Acute Lumbar Radiculopathy

Chapter 19 presents a case of acute lumbar radiculopathy, and discusses that acute lumbosacral radicular pain is usually due to disc rupture and herniation or exacerbation of spinal stenosis, but neoplasm, fracture, infection, and compressive cauda equine syndrome must be excluded, that the most common lumbosacral roots to be symptomatic are S1 and L5, although L4 can also be involved, how pain can usually be controlled medically, and that manual and surgical approaches to acute radicular pain seem to be equivalent in terms of long-term outcome, although surgical intervention can provide some additional benefit in the short term.