By Bob Cairo
If you haven’t heard of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), those of us of a certain age may become all too familiar with it very soon. Some doctors are sounding the alarm about the rapidly increasing number of cases of LSS.
Right now, about 11 percent of the population is suffering with this painful problem, but Baby Boomers are changing all that. Medical experts are warning the trends don’t look good. By 2021, they expect more than 2.4 million Americans will be afflicted with the condition.
Do you know what LSS is and how it happens? Do you know what your treatment options are and what the latest medical research has discovered about the most effective treatments? Did you know that aging is the primary factor, but not the only factor, that can cause LSS?
As I so often tell you here in the Coastal Point, understanding the problem and getting the information you need to be an informed consumer can make a critical difference for you or someone you know.
LSS is a narrowing of the spinal canal. When that occurs, it will put pressure on your spinal cord, along with the nerves that travel through your spine.
The best way to understand it is to think about how your spine is structured. You have 24 vertebrae in your spine that sit in a line, with each one sitting on top of the next. You also have disks that provide space between vertebrae.
