Why does lumbar disc herniation cause leg pain and leg numbness? In addition to nerve compression, inflammation is inevitable

In addition to low back pain, patients with lumbar disc herniation often have leg pain and leg numbness, and even muscle atrophy. What is the reason? Most of the explanations are because the lumbar disc herniation compresses the local nerves, resulting in radiation pain and numbness in the lower limbs. This can be said to be the most mainstream explanation at present, but the low back and leg pain caused by lumbar disc herniation is not as simple as simple mechanical compression, because many operations have solved the problem of compression, but the problem of leg pain and leg numbness has not been relieved. Therefore, in addition to nerve compression, other factors may also affect the final treatment effect.

1. Nerve compression

The nerves of the human body are like cables All kinds of external information are transmitted to the human brain through this cable. After the brain processes these information, it is transmitted to specific parts in the form of signals through nerves to cause corresponding responses. In order to ensure that this information can be transmitted normally, the neural pathway It is very important to maintain unobstructed accessibility.

The herniated intervertebral disc is mainly due to the compression of the contents of the intervertebral disc against the surrounding spinal cord or nerve root, just like an artificially broken cable that was originally intact, although most of the Information can be conveyed normally, but due to local compression, there will definitely be ischemia and hypoxia in the local area, and just this part of the nerve cells is dysfunctional due to compression, which will lead to problems in the process of information transmission. Existing pain signals may appear due to local compression, and eventually the brain receives abnormal signals, resulting in pain. Therefore, the main reason for leg pain and leg numbness is compression, which is the most mainstream statement at present.

2. Chemical inflammatory factors

The problem of local compression can be treated with drugs or The method of surgery can relieve the pressure. According to this principle, all patients with lumbar disc herniation can completely solve this problem as long as they are treated by surgery, but is this the case? Some patients did not achieve the expected goals after the operation, and the situation of numbness and pain in the legs still exists after the operation, so how to explain this situation?

The role of chemical inflammatory factors should not be underestimated. In addition to compression, there is also a certain degree of inflammation in leg numbness and leg pain. The main factor of this inflammation is chemical factors. where did you come? It is produced by the surrounding tissue due to inflammation. After this inflammatory factor is produced, it is not useless. The main purpose is to repair the damaged tissue, but the regulation of the amount of this inflammatory factor is very complicated, often due to some special factors. The reason is that the regulation is out of control. At this time, the purpose of repairing the tissue is not achieved. Instead, more inflammatory cells gather, and eventually a large number of inflammatory factors are produced. These factors also cause certain damage to the local nerves, blood vessels and soft tissues. Explain why the problem of leg pain and numbness after surgery has not been solved.

3. Multi-point compression of nerves

The herniation of lumbar intervertebral disc looks like a lumbar disc The problem, but it is not so simple, theoretically speaking, the lumbar disc herniation compresses the spinal cord or nerve roots, which has a huge impact along these nerve pathways, especially the sciatic nerve. For most lumbar disc herniation, the main pain feature is sciatica, and in addition to the compression of the waist during menstruation, this nerve may also be in the pelvis, piriformis, thigh, popliteal fossa, or even small Multi-point compression on the legs and other parts, there is a certain difference between this compression and compression, and the compression point is often generated when the nerve passes through a specific point.

This jamming may be a cumulative When this threshold is reached, leg numbness and soreness will appear, which can well explain that many lumbar disc herniation treatments do not directly release the waist, but release the sciatic nerve. The entrapment of each path point of the nerve can achieve the purpose of treating low back and leg pain. This is also similar to traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture, acupuncture, massage and other treatments. The part that solves the multi-point entrapment of nerves may also be used to treat lumbar disc herniation. An important tool.

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