Author Description

Patients often present to health care clinics with complaints of sciatica or pain radiating from the back or buttock into the thigh or leg. Frequently, the patient has a lumbar or sacral radiculopathy caused by a degenerative etiology, however, there are many possible causes for these symptoms. This text utilizes almost 600 references to fully explore the many causes of and mimics of radiculopathy of the lumbar and sacral spine. This book details the clinical features that help distinguish a degenerative etiology of lumbosacral radiculopathy from other categories, such as vascular (e.g. aortic aneurysm, epidural hematoma), infection (e.g. spondylodiscitis, shingles), and tumor (e.g. spinal metastasis, schwannoma). Each section includes: An estimation of the frequency of the condition as a cause or mimic of LSR (when possible), pathophysiological mechanisms that cause neurological deficit or pain, possible distinguishing clinical features, distinguishing imaging and/or laboratory tests, and examples of misdiagnoses or challenging cases. Summary lists are generated that include various historical and physical findings with a differential diagnosis of conditions to consider.