You are experiencing lower back pain...is it herniated disc symptoms or another type of lower back pain? First you should try to examine how the pain is distributed throughout your body. Your back pain symptoms should be carefully examined in order to be diagnosed correctly. Back pain can sometimes be caused by a large number of injuries or conditions, making a proper diagnosis both difficult and critical.
There are basically three categories of lower back pain:
1. Axial back pain is confined to the lower back area and doesn't radiate out to other areas of the body. It has many causes like disc degeneration or back muscles damage, damaged tendons or ligaments. Treatment does include physical therapy, targeted exercise, rest, both cold and hot compresses, ointments and pain medications.
2. Referred lower pack pain often spreads to the other parts of the body and is mostly caused by back muscles damage, disc degeneration, damage done to the tendons or ligaments similar to Axial pain. Treatment would include medication and physical therapy for up to eight weeks. Resting your back and using hot and cold packs are often administered as well.
3. Radicular or commonly known as sciatica. It is caused by pressure on the lower spinal nerves. Pain often times spreads as far as legs and thighs. Because sciatic nerve spreads all the way to the calf including thighs, it is extremely affected by this pressure. It often causes stronger leg than back pain. The causes for this can be herniated disc that is pressuring the nerve, narrowing of the nerve passage, nerve injury or in some cases diabetes. Sciatica is usually treated with medication and physical therapy for up to eight weeks, similar to the referred lower back pain. In some instances if the pain does not subside by then, it can be relieved by surgical procedure.
In conclusion, although most patients have some degree of axial back pain, this may not be the chief complaint or problem. Patients with a simple muscle strain or lumbar ligament sprain will often have only isolated back pain and spasm. Herniated disc symptoms are a little more complex. Patients having a large herniated disc with spinal nerve compression, may have severe radiating leg pain with little or no back pain.
