Lumbar disc herniation
It is a lesion of the intervertebral disc with migration of the gelatinous content called nucleus pulposus that in some cases can cause an inflammatory process affecting one or more roots of the peripheral nervous plexus of reference.
In the case of involvement of the lumbar plexus we will speak of sciatica, if the manifestation is in the cervical plexus we will speak of brachial radiculitis or more generally of brachialgia.
It is important to underline that the diagnosis of a herniated disc is clinical and not by image, that is, the confirmation occurs with the initial visit where it will be possible to cross-reference the information acquired during the anamnestic phase, the clinical examination and the integration of the information of any instrumental examinations.
The presence of a hernial formation visualized in magnetic resonance imaging is therefore synonymous with discopathy, or disc disease and does not necessarily represent the cause of the pain, in fact there are different types of back pain and pain radiating to the limbs.
Differential diagnosis with radiation to the leg:
sacroiliac irritation, facet joint irritation, distortion of the yellow ligaments, stenosis of the canal and foramen of conjugation, piriformis syndrome, vasculopathies.
