Radiculitis (from lat. radicula – root) – is a disease of the peripheral nervous system that arises as a result of damage, inflammation or pinched spinal nerves. Radiculitis is a widespread disease, this disease affects about 10% of the population over the forty years.
The most common cause of radiculitis is the intervertebral disc herniation. Because of this disc material may come into contact with the rootlets located near the spinal cord, which leads to compression and irritation of the rootlet. In other cases, the rootlet can be influenced by osteophytes, spinal stenosis, foramialnym channel.
RADICULITIS. ISCHIAS. LUMBAGO
SYMPTOMS OF RADICULITIS
Symptoms radiculitis are very diverse, but they can be categorized as follows groups:
- Pain or discomfort – in variants of dull pain that arises periodically up to a constant debilitating pain with the presence of irradiation. As a protection factor of organism, pain indicates the presence of damaging effect on the nerve roots.
- Violation of sensitivity – it should be noted that the spine is а rather complicated structure. Unconsciously and automatically a person makes a huge amount of movement. But for maintaining harmony of movement, there must be a feedback between the brain and muscles and sensitive receptors. The conduction of impulses is violated if you have compression of rootlets in both directions. It is disturbed, respectively, the sensitivity and conduction of impulses to the muscles.
- Weakness in the muscles – sometimes muscle weakness in isolated compression of motor neurons arises in isolation. The normal functioning of muscles is possible with two-way communication, as with the brain and the spinal cord. Compression of rootlet caused by disc herniation, osteophytes, determines the interruption of incoming pulses and the cessation of normal muscle function. Prolonged disruption of the normal conduction of impulses causes muscle atrophy or paresis sluggish.
TYPES OF RADICULITIS
Depending on the location of the lesion of the nerve roots are distinguished:
Cervical radiculopathy
Thoracic radiculopathy
Lumbar radiculopathy
The most common are the following types of lumbar radiculopathy:
Ischias (ischialgia). With this type of radiculitis pain is localized in the buttocks and the back surface of the thigh and shin and can reach up to the foot. Sometimes, besides the pain, muscle weakness is marked. It is related to lesion or irritation of the sciatic nerve.
Ischial pain – shooting, such as electric shock, it’s also possible burning, tingling, “creep” and numbness at the same time. Painful sensations are possible of varying degrees of intensity, from mild to very intensive so that the patient can not sleep, sit, stand, walk, bend down or turn.
Lumbago (lumbodynia, “shooting”) – is a sharp pain in the lower back (lumbus) which arises usually at a sharp physical exertion or after it, provoked by overheating and subsequent cooling of the body.
In general, the causes of this type of radiculopathy are lumbar strain muscles, lumbar hernia or displacement of vertebras.
