What to eat for lumbar spinal stenosis, key points of care to know

Lumbar spinal stenosis is most common in middle-aged and elderly people, and most patients are male. It is largely related to the burden that high-intensity work puts on the waist. Patients will experience symptoms of low back pain. They should take good care of their diet and avoid spicy and stimulating foods.

1. Diet for lumbar spinal stenosis

1. People with blood stasis and qi stagnation should eat foods that promote qi and blood circulation, such as oranges, bergamot, sword beans, peach kernels, rapeseed, black soybeans, etc. Dietary therapy: Hawthorn porridge, red dates and longan porridge.

2. For arthralgia caused by damp-heat, it is advisable to eat foods that clear away heat and dampness, such as winter melon, coix seed, etc., and avoid eating spicy, fatty, sweet, and fishy foods. Dietary therapy: Achyranthes bidentata leaf porridge (Achyranthes bidentata leaf, rice), Saposhnikovia divaricata porridge, etc.

3. For those suffering from wind-cold and dampness, it is advisable to eat foods that can dispel cold and dampness, such as beef, mutton, ginger, fennel, coix seed, yam, etc.; avoid eating raw and cold foods; you can drink medicinal liquor appropriately, such as papaya wine, acanthopanax wine, etc. Dietary therapy recipe: Aconitum porridge (raw Aconitum, rice, ginger juice, and honey).

4. People with liver and kidney deficiency should eat foods that warm the kidney and strengthen yang, nourish the kidney and nourish yin, such as wolfberry, yam, mushroom, walnut, longan meat, sesame, black beans, etc. + avoid spicy food, and quit smoking and drinking. Dietary therapy recipe: Astragalus chicken soup (Astragalus, hen).

2. Symptoms of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

1. Back pain

More than 60% of patients suffer from low back pain, which is often milder than the pain caused by herniated disc and tends to worsen chronically. Some patients experience pain when they are inactive, which is relieved after a few hours of activity. However, if they are active for too long, the pain may become more severe.

2. Intermittent claudication

This is the most characteristic symptom. After walking tens or hundreds of meters, the lower limbs will feel sore, weak, painful, or even numb, and the gait will become unstable, making it difficult to continue walking. The symptoms may be relieved or disappear after sitting or squatting to rest, but they may repeat after continuing to walk. Many patients like to lean forward when walking. This is a postural compensation to relieve pain. By leaning forward, they can avoid factors such as folding of the yellow ligament that may aggravate lumbar spinal stenosis, increase the volume of the spinal canal, temporarily relieve the pressure on the compressed nerves, and relieve pain. Similarly, the patient's symptoms can be alleviated in a flexed posture such as walking up a mountain, riding a bicycle, and climbing stairs, but will be aggravated when walking down a mountain and extending the spine.

3. Cauda equina syndrome

When stenosis severely compresses the cauda equina, it can cause numbness and tingling in the perineum, as well as bowel and bladder and sexual dysfunction, which can seriously affect the quality of life and require early surgical treatment.