How Spinal Stenosis Can Cause Shock-Like Back Pain

Whether you’re just getting out of bed in the morning or it’s later in the day, certain positions, such as standing up straight, can lead to shock-like pain in your lower back. Making matters worse, the discomfort often extends down into one side of your buttocks and even down into your leg.

While there are several possible culprits behind these shooting pains that start in your lower back, the team here at Apex Pain Specialists is going to focus on just one in this blog — spinal stenosis. 

More specifically, Dr. Naveen Reddy and Dr. Maziar Massrour want to take a closer look at lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), which affects 11% of older Americans, and why this condition can lead to shock-like back pain.

Lumbar spinal stenosis — a narrowing in your spinal canal

The word stenosis means narrowing, which is precisely what’s happening inside your spinal canal. Under normal circumstances, your spinal canal creates a passage for your central nervous system — it connects your brain to the rest of the nerves in your body.

Diving a little deeper, your peripheral nervous system is largely formed from 31 pairs of nerve roots that exit your spinal canal, from your neck down to your lower back and sacrum. When you have lumbar spinal stenosis, the spinal canal in your lower back narrows due to degenerative changes, such as thickening ligaments and bone spurs. These conditions crowd the space, which can compress nerve fibers and lead to symptoms, such as the shock-like sensations that are headlining this blog post.

Symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis

We mentioned that LSS affects about 11% of older adults, but that doesn’t mean that all of these people have symptoms. In fact most don’t.

For those who do develop symptoms from lumbar spinal stenosis, they often include:

• Lower back pain
• Pain in the buttock that can extend down into the leg
• Numbness and tingling in the back, buttocks, and leg
• Weakness in the legs and feet

The reason why people with LSS often describe the pain as shock-like is because it occurs when you get into a position that directly pinches the nerve. When this happens, the nerve responds immediately to the intrusion with sudden and shooting pain.

People with LSS often find that standing up straight is the position that most often begets the painful symptoms, which are relieved when they hunch forward. Additionally, walking can exacerbate nerve compression issues related to LSS.

Getting relief for your back pain

If you're experiencing sudden, shock-like pains in your lower back and lower extremities, we want you to come see us. An MRI or CT of the lumbar spine is our first step toward figuring out what’s behind the nerve compression issue and, from there, we can work quickly to bring you relief.

To put an end to shock-like back pain, please call our office in Chandler, Arizona, at 480-820-7246 or book an appointment online with Apex Pain Specialists today.