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Clinical features

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The clinical features of prolapsed intervertebral disc are:

  • back pain with very limited movement
  • usually in a fit young adult
  • sudden onset while lifting or stooping
  • inability to straighten up: lumbar lordosis may be lost and there may be a protective sciatic scoliosis
  • pain felt in leg and buttock - sciatica - may be a day or two later
  • worsened by coughing and straining
  • may be paraesthesia or numbness in the leg or foot
  • urinary retention may result if cauda equina compression - this is a surgical emergency
  • tenderness in the midline of the lower back
  • pain may be worsened by foot dorsiflexion and bowstringing of the popliteal nerve
  • sometime "crossed sciatic tension" - sciatic pain in the affected leg on raising the unaffected leg

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