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Herniated Disc

Herniated Disc Leg Pain

Herniated disc leg pain is a possible side effect of herniations in the lumbar and sacral spinal regions. The lumbar intervertebral levels contain the nerve roots which eventually go on to form the sciatic nerve at levels L4, L5, S1, S2 and S3. Leg pain and related neurological symptoms such as tingling, weakness and numbness are commonly blamed on bulging discs, but might be enacted by a variety of other causative conditions, as well. It is crucial to understand that research shows little, if any, correlation between herniated discs and chronic back pain.

Herniated Disc Leg Pain Causes

Herniated Disc Leg Pain

The usual diagnoses used to explain leg pain are certainly degenerative disc disease and herniated discs in the lumbar region, typically at L4/L5 or L5/S1. These vertebral levels are almost always degenerated in adults by the age of 30 and sometimes far younger. It is known that degenerated discs are more prone to suffering a herniation, so it is quite typical to find both spinal abnormalities in the lower lumbar spine.

Other sources of leg pain include piriformis syndrome, sacroiliac pain and the most prevalent actual source, ischemia. Sometimes these conditions are really responsible for the pain, while the herniated or degenerated disc is simply a coincidental scapegoat.

Herniated Disc Leg Pain Scenario

In order for a herniated disc to cause leg pain, it will need to compress a spinal nerve root, which is called foraminal stenosis. If the disc bulges directly into the spinal cord or cauda equina, as a whole, this is called spinal stenosis. While both of these occurrences are possible, they are diagnosed far more often than they truly occur in symptomatic form. Many herniations theorized to enact spinal stenosis are barely touching the thecal sac which surrounds the nerve structures. This rarely causes any pain or related symptoms. Likewise, many herniations thought to create foraminal stenosis might enter the neuroforaminal space, but do not compress or pinch anything… Only a tiny percentage of diagnosed patients actually suffer symptomatic versions of these structural descriptions…

Herniated Disc Leg Pain Advice

Sure, herniations can cause leg pain and the associated disturbing neurological tortures. However, most problematic herniations will resolve by themselves, or with appropriate treatment, in a matter of 6 to 8 weeks, on average. Pain which continues for months, or even years, is unlikely to actually be sourced from any herniation, especially when the degree of neurological impingement is questionable (virtually all cases…).

If your nerve pain in the lower limbs does not get better by itself, or all the treatments you have tried have not solved your symptomatic expression, please consider the very good possibility that your pain might have nothing at all to do with your bulging disc. The symptoms might be the result of another structural source or more likely, the product of a psychosomatic disc pain syndrome.

Herniated Disc Leg Pain to Herniated Disc Home
11/24/09


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