Do I Have Spinal Stenosis?
Answer 11 quick questions about what happens when you walk, stand and sit. You’ll see whether your symptoms follow the spinal stenosis pattern or look more like a disc, and what to do about it this week.
Created by Dr. Michael Derry, DPT, a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist who has treated stenosis for over a decade.
When you walk or stand for a while, do pain, numbness, tingling or heaviness build up in your back or legs?
What this quiz checks
The stenosis pattern
Stenosis has a clear signature: symptoms build when you walk or stand and ease when you sit or bend forward. The quiz asks about each part of it.
Stenosis or a disc
A disc often behaves the opposite way, worse with sitting and easier with walking. The quiz scores both, so you can see which one your answers lean toward.
Your next step
Every result comes with something to try this week, Dr. Derry’s videos for your pattern, and where to go from there.
The questions come from the signs Dr. Derry teaches in his stenosis videos and from a published questionnaire for lumbar spinal stenosis (Konno and colleagues, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 2007). The quiz shows how closely your answers match a pattern. Only an exam can confirm stenosis.