Lumbar radiculopathy is a type of disorder that brings in pain in the hip and lower back, something that radiates down the back of our thighs to our legs and is in lay terms called sciatica. The damage occurs due to compression of our nerve roots that exit through the spine, from levels L1-S4. This compression could result in shooting pain, paraesthesia, numbness, radiating pain, and tingling. Though radiculopathy can be found in any part of the spine, it is predominant in the lumbar-sacral region of the spine and in the neck. The middle part of the spine is least affected by this condition, also known as thoracic radiculopathy.
Overall, lumbar radiculopathy is quite common symptom seen in clinical conditions and is quite predominant in people. Majority of the conditions are non-cancerous and get solved spontaneously, and hence, traditional home made remedies are best first step if accurate symptoms aren’t there. In events when it is difficult to resolve the symptoms, electromyography along with nerve conduction can help in the diagnosis.
Nerve root pain or radicular pain is not the same as radiculopathy. Both radicular pain and radiculopathy appear together commonly, however, radiculopathy could surface even in the absence of your pain and similarly radicular pain could surface if radiculopathy is absent.
Herniated disc is a common cause for patients under the age of 50 years. After 50 years, this condition is often caused by spinal degenerative changes like foramen intravertebral stenosis. The risk factors for acute conditions of lumbar radiculopathy are:
Symptoms that indicate sciatica are:
Unilateral pain in the leg that is more intense than lower back pain, where this leg pain follows a dermatomal blueprint.
Excruciating pain travelling down the knee to the foot and toes
The leg pain on one side is more than the back pain
Paraenthesia and numbness in the region
At Cura we have a team of specialists who decide on your clinical sequence based on the causes of the condition also which of the roots have been affected. Also the nature of pain is significant in identifying the clinical process like – whether the pain is dull, sharp, throbbing, piercing, burning, shooting, stabbing and the pain localization. Certain patients complain along with radicular leg pain, certain neurological signs like sensory loss, losing reflexes, paresis, etc. If these conditions are absent, then it is not radiculopathy.
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