Symptoms worth checking — numbness, night pain, foot drop — and how MRI, X-ray, CT and EMG are actually used to find the cause. It explains red-flag symptoms that need same-day attention, how to read your own lumbar MRI report, and what tests like EMG and nerve conduction studies actually check. 13 articles in this section, written for the practice of Dr. M. Abdur Rehman, consultant neurosurgeon, Faisalabad.
The right MRI for back pain is a recent, dedicated lumbar spine MRI that shows a disc or bone problem matching your leg or hip symptoms, not just pain. An old film, a whole-spine s…
Most back pain settles with rest, physiotherapy, and time, usually within six to eight weeks. See a spine surgeon if you have leg pain worse than back pain, numbness, weakness in t…
For most back pain, no scan is needed in the first six weeks. An X-ray shows bone: fractures, alignment, wear. An MRI shows discs, nerves and the spinal cord, so it is the scan tha…
Not all back pain starts in the spine. Kidney stones, urine infection, gallbladder, a swollen aorta and gynaecological problems can all cause kamar dard. The clue is usually the pa…
Leg pain that runs from your lower back into the buttock, thigh or calf is usually a nerve being pressed in the spine, not a problem in the leg itself. Most cases settle within six…
Numbness or tingling down the leg usually means a nerve in your lower back is being pressed, most often by a slipped disc or spinal stenosis. The pattern of numbness tells us which…
EMG and NCS measure how well your nerves and muscles are working. For most sciatica they are not needed, because MRI plus a proper examination usually decides treatment. Nerve test…
Most kamar dard is muscle or ligament strain and settles within a few weeks with movement, heat and simple painkillers. It becomes more than muscle pain when it travels down the le…
Photograph each MRI film against a bright white screen or lightbox, flash off, one film per picture, straight on and in focus. Send them on WhatsApp as a document, not a photo, so …
Your MRI report describes the shape of a disc, not the size of your pain. A bulge means the disc has spread out evenly. A protrusion is a small focal push. An extrusion is disc mat…
Foot drop means you cannot lift the front of your foot, so the toes catch or slap when you walk. In back patients it usually comes from a compressed L5 nerve root. It needs urgent …
Most back pain that is worse at night is mechanical, from a tired spine, a sagging mattress or a disc that hurts when you lie still. But pain that wakes you every night, comes with…
Most back pain is not dangerous. But go to a hospital today if you have loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness around the groin or inner thighs, weakness in a leg or foot that …
Spine and brain conditions explained without jargon — slip disc, sciatica, stenosis, scoliosis, myelopathy and more — so you know what you are dealing with before your appointment.
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