LUMBAR STENOSIS

Sagittal spinal imbalance may be caused by orthopedic problems, compression of the neural structures of the spinal canal, and pain syndrome (functional imbalance). Sagittal imbalance in combination with appropriate clinical symptoms may require surgical correction of the spine with fixation. However, in some cases, patients experience spontaneous correction of sagittal balance after isolated decompression without any correction or fusion. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify whether isolated decompression may cause spontaneous correction of sagittal imbalance in patients with degenerative lumbar stenosis.

This will be a prospective cohort observational study observing patients with low back pain with leg pain who present for outpatient physical therapy care at Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Lake Success. Patients are eligible if they present with imaging of stenosis in their lumbar spine on MRI or CT Scan and note radicular leg symptoms with associated neurological deficits on the physical examination for at least 12 weeks.