Important information about the spinal canal stenosis program

This is an educational pain self-management program, designed and translated from scientific research and clinical experience in rehabilitation and pain medicine. It has been translated from Kneed which has been tested in a clinical trial.

The lumbar spinal canal stenosis program will help you improve your knowledge of pain to enable you to use our training programs and strategies that work to reduce pain, improve function, health and quality of life.

Who is the spinal canal stenosis program designed for?

This program is for anyone who has been diagnosed with pain associated with lumbar (low back) spinal canal stenosis. 

It is particularly designed:

• for people who want to have less pain
• for people who want to walk better
• for people who want to understand their pain
• for people who want to be able to do more
• for people who have done everything right but still haven’t recovered as they wished
• for people who want to get on with their life
• for people who want to return to their favourite recreational activities
• for people who want to return to travel, volunteering and work

This program is not able to diagnose or investigate your pain 

If you are concerned that you have a different problem, you should seek help from your doctor.  Once you are reassured that you have pain associated with spinal canal stenosis, come on back and we will help you with your pain.

If you feel depressed and/or suicidal you should seek help immediately from your medical practitioner or via an online support service Australian supports here.

How to benefit from the spinal canal stenosis program

This program is about learning. 

But, you don’t have to take in all of the knowledge presented to you in this program.

You can learn at your own pace.  But, be open to new ideas.

There are quizzes throughout each module that are important to complete to improve your pain and health knowledge.

The quizzes will help you think through your thoughts, feelings and actions about pain in a variety of life’s scenarios. They will help build your pain problem solving skills, help you develop action plans and motivate you to succeed.

How long does it take to get better?

The time to get started is NOW.

The aim of this program is to see improvements in pain, function and quality of life over 8 weeks.

This will depend on how quickly you are able to learn pain knowledge and adapt it to your situation, start regular exercise and activities, try new methods and adopt new strategies.

How do you know if the spinal canal stenosis program is working?

There are 10 ways to measure your success:

1. Reduced pain

  – Reduced intensity of pain

  – Less spread of pain (the size of the area experiencing pain reduces)

 – (More) pain-free times

2. Reduced number and intensity of pain flare-ups 

3. Improved function (you can do more)

4. Achieving your goals that you can set in the goal setting module

5. Improved participation (doing more in the community like socialising or work)

6. Reduced need for medication

7. Reduced need for healthcare (GP, specialist, physiotherapist (physical therapist), trips to hospital) to manage your pain

8. Improved mood, anxiety or stress levels

9. Improved sleep

10. Improved quality of life

Favourites and Notes

At the bottom of each page is a Favorite box – clicking on the heart will add this page to your My Favourites page (Under My Program in the menu) so you can find it easily.

Notes can be made by clicking the Notes icon that appears to the right of your page.

This will add a note to your My Notes page (also under My Program) and these can be printed out.