Could Your Slipped Disc Not Be the Source of Back Pain?
A common situation with lower back pain is that people who suffer from it can generall place a finger or point to an area the problem is felt the most intense. While this may point to where, in general, the tissues and nerves are firing more than usual, it is common that no real tissue damage is found.
So are the nerves simply too sensitized or is there something that back doctors are missing when examining problems in the spine? Discomfort from an injured back can be felt far from the apparent source of the damage, even all the way down to the legs.
Between 1 and 3 percent of people show evidence of slipped discs, but this does not automatically lead to pain. In fact, there are just as many people with a bulging disc who do not have back pain as there are people who do suffer from pain. This begs the question, is having a bulging disc in the spinal column required at all for back pain, or is something else at work?