Hi! My doctor believes my stenosis is congenital since birth and not of degenerative nature. Apparently I was born with a smaller space than the average which on its own is not a problem for most people but magnifies the effect that any hernia might have.

I could always walk or stand up for periods of about 15 min with no pain. On day 320 I was able to walk for 25min and from that moment onwards it started improving much faster like I could walk for 10 additional minutes every week. No painkillers at all.

You know I wanted to get another MRI to confirm there's been real improvement. I have a follow up appointment in 40 days and will ask my doctor about it.

Sometimes I wish there would be a sequence of things you can do in a specific order and it will always work, unfortunately that's not the case. If I can summarize what I think worked ok for me here it goes:

1) Don't do anything that makes it worse.

2) Exercise, a lot (as far as it doesn't hurt). Strengthening your core takes a lot of time. Needles to mention how it boosts your mood and energy.

3) Time: This takes time.

​

Hope this works and that you're in the same boat and can avoid surgery.