Jon Rogers and his wife moved to Phoenix to start a new life. Trained as an aerospace engineer, Jon worked on some of the largest military projects in America. For example, Jon was on the team that developed the Top Gun missile for the US Air Force.

When it came time to retire, he moved to Tucson with his wife to start his second act as a cowboy. He absolutely loved the Marlboro man. Jon rode his horse and put up a Marlboro poster in the recreation of Tombstone he had built in his backyard. However, over time, the couple started having problems.



They decided to leave the horses behind and move to Phoenix. Unfortunately, Jon’s health issues followed them.

If Jon didn’t have all this trouble with his back and brain, his wife was ready to enjoy retirement and go on a longawaited cruise. The couple is still in hopes of fixing Jon’s medical problems so they can finally be on the big boat this coming Spring.

What does spinal stenosis feel like?
The hallmark of spinal stenosis is pain or heaviness in the legs with walking; there may be associated electrical pain as well as back ache. The pain with walking, electrical sensation, and backache are all relieved particularly by bending over, as well as resting in general.

Jon’s description of his symptoms is the classic picture of spinal stenosis. “It starts in my back and then goes all the way down my legs.” Everyone is different; however, anyone with spinal stenosis will have some combination of:

1.) Pain down the legs while walking
Spinal stenosis constricts the space around the nerve roots in the spinal canal which causes pain down the legs while walking. The electrical pain, or fullness you feel in the legs while walking, is relieved by bending forward. That is because by bending forward, the spinal canal opens up and makes more room. People with spinal stenosis can often become aware of it first in the grocery store; if they lean on a cart, they can walk further.

2.) Nerve root problems with weakness, numbness, and loss of reflexes
In addition to pain with walking, spinal stenosis causes pain to shoot down the leg. Narrowing of the side of the spinal canal, or of the passages through which the nerve roots pass, causes nerve root compression. You feel a shooting pain in the area controlled by the compressed nerve root. Your doctor may find numbness and weakness on examination as well.

3.) Low back pain
Spinal stenosis also causes back pain that feels just like an arthritic joint, complete with the muscle spasm and ache.

Is spinal stenosis a serious condition?
Spinal stenosis is extremely serious. Lumbar spinal stenosis, such as Jon presented with, will persistently worsen. If left untreated, spinal stenosis will cause paralysis of the legs, uncontrollable pain while standing/walking, numbness in the legs, inability to control ones bladder, and sexual dysfunction.

Before the modern laminectomy surgery came around, the result of spinal stenosis was paralysis , incontinence, and sexual dysfunction that oftentimes led to lethal urinary tract infections. Today, we do not let that happen.

The truth is, you cannot know if you have spinal stenosis based solely on how it feels. Clogged arteries can be another reason for pain shooting down your leg while walking. Bad veins can make your legs feel heavy. Herniated discs or bone spurs can also cause pain down your leg. You may suspect you have spinal stenosis due to numbness, heaviness, or tingling in your feet when you walk that is relieved by bending over; however, you cannot simply feel spinal stenosis. Spinal stenosis is confirmed by getting an MRI.


This is a sagittal cut through Jon’s low back taken with magnetic resonance imaging. In this cut, the square blocks are the vertebral bones. The spinal fluid in the spinal canal is white. In the upper third of the picture, look in the white spinal canal as you can appreciate “strings” running from top to bottom of the image. Those strings are the spinal nerve roots inside the spinal canal. About midway in the image, you see the white area narrows. This is spinal stenosis.



Spinal stenosis is caused by several factors. Discs form the floor of the spinal canal (left arrow), so a bulging disc means your floor is rising. The right arrow shows a ligament under the lamia bone. With age and wear ligament thickens. This means the roof is coming down. The spinal bones are also shifted slightly, trapping the spinal canal in between.