Capacious Spinal Canal

[Maria]

I never had the word capacious used in any of my reports however my lumbar spinal canal was always described as large. I had years of pretty horrific pain and small bulges. No doctor every told me my very large spinal canal meant that I would have less pain but I was told that my subjective complaints didn't match the clinical findings (on MRI re size of bulges). Still discectomies were performed due to continuing complaints and a 3 level global fusion was offered later when discectomies failed and when I didn't do the fusion then a 2 level ADR was offered and later a hybrid surgery with ADR at L4 and fusion at L5S1. I did not have any more surgeries after the failed discectomies.

I had often wondered if my large spinal canal made my bulges seem smaller than they actually were. Like you I figured it was better than having stenosis then again considering the degree of pain I had for years (30) I'm not sure it made any difference in my pain only in what surgery might be an option for relief.