Mr X is a 36 year old accountant who first presented in June 2016 after experiencing significant low back pain, especially when sitting at work. He also experienced pins and needles, numbness and weakness down the left leg. He has had symptoms over four years with an episode every six months. He attends the chiropractor and…
This is a patient I reviewed yesterday. The first scan shows a disc prolapse sustained in 2006 when the patient was 27 years old. It is a little difficult to see as this is an old scan however the disc height at L5/S1 is preserved but there is a disc prolapse. Have a look at…
In the lower back discs undergo changes once they sustain damage. Following early injuries to the disc such as annular tears, people can develop disc prolapse, disc dehydration and subsequent narrowing over years and decades. When seeing patients and viewing thousands of MRI scans and x rays over three decades the pattern emerges quite clearly. Fully…
Is disc narrowing a source of low back pain? There is a misconception that disc narrowing is not a potential source of low back or neck pain. This may be partly due to studies that show some people with disc narrowing have no low back pain. Any structure with a nerve supply is a potential…