As China’s aging population increases and the average life expectancy of people increases, many elderly people will experience low back pain and lumbago and walking a distance with strain, pain, numbness and weakness in the lower limbs, and can only walk hundreds of meters or even dozens of meters before they can no longer walk and need to squat and rest for a while before they can walk again, and after going to the hospital the doctor will tell you that your lumbar spinal stenosis may require surgery, so what is What is lumbar spinal stenosis? Why is it not stenosis when you are young? Does all lumbar spinal stenosis require surgery? What kind of stenosis and the degree of stenosis require surgery? What is the risk of surgery? Will I be paralyzed if I don’t have surgery? We will discuss these questions of interest to the elderly and their families. The normal composition of the lumbar spinal canal and the causes of spinal stenosis The lumbar spinal canal is composed of the posterior wall of the vertebral body in the front, the intervertebral disc, the lateral pedicles and articular processes and ligaments on both sides, and the posterior side is composed of the vertebral plate and the ligamentum flavum, which originates from the anterior lower part of the vertebral plate above and the posterior upper part of the vertebral plate below, of which the anterior lower part of the vertebral plate in the upper position is the part located in the spinal canal. The common causes of spinal stenosis are as follows: 1) protrusion and calcification of the intervertebral disc; 2) hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum; 3) hyperplasia of the articular eminence; 4) slippage and scoliosis of the lumbar spine; 5) congenital developmental stenosis of the spinal canal, etc. The hyperplasia of these factors and the formation of bony redundancy can lead to a decrease in the volume of the spinal canal, which can lead to the extrusion of the nerves in the spinal canal and the appearance of spinal stenosis. Stenosis. What are the symptoms of spinal stenosis? In the normal human body, there is still a large reserve space between the lumbar spinal canal and the nerves, and these spaces are filled with fatty tissues, so mild stenosis only encroaches on the reserve space of the spinal canal in the early stage, and the nerves are not yet compressed. This time, when we walk, the blood flow in the spinal canal is accelerated and increased, so that the volume in the spinal canal is further reduced, the nerve pressure is aggravated, there will be lumbar pain and swelling, and numbness, soreness and pain in both lower limbs, when squatting and resting, the blood flow in the spinal canal is reduced, the pressure on the nerves is reduced, and the symptoms of the lumbar and lower limbs disappear, which is often referred to as intermittent claudication. In contrast, lumbar spinal stenosis has few symptoms in the inactive state and does not have many positive signs when examined by a physician. What is the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis? Lumbar spinal stenosis is caused by the nerve compression caused by the physical form of stenosis, therefore, the best treatment is to expand the spinal canal, and the stenosis of the spinal canal is not a simple stenosis of a certain part, but often caused by the extrusion of the spinal canal from the front, back, left and right directions at the same time, then the treatment of early mild stenosis can be used conservative treatment methods, including In general, conservative treatment can be used for the elderly if they can walk more than 500 meters at one time, but if the walking distance is less than 500 meters, it will have a greater impact on daily life, and surgery is needed. So will lumbar spinal stenosis be paralyzed without surgery? In fact, it will not be paralyzed, even without surgery, but it will have a great impact on the life of the patient and cause a lot of pain. The method of surgery is also a concern of the majority of patients, and many patients will ask whether they can do minimally invasive surgery? It depends on what causes the stenosis. If the stenosis is caused by a simple disc herniation and not caused by a serious ligamentum flavum or bony cause, minimally invasive surgery can be considered, but for most patients, spinal stenosis is an all-round stenosis that requires open surgery. For how risky is lumbar spinal stenosis surgery surgery is a big and worrying thing for everyone, especially for spine surgery, the slightest problem with the surgery can lead to paralysis or urinary and fecal dysfunction, so many people are afraid of spine surgery, in fact, with the progress of modern spine surgery, lumbar spinal stenosis surgery is already a routine surgery and is generally safe If you suffer from lumbar spinal stenosis, if you need surgery, you should still be actively treated with surgery in order to improve the quality of life.