Can lumbar spinal stenosis cause hypogonadism?

  Low back pain is very common for men, and clinically we often encounter patients with low back pain and poor intercourse, who think it is due to kidney deficiency and take various kidney tonics, but do not improve.  Can lumbar spinal stenosis lead to hypogonadism?  The real reason for this is the diagnosis of “lumbar spinal stenosis” at a regular hospital. Why can lumbar spinal stenosis lead to this condition?  The genitofemoral nerve originates from the L1 and L2 nerve roots and runs down through the psoas major muscle, which then divides into the genital and femoral branches. The genital branch crosses the inguinal canal and distributes to the round ligament of the uterus and labia majora in women and to the spermatic cord in men, which innervates the levator ani muscle and provides sensory nerve distribution to the scrotal root.  The lumbar spinal canal has 10-20 nerves at each level, and these nerve roots are scattered inside the spinal canal. When lumbar spinal stenosis occurs in the L1-L2 segment, the entire spinal canal is crowded due to disruption of the physiological curvature of the lumbar spine, the protrusion of intervertebral processes and discs into the spinal canal, or displacement of the vertebral body and soft tissue hyperplasia, which squeeze the nerve roots together and completely squeeze them in a small area.  The patient will have a series of symptoms of sexual dysfunction after the damage to the genital femoral nerve is squeezed.  In male patients, sexual function is reduced or lost, while in female patients, sexual indifference is common, and loss of sexual sensation often occurs.  Therefore, lumbar spinal stenosis is not only a problem of back pain and abnormal sensation of the limbs, but also leads to the impact of conjugal life, therefore, timely treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis is beneficial to both the patient and the couple.