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Spinal stenosis: the symptoms, who gets it, getting a diagnosis, treatment, and living with it
For anyone whose legs burn, ache or go numb when they stand or walk and ease when they sit or lean forward, anyone whose neck hurts and whose arms or hands tingle or feel weak, and anyone just told they have spinal stenosis or shown a scan with narrowing. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the NIH) says spinal stenosis happens when the spaces in the spine narrow and create pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots. The narrowing usually happens over time, most often in the lower back and the neck, and the chances increase with age. This page passes on, by name, what NIAMS says: the symptoms in the lower back and in the neck, what causes it, how it is diagnosed and who treats it, the treatments with and without surgery, and the self-care tips. It builds the words to say to a provider, and prints a card for the visit.
Right now
- New trouble controlling your bladder or bowels, or numbness or weakness in your legs that comes on fast or gets worse quickly: go to an emergency room now, or call 911 (ours). NIAMS says doctors may recommend surgery right away for numbness or weakness that interferes with walking, or impaired bowel or bladder function.
- After a fall or an injury, someone cannot move or feel their legs: call 911, and do not move them unless they are in danger (ours).
- An arm that goes weak with a face that droops or speech that slurs, or chest pain: call 911 (ours).
More help
- Related: Back pain · Arthritis · Pain that lasts · Getting older · Pain, bones and joints.
- Day to day: Symptom diary · Medicines list · Quit smoking · Depression.
- Care and costs: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · When medicine costs too much · Get ready for the appointment.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Pain, a bone or a joint, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for back pain, arthritis, pain that lasts, headaches, broken bones and sickle cell, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 15, 2026 on NIAMS’s Spinal Stenosis page, both parts: Overview, Symptoms, & Causes and Diagnosis, Treatment, & Steps to Take (NIH, last reviewed November 2023), and on its shorter Spanish twin, Estenosis espinal (February 2023). Ours: going to an emergency room now, or calling 911, for new trouble controlling the bladder or bowels, or numbness or weakness in the legs that comes on fast or gets worse quickly; calling 911 when someone cannot move or feel their legs after a fall or injury, and not moving them unless they are in danger; calling 911 for an arm that goes weak with a face that droops or speech that slurs, or chest pain; writing down where it hurts, what makes it worse or better and how far you can walk; keeping a list of every medicine; asking what a test, treatment or surgery would change, its risks and what it costs; 988; and the order of the steps. What we left out: any medicine’s name, any brand or dose, any supplement, device, remedy or product, and NIAMS’s research pages. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.