What is Radiculitis?
Radiculitis refers to pain that radiates along the nerve caused by inflammation at the root of its connection to the spinal column. This is known as radicular pain and is caused by a nerve problem that starts in the spine and causes symptoms that can be felt in either of your arms or legs depending on if it is in your neck or back. Radiculitis is not technically a condition in itself, but is a term used to describe the symptoms felt when a nerve or nerve root is pinched, irritated, inflamed, or simply put, just not working properly.
Radiculitis can affect any part of the spine, but it most commonly occurs in the lower back or in the neck. Pain caused by radiculitis is often referred to as radicular pain.
Note From Dr. Liu:
Radiculitis can be characterized by several different patterns of pain. Many sufferers of radiculitis report feeling chronic, intermittent, or acute pain.
What is Radicular Pain?
Radicular pain is pain that radiates along a nerves path; it starts at the injury site and radiates outwards through the extremities. Radicular pain is usually caused when the chemical in our disc comes through a crack and touches a nerve. It also happens when pressure is placed on a nerve from other conditions such as a herniated disc or foraminal stenosis. Certain activities or positions usually make radiculitis symptoms worse.
Radiculitis is best treated in its early stages. As the condition gets worse, it is possible for certain muscles to get weaker, causing more treatment to be needed to fix this new problem.
The other common problem that can happen when treatment is delayed is over developed muscles. This happens when someone suffering from radicular pain uses the muscles that cause less pain more to avoid the symptoms.