I had a right hip done in 2009 and a left knee in 2016. Eight months after the knee, I developed spinal foraminal stenosis. If you have the same thing, the stenosis pain is caused by the narrowing of the foraminal canals between the vertebrae where the nerve roots run out of your spinal column and into the rest of your body. Expanding the space between two vertebrae opens those "tunnels" and eliminates the pressure on the nerves causing the pain. Pretty simple.

The confirmation test is a CT/Myelogram With Contrast which your neurosurgeon should do immediately to double check the MRI. Mine was at L2/L3. I was already fused L3 through S1 via a posterial TLIF fusion so the doc told me he could rip out all the rails and screws and re-fuse me L2 to S1...OR...

Perform a Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion (LLIF). The standard TLIF fusion is done from your back...this is done from your side. A general surgeon opens you up and moves some "stuff" out of the way so the neuro can get to your spine. Drill out the disk, insert a "device" and expand it like a car jack to open the space between the vertebrae. Backfill with a small bone graft from the hip to jumpstart the bone fusion and close.

My TLIF was 12 days in the hospital, 4 months of rehab and 6 months in a brace. With the LLIF, I woke up to zero pain, ran the halls and climbed some stairs with ease...IMMEDIATELY!!! One overnight, no brace, no rehab. Stenosis instantly and totally gone. Miracle op!!!

Search YouTube for "Globus LLIF Technique" for a cool animation and then "Globus Calibur" to see one of the devices in action. There are many different device models; the neuro chooses the one most appropriate to your case and anatomy. I'd check out a neurosurgeon WITH EXPERIENCE in this technique before getting talked into rails and screws. Save yourself a lot of pain, rehab time and money.

Hi Doodle,

First off, don't be frightened. Even if it IS spinal stenosis, that's not a horrible diagnosis - there are surgical treatments to deal with it and even some non-surgical alternatives that might help.

The first thing I would do, though, is to make sure that the spinal stenosis is causing the leg pain. You can have stenosis at the same time you are feeling leg pain and the stenosis might not be the cause of it. And especially if you had a recent hip replacement on that side, you need to rule out the possibility that maybe somehow the hip surgery itself might be somehow causing the pain. A test for that is called an EMG or Nerve Conduction Study. A specialist runs mild electrical currents down your leg to help determine exactly what is causing your pain. They will be able to tell you with a better degree of certainty whether the pain you feel is due to the stenosis they saw on the MRI.

And if it does turn out to be related to the stenosis, that is treatable. Good luck...

On January 24th 2019 I had a spinal fusion at L-3/L-4. I also had spinal stenosis in that same area, and bone was removed and used in the fusion process. The stenosis was causing numbing in the outer thighs of both legs.

Prior to surgery, there was a lot of discussion and exams by several doctors trying to decide if it was my hip or my back causing the symptoms. All doctors (including three neurosurgeons and an orthopod), and one hip orthopedic surgeon, said it was my back and I should get that done. I had sufficient cartilage in my hip, and they all looked at the MRI's and X-rays to confirm that diagnosis. I went ahead with surgery, and initially my pain in my leg was relieved to large degree. By March though, I had developed severe pain in my thigh, and in late May went back to my hip guy, since I could barely walk. The new X-rays showed a complete collapse of the femoral head in the four month period since back surgery.

I had hip replacement surgery two weeks ago, and can say I am headed in the right direction.