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Spinal stenosis is a condition in which the spinal canal becomes narrow or some vertebrae, tumor, outgrowth, etc, protrudes in to it. As spinal chord and nerves are situated in this canal, such narrowing of space available to them, leads to their compression.

In most of the cases, this narrowing of spinal canal does not cause any symptoms. Spinal stenosis is very common and many people develop it in their life but still it is not considered a serious disease. This is because it will not have any serious affects on the person. In a very few cases the patient may experience mild symptoms as back pain but this is very rare.

There are several reasons, which have been accounted for Spinal stenosis. Some of them are given bellow.

• Age-The most common among them is age. it occurs in more or less amount in everybody. Generally, spinal column narrows down with age. However, this narrowing is much mild and does not give rise to serious consequences.
• Degenerative disc disease- Degenerative disc diseases are among the most common causes leading to Spinal stenosis. In this condition, the vertebral discs lose water, because of which they shrink. This shrinkage leads to narrowing of the spinal canal.
• Herniated discs- the bulging of herniated discs into the spinal canal also is one of the reasons, which can cause Spinal stenosis.
• Spinal arthritis- Spinal arthritis can lead to Spinal stenosis. In this the spinal bones, may develop spurs or outgrowths, which protrudes into the spinal canal. It gives rise to a complex situation in which removing it by surgery is the only method of cure.
• Spondylolistiesis- Spondylolistiesis also, may give rise to spinal stenosis. This happens if the dislocated vertebra moves too much inside the spinal canal.
• Tumors-Tumors if they occur in the vertebral column can take up compress the vertebral canal. Therefore, this too may leads to Spinal stenosis.

These are among some of the common causes of Spinal stenosis. In addition to this some other causes as osteoporosis, etc, are also accounted for Spinal stenosis.

None of these causes is controllable, and so, Spinal stenosis cannot be avoided. However, you need not much worry about it. If it has occurred in a limited region then a surgery may be done to cure to it. However, in most of the cases, Spinal stenosis is hardly troublesome and it is not considered a serious disease.