Back and Foot PainBack and foot pain is generally believed to be caused by compression of the nerve roots located between the lumbar vertebrae L4, L5 and S1. These spinal nerves control the muscles and sensory perceptions of the feet and are often implicated in foot pain and related neurological syndromes, especially in the presence of lower back pain.
Most often, there is some spinal abnormality blamed for causing manual compression of one of these nerve roots as it leaves the spinal column.
Herniated discs
are the most common causative condition, but many patients might also be diagnosed with
foraminal stenosis
due to
degenerative disc disease
and/or spinal
osteoarthritis.
Sometimes, these conditions can affect the cauda equina directly, causing
spinal stenosis.
While all these scenarios are possible and do occur in some patients, they are often misdiagnosed as the actual cause of pain in many individuals. Simple ischemia of the sciatic nerve is the usual culprit for back and leg pain or foot pain and offers a far more plausible source of symptoms for most patients with the wide ranging and diverse symptomology associated with sciatica.
Regardless of the actual causation of the problem, most patients suffer a host of uncomfortable symptoms in the back, legs and feet.
Sciatica pain
is very common, especially in the back and upper legs.
Tingling,
weakness
and
numbness
are especially common in the thighs, lower legs and feet. Generally, for foot complaints, the L4, L5 and S1 nerve roots are implicated, depending on the exact area affected. The more diverse the symptomology of a sciatica pain syndrome is, the less the chance of it coming from a single spinal source. Additionally, the more a pain syndrome changes in its symptomatic expression, location or intensity, the less the chance of it originating from a spinal causation at all.
Unilateral sciatica
is more likely to be correctly identified as coming from a spinal nerve compression syndrome than
bilateral sciatica.
Back and Foot Pain AdviceI have experienced virtually no foot pain in relation to my long standing battle with back pain, but have endured a tremendous amount of tingling and numbness in my feet. I used to get shooting pins and needles sensations across the bottom of my feet often and would also sometimes experience cramping and spasms in my toes and arches. This was all blamed on my lumbar degenerative disc disease and 2 herniated discs at L4/L5 and L5/S1. I tried everything to relieve my back and leg pain, as well as my neurological foot symptoms, to no avail…Finally, I realized that my pain and related symptoms were the result of an oxygen deprivation syndrome affecting the entire sciatic nerve. Once I was clear on this causation, curing the pain with knowledge therapy only took a couple of weeks time. I just wish I could have discovered the source of my suffering far earlier in life, before my chronic back pain cost me 18 good years… Oh well… better later than never! Back and Foot Pain to Sciatica 10/23/08 Revised 7/25/11 |
Sensei Adam Rostocki
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