By: nikky Howard
Submitted: 2010-06-09 01:07:49 | Word Count: 567
One common cause for lower back pain will be a herniated lumbar disc or lumbar degenerative disc disease. Many times this pain would be a result of the disc material compressing the spinal nerves or spinal cord. Each of these conditions will cause sciatic like symptoms since your sciatic nerve is found in the lower back and sciatica symptoms would cause pain, numbness and tingling in the lower extremities.
While it is potential to avoid doing activities which will lead to a herniated lumbar disc, with one thing like lumbar degenerative disc disease it's unavoidable as it's caused by the conventional degeneration of the structures in your spine that occur as we have a tendency to all age. As we have a tendency to get older these components begin to interrupt down from the conventional wear that the spine goes through daily. Bear in mind though that exercise and healthy living can decrease the speed of this degeneration therefore it is best to stay active and fit.
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That does not mean that everyone can at some purpose have back pain because of a degenerative lumbar disc or even a herniated disc, as several folks have these two back conditions and haven't any symptoms at all.
The lumbar area of your spine is called the lower back, this region of the spine is responsible for bearing the weight of the body so these vertebrae are a lot of larger in size then the ones above it. This larger size permits the vertebrae to support additional weight than the vertebrae higher than it. Your lumbar area has 5 vertebrae numbered L1 thought L5.
A herniated disc happens when the powerful outer shell of the disc referred to as the annulus fibrous breaks or cracks open and permits the soft gel like center, the nucleus pulposus, to push out and into the spinal canal.
With lumbar degenerative disc disease these discs start to lose their flexibility, elasticity and shock absorbing properties due to the decrease in the number of fluid that's within the discs. This degeneration of the discs will cause spinal instability as other areas of the spine get damaged either thanks to bone spurs or a thickening of the ligaments that help to support the spine.
Symptoms of a herniated lumbar disc or lumbar degenerative disc disease could be any of the subsequent:
• Back pain
• Leg pain
• Muscle weakness
• Muscle spasms
• Back stiffness
• Pain that radiates down the legs and into your feet
• Decrease in the vary of motion your back has
• Numbness or tingling
• Sciatica - pain that starts near the rear or buttock and travels down the leg to the calf or into the foot
To diagnosis either condition your doctor can want to perform a physical examination and an entire medical history. They will would like to use diagnostic tests like an X-ray, CT scan or a MRI to rule out other back conditions which will be gift with the identical symptoms, along with ensure the explanation for your back pain.
Author Resource:-
Nikky has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Back Pain, you can also check out his latest website about:
