Darth Stenosis, an MRI Report, and a Clarification

Bad Genes

“My father has it. I have it. My sister has it.”

Yesterday I was talked with my sister who is 2 1/2 years younger than me. She said she’s having back pain. She does not read my blog. I asked her to describe it.

Pain in the outside of her lower left leg. Pain when walking that is reduced when she leans forward or leans against something like a grocery cart. Pain that kicks in after about 50 yards. She can’t trust her left leg; it feels like it’s going to give out.

Gregor Mendel, phone home.

MRI Report

My MRI report confirms that my spine is FUBAR. Most of the pathology doesn’t seem to be causing me pain. I have moderate disc bulging and thinning here and there. And there is some stenosis in various places in my mid to upper spine. Mostly this seems to be the cause of mild discomfort as well as numbness in my feet and hands from time to time. My lower back gets achy when I stand or walk for long periods but muscle spasms are rare.

Near my 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae, however, the report said:

There is severe left foraminal stenosis with indentation of exiting left L4 nerve root. The right foramen is moderately to severely stenotic with indentation of exiting right L4 nerve root.

This is consistent with my recent left leg problems. My guess is that’s where the epidural will go.

The same MRI center had a record of my 2014 scan. The report noted that a disc extrusion (i.e., bulge) found back then no longer exists. This is one reason why back patients are told to give it time. Many of these abnormalities resolve on their own, as did my 2014 problem.

A Clarification

In yesterday’s post, I described a conversation with my friend Julie who is a Rolfer. I may have given the impression that she is reckless or aggressive in her methods. If I did, I apologize to her and want to clarify.

Recapping: a Thai massage therapist skipped past my thighs when I indicated that the therapist had hit a sensitive nerve. What Julie meant when she said she’d “dig right in” to nerve pain was that ignoring the problem as the massage therapist did is unhelpful. The objective of massage is to grant short term relief and reduce tension. Oversimplifying, the objective of Rolfing (and for that matter Feldenkrais) is to reduce pain and stress in the long term by improving how body parts interact. Rolfing focuses on connective tissue called fascia that wraps around muscles and nerves. The end result should be pain and stress reduction on an on-going basis.

For now, I am focused on getting the offending nerve to calm down. Once I get the pain under control, I can consider how to deal with the situation longer term. My guess is that I’ll be doing some combination of yoga, PT, massage, Feldenkrais, and Rolfing.