I’m 88-years old and lived a full life. The last two years I’ve had some back pain from spinal stenosis. Some days it’s pretty bad. My son tells me that his daughter (my granddaughter) has spinal stenosis, too. Could she have gotten it from me? I thought this was an old age thing.

Degenerative conditions of the spine affecting the discs and bones is fairly common in adults over the age of 65. Narrowing of the neural arch where the spinal cord is located or the foraminal spaces where the spinal nerves exit can cause significant back and leg pain.

Age-related disc problems are usually called degnerative disc disease. The condition that causes narrowing of the spaces is called spinal stenosis. Many adults over the age of 85 have both conditions.

Recent research has shown that young adults can have one or both of these problems, too. They get the same symptoms of back and/or leg pain. Advances in imaging with MRIs now make it possible to identify these conditions in much younger patients.

Several studies have been done now to show that young adults with chronic low back and/or leg pain can have spinal stenosis. And the pictures from the MRIs provide convincing evidence that the stenosis is congenital (present at birth).

How this develops and what hereditary patterns are present remain unknown. It could be an abnormal gene that control collagen fibers that make up the soft tissues around the spine. Or it could be a shortening of the columns of bone called pedicles that help give the vertebral bones heighth. More study is needed to find out the factors, causes, and mechanics of this condition.