New Member

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Hello

I am a new member and I was just diagnosed with spinal stenosis. I have been

reading the messages posted here and hope I can learn and help myself.

I am a very active person, working out 6 times a week, power walking for cardio

and generally prefer an active lifestyle. I had been having intermittent back

leg pain from my right buttock to mid-thigh for almost a year and had been

treating it as a hamstring pull since I have had many of those and that is what

it felt similar to. It was so intermittent that I never thought it was anything

else and my lower back never bothered me. This summer it became a little more

bothersome and just last week I saw my orthopedic doctor, had an MRI and was

diagnosed with spinal stenosis. He prescribed PT and a sript for Napralen which

does not do much.

This past weekend I went to the gym as usual and using the leg press, which I

had been doing for years, I felt a sensation in my LEFT buttock, like I pulled

a muscle. When I got up, I could hardly walk and the pain, very much like what i

had been feeling in the right buttock and leg, was immense. I could barely make

it back home and I treated it with ice and Aleve. This too felt like a hamstring

injury or muscle pull. This is where it gets weird: The right side, which was

the side that I was being treated for spinal stenosis pain, is completely pain

free!! Not one ounce of pain as all the pain now is on the other side, but worse

than it had been. I had PT yesterday and she said it is possible that whatever

was stuck to cause pain on the right side, moved when I was exercising and now

the pain is compeltely on the other side. Is this nuts??? I am baffled!

I see my doctro next Monday if I make it that long as this pain is dibilitating

and I am growing depressed because I can hardly even walk now and when just last

week I was my normal active self. Will this at least improve so I can resume

some of my activities? I am only in my early 50's so I cannot imagine this pain

for the rest of my life.

Has anyone had improvements with conservative approaches and is this transfer of

pain from one side to the other really the same spinal stenosis or perhaps I

really did pull a muscle this time?? I am so confused and very scared.

Thank you all for reading this long post and I hope to gleen a lot of good

infromation from this site.