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Radicular pain can be described as sciatica
which is usually deep and steady and gets reproduced by various
activities and positions like walking and sitting. This type of pain is
accompanied with tingling, numbness, muscle weakness and loss of
specific reflexes.
This type of pain is found in the legs due to sciatic
nerve. Radicular pain also gets radiated in to the extreme low covering
thighs, calf and foot. Radicular pain is caused due to the compression
of certain higher lumbar nerve roots. Sciatica is one of the most common
symptom of radicular pain and is caused due to the compression of a
spinal nerve in the low back. Radicular pain is often referred as
radiculopathy.
Diagnosis of radicular pain
The main causes of radicular pain are compression, inflammation
or injury to the spinal nerve root in the low back. Some of the other
causes of this type of pain are:
Herniated disc along with nerve compression
Narrowing of the hole through which the spinal nerve exits due to
arthritis or bone spurs.
Diabetes
Injuries to nerve roots.
Affect caused by scar tissue on the nerve root from a spinal surgery
The correct diagnosis of radicular pain is found through a combination
of patient's history and a physical exam. MRI and CT myelogram are used
for diagnosing the pain.
Treatment of radicular pain
Usually
conservative treatment is applied for curing this type of pain including
physical therapy, medications, spinal injections and others. This
treatment is conducted for six to eight months. If this treatment gets
unsuccessful than decompression surgery like laminectomy and disectomy
are mainly recommended. This surgery has a successful percentage of
around 85 % to 90 %. Back surgery is also useful for getting relief from
radicular pain. However, if nerve compression is not shown in MRI or CT
scan than back surgery is not advised as it would be an unsuccessful one.
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