How common is spinal stenosis?

Spinal stenosis is often the result of the aging process, which over time causes the soft tissues and bones in the spine to harden or grow excessively. These changes may narrow the spinal canal and put pressure on the spinal cord and/or spinal nerve roots. Spinal stenosis is seen most often in adults over 60 years of age. Some age-related degeneration of the spine occurs in up to 95% of people by the age of 50. While pressure on the spinal cord may be equally common in men and women, symptoms that require treatment occur more frequently in women.¹

Some people develop spinal stenosis because of back problems they are born with. This is known as congenital spinal stenosis, and it occurs most often in men. Symptoms of congenital spinal stenosis are usually first noticed between age 30 and 50.²

Citations

1. Garfin SR, Rauschning W (2001). Spinal stenosis. AAOS Instructional Course Lectures, 50: 145–152.

2. Isaac Z, et al. (2005). Lumbar spinal stenosis. In WJ Koopman, ed., Arthritis and Allied Conditions: A Textbook of Rheumatology, 15th ed., vol. 2, pp. 2087–2092. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.