After you have the injections, the inflamation will decrease and relieve the pain. At this point, stretching and back excercises will prevent any reacurrance. Swimming is great and nice long walks. I suffered for 3 years and have been pain free for a month after having an injection from a great Doc. Ive had about 8 shots over the last 3 years and the Doc's just did not get it right. Strenthening your back will take the pressure off your spine. Good luck.

Hi MGF. I too have spinal stenosis, as well as OA, buldging and degenerating disks, and you name it. Mostly lumbar. I am going to start on the shots as soon as they call me to schedule them. I hear they are painful? I had trigger point shots but they didn't help. These are the ones that they put into the spinal canal and watch through xray or whatever you call it. Floroscopy is it? The Dr. told me it should give me some relief for a couple of months, so I am assuming they don't last all that long? But hey! I will try if it gets rid of the pain.

A chiropractor recently told me that alot of stenosis patients are finding Yoga helps them. So what Afox said is probably true. I know when I saw the chiro he stretched me on his table. It felt alot better. So maybe Yoga will help. I am going to try some after the injections I think.

I hope you find the answer soon. I know how bad it can get when that pain hits. Take care and best of luck to you.'

If you are trying to avoid surgery, you might try seeing an osteopathic physician. They do manual medicine similar to a chiropracter, but differ in that they try to get the patient's own body to resolve the problem using muscle energy and myofascial stretching techniques. The shots can help decrease the inflammation and pressure on the nerve roots, which will give you the opportunity to rehab the problem. Physical therapy is pretty important for this. Other things that will help this heal and prevent future problems are maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, exercising regularly, and providing adequate bone growth minerals in your diet.