Indirect spinal decompression for lumbar stenosis

Lumbar spinal stenosis continues to be an important cause of low back pain and neurogenic claudication. As the population ages and life expectancy increases, both the incidence and prevalence of spinal stenosis will present a significant challenge to spine surgeons. Both interspinous and interbody fusion techniques have demonstrated the ability to decrease low back pain and provide clinically significant pain relief from neurogenic claudication through indirect means. While direct decompression of the spine has been well documented in the literature and the gold standard, new interest in minimally invasive techniques and indirect decompression has led to new devices and clinical studies with promising results.