Common Health Concerns

Sciatica

Sciatica pain can vary widely. It may feel like a mild tingling, dull ache, or a burning sensation. In some cases, the pain is severe enough to make a person unable to move.

The pain most often occurs on one side. Some people have sharp pain in one part of the leg or hip and numbness in other parts. The sensations may also be felt on the back of the calf or on the sole of the foot. The affected leg may feel weak.

The pain often starts slowly. Sciatica pain may get worse:

- After standing or sitting

- At night

- When sneezing, coughing, or laughing

- When bending backwards or walking more than a few yards, especially if caused by spinal stenosis

Herniated Disc

Many people who have a herniated disc are not aware of it because they have no symptoms of leg or back pain. Symptoms that do appear vary greatly, depending on the position of the herniated disc. If the herniated disc is:

- Not pressing on a nerve, there may be a low backache or no symptoms at all

- Pressing on a nerve, pain or numbness can occur in the area of the body leading from the nerve

- Located in the neck, pain or numbness may be felt in the shoulders, arms or chest

- Located in the lower back, sciatica may occur and cause leg pain and other nerve-related symptoms, such as weakness, numbness or tingling in one leg. Pain from a herniated disc in the lower back (sciatica) may be felt in the buttock and down the back of the leg to the ankle or foot. There may be low back pain, but it is usually not as severe as leg pain

Degenerative Disc

Degenerative disc disease may result in back or neck pain, but this varies from person to person. Many people have no pain, while others with the same amount of disc damage have severe pain that limits their activities. Where the pain occurs depends on the location of the affected disc. An affected disc in the neck area may result in neck or arm pain, while an affected disc in the lower back may result in pain in the back, buttocks, or leg. The pain often gets worse with movements such as bending over, reaching up, or twisting.

Carpal Tunnel

Symptoms usually start gradually, with frequent burning, tingling, or itching numbness in the palm of the hand and the fingers, especially the thumb and the index and middle fingers. Some carpal tunnel sufferers say their fingers feel useless and swollen, even though little or no swelling is apparent. The symptoms often first appear in one or both hands during the night, since many people sleep with flexed wrists. A person with carpal tunnel syndrome may wake up feeling the need to "shake out" the hand or wrist. As symptoms worsen, people might feel tingling during the day. Decreased grip strength may make it difficult to form a fist, grasp small objects, or perform other manual tasks. In chronic and/or untreated cases, the muscles at the base of the thumb may waste away. Some people are unable to tell between hot and cold by touch.