ABSTRACT
Patients with back pain can be one of the most challenging groups of patients to deal with. Lower back pain is most often mechanical, i.e. exacerbated by activity or loading of the spine relieved by rest. Physical mechanical back pain usually settles in 90" of people within 6–8 weeks. However, if influenced by psychological and social factors it can become chronic. Sciatica is a symptom. It is the radiation of pain from the back down the leg which characteristically descends below the knee. Cauda equina syndrome is a condition in which the lumbar and sacral nerve roots are compressed in the lumbar canal, i.e. below the level of the spinal cord. Neurogenic claudication is a symptom. The patients describe pain in their legs when they walk. Brachialgia is pain which radiates down the arm characteristically below the elbow, which is caused by compression of the cervical nerve roots C5–T1.
