Low Back, Lumbar or Sciatic Pain

Low Back or Lumbar Pain refers to pain in the region of five spinal bones (lumbar vertebrae) in the lower back. Sciatic pain is felt along the course of the sciatic nerve that begins with nerves emerging from five adjacent levels of the lower spine. Once these nerve roots join, they form the large sciatic nerve that enters the leg and sends off smaller nerves to all regions of the legs and feet. Bulging of one or more of the rubbery, shock-absorbing discs that are located between the vertebrae or by swelling of the joint between vertebrae can put pressure on the sciatic nerve roots.

However, bulging discs and other spine abnormalities are found in more than half of people over the age of 40 who have no pain.  They are also common even in younger people. Therefore, the presence of these abnormalities does not mean the pain is generated by them. If a doctor’s neurologic examination shows no muscle weakness, no loss of reflexes, no bowel or bladder problems and no loss of sensation in the skin then serious nerve root compression is unlikely.

It is also helpful to know that most pain from a bulging (herniated) disc will resolve on its own within a couple of weeks or months. If the pain persists for longer than this with no evidence of nerve root compression, then it is likely the brain is involved in generating or contributing to the symptoms.

Why would the brain do this? Nearly always, one or more types of stress is involved even if this is not fully recognized at first.  These include:

  1. Adverse Childhood Experiences and their long-term impact including:

    a. Stressful personality traits such as focusing too much on the needs of others, excessive self-criticism, perfectionism, lack of assertiveness and many others.

    b. Unrecognized negative emotions such as anger, fear, shame, grief, or guilt.

    c. Triggers including people, situations or events that remind you of stressful situations.

  2. Current life stresses

  3. Depression, Anxiety or Post-Traumatic Stress

The good news is that all these sources of stress can be successfully diagnosed and treated.

To learn more about whether you might have these issues, try taking the self-diagnostic quiz below. It has 12 ‘Yes or No’ questions. The more questions to which you answer ‘Yes’, the more likely it is that the resources on this website will help you.