Husband has spinal stenosis---advice needed please

A couple of years ago, my husband was shoveling snow. When he was done, his back really hurt. So off to the doctor. Eventually, he got an MRI and a diagnosis of spinal stenosis. We belong to an HMO that does everything in its power to avoid doing any treatment (surgery, acupuncture, chiropracty) unless they deem your problem life-threatening. Instead, they are gung-ho on writing prescriptions. With all that mentioned, he was told by the doctor that there is really nothing that can be done for him!

I had him google the topic and he said that acupuncture and chiropracty are used to manage the symptoms. Our HMO claims that they will pay for these things if your primary care doctor authorizes it.

Since then, I came across new surgeries that are minimally invasive. However, my husband is convinced (from what he's read and what the HMO specialist told him) that surgery won't help. My aunt has a friend who has had spinal stenosis for years and kept thinking he just had to put up with it. Well...one day he was in a lot of pain and his doctor mentioned the new surgeries. My aunt's friend had surgery and said it's made a big difference in his life.

I've been after my husband to make an appointment with his doctor and insist that something be done to help him. He is dithering.

Normally, I would just let it lie but I have been noticing that it has started to affect his quality of life. For example, we took a vacation a few months back and visited a favorite city of ours. When in this city, we like to do a lot of walking and exploring. This past trip, we had to sharply curtail our walking because my husband was complaining about sciatica. We would start out walking and he would say he just couldn't do a long walk.

At home, we've both been getting on the treadmill 30 minutes at a time, 2-3 times a week. He told me he can't go on the treadmill 2 days in a row because his back acts up.

I've tried talking to him about this and told him that he shouldn't think he has to live with a reduced quality of life. I've also pointed out to him that if he continues to be less active, he will put on more weight. He works at home and tends to snack throughout the day. I make an effort to stock low-fat vegan snacks to try to prevent further weight gain.

This is long, I know. What advice do you have? Should he push for surgery? Or should he push for acupuncture or chiropracty? Are there any exercises that can help? Any advice on how to talk to him about this without seeming like I'm nagging?

We hope to downsize and move to the city. I would hate to move only to have him not want to walk much. Sure, I can take walks on my own but I also enjoy the time we spend together doing that. Tweet