Understand your spine, in plain language.
Start with what you are experiencing, or browse an existing diagnosis. Symptoms can have several causes; these articles support a conversation with your clinician and do not diagnose your condition.
Walking or balance difficulties
Explore leg symptoms when walking, balance and hand coordination changes, and circulation problems that can resemble spine symptoms. An examination helps distinguish these possibilities.
Disc problems and pinched nerves
10 articlesA disc bulges or the canal narrows, and a nerve root loses the room it needs. The pain usually travels: down an arm, down a leg, further than the spine itself.
Lumbar Disc Herniation
When part of a disc in the lower back displaces and presses on a nerve root, causing sciatica: pain, numbness, or weakness down the leg.
ReadLumbar · ConditionLumbar Radiculopathy
A pinched or inflamed nerve root in the lower back that sends sharp, burning, or electric pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness down the leg.
ReadLumbar · ConditionLumbar Spinal Stenosis
Narrowing of the spinal canal in the lower back that crowds the nerves, causing leg pain and heaviness with standing and walking that eases when you sit or lean forward.
ReadLumbar · ConditionLumbar Spinal Stenosis with Neurogenic Claudication
A degenerative narrowing of the lower spine's spinal canal that causes leg pain, heaviness, and cramping when standing or walking: symptoms that ease when you sit or lean forward.
ReadLumbar · ConditionLumbar Foraminal Stenosis
A narrowing of the bony exit channel through which a lumbar nerve root leaves the spine, causing sharp, radiating leg pain, numbness, and sometimes weakness.
ReadLumbar · ConditionLumbar Lateral Recess Stenosis
A focal narrowing of the subarticular zone of the lumbar spine that compresses a traversing nerve root, producing leg pain, numbness, and sometimes weakness along a specific dermatomal pattern.
ReadCervical · ConditionCervical Radiculopathy
A pinched or irritated nerve root in the neck that sends pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness down into the shoulder, arm, or hand.
ReadCervical · ConditionCervical Stenosis
Narrowing of the cervical spinal canal or nerve-root openings that can compress the spinal cord or nerve roots, causing arm pain, hand clumsiness, or balance problems.
ReadThoracic · ConditionThoracic Disc Herniation
A herniated disc in the mid-back (thoracic spine) that can press against the spinal cord, causing pain, leg weakness, or (in severe cases) bowel and bladder changes.
ReadThoracic · ConditionThoracic Stenosis
Narrowing of the spinal canal in the mid-back that compresses the spinal cord, causing progressive leg weakness, balance problems, and sometimes bowel or bladder dysfunction.
ReadSpinal cord compression
6 articlesPressure on the cord itself rather than on a single nerve root. Symptoms are often subtle at first: clumsy hands, a change in balance, a gait that has quietly altered. These changes deserve clinical assessment.
Cervical Myelopathy
Compression of the spinal cord in the neck that gradually causes hand clumsiness, balance problems, and weakness, often requiring surgical decompression to prevent further decline.
ReadCervical · ConditionCervical Myeloradiculopathy
A neck condition in which age-related degeneration simultaneously compresses the spinal cord and nearby nerve roots, producing a combination of arm pain, hand clumsiness, and balance or walking problems.
ReadThoracic · ConditionThoracic Myelopathy
Compression of the spinal cord in the mid-back (T1–T12) that causes progressive leg weakness, balance problems, and in advanced cases bowel or bladder dysfunction.
ReadCervical · ConditionCervical Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament (OPLL)
A condition in which the posterior longitudinal ligament of the neck progressively ossifies, narrowing the spinal canal and placing the spinal cord at risk of injury.
ReadCervical · ConditionCentral Cord Syndrome
The most common form of incomplete spinal cord injury, causing arm and hand weakness more severe than leg weakness, most often after a hyperextension injury in a neck already narrowed by age-related changes.
ReadLumbar · ConditionCauda Equina Syndrome
A spinal emergency caused by compression of the lumbar and sacral nerve roots, producing leg weakness, saddle numbness, and loss of bladder or bowel control that can become permanent without immediate treatment.
ReadInstability and alignment
6 articlesThe problem is structural. One vertebra has shifted on another, or the spine's overall balance has changed, and the symptoms track with position and load rather than with a single compressed nerve.
Degenerative Spondylolisthesis
A condition in which one lumbar vertebra slips forward on the one below due to age-related wear, narrowing the spinal canal and causing back pain and leg symptoms.
ReadLumbar · ConditionIsthmic Spondylolisthesis
A forward slip of one lumbar vertebra onto the one below, caused by a stress fracture in the small bony bridge at the back of the spine.
ReadSpine · ConditionAdult Spinal Deformity
A group of structural spine malalignments in adults that cause back pain, a progressive forward or sideways lean, and often leg pain or neurogenic claudication.
ReadLumbar · ConditionAdult Degenerative Scoliosis
A spinal curve that develops in a previously straight spine from asymmetric disc and joint degeneration, producing low back pain, leg pain, and neurogenic claudication.
ReadSpine · ConditionSagittal Imbalance
A spinal alignment condition in which the trunk drifts forward of the pelvis, making upright standing and walking increasingly painful and exhausting.
ReadLumbar · ConditionFlatback Syndrome
A loss of the lower back's normal inward curve that causes a stooped posture, a sensation of falling forward, and persistent low-back and leg pain.
ReadTumor, infection and fracture
8 articlesConditions where something other than degeneration is affecting the spine. Some of these are urgent. The urgency of evaluation depends on the diagnosis and symptoms.
Spinal Metastasis
Cancer that has spread to the vertebral column, causing progressive back pain, risk of vertebral fracture, and, in serious cases, compression of the spinal cord or nerve roots.
ReadSpine · ConditionMetastatic Epidural Spinal Cord Compression
A spinal emergency in which cancer spreading to the vertebrae compresses the spinal cord or cauda equina, causing escalating back pain, weakness, and potentially irreversible paralysis if not treated without delay.
ReadSpine · ConditionIntradural Extramedullary Tumor
A tumor that grows within the spinal canal outside the spinal cord itself, compressing the cord or nerve roots and causing progressive pain, sensory changes, or weakness.
ReadSpine · ConditionIntramedullary Spinal Cord Tumor
A tumor arising within the spinal cord's own tissue that expands the cord from inside, progressively disrupting movement, sensation, and bladder and bowel control.
ReadSpine · ConditionSpinal Epidural Abscess
A collection of infected material in the space around the spinal cord that can rapidly compress nerves and cause potentially irreversible paralysis.
ReadSpine · ConditionVertebral Osteomyelitis and Discitis
A serious infection of the vertebral body and intervertebral disc that requires prompt diagnosis and prolonged antibiotic therapy, with surgery reserved for neurologic emergencies or spinal instability.
ReadSpine · ConditionVertebral Compression Fracture
A structural collapse of the vertebral body, most commonly caused by osteoporosis, that produces sudden back pain and, with multiple fractures over time, progressive height loss and spinal deformity.
ReadSpine · ConditionBurst Fracture
A burst fracture occurs when a vertebra is shattered by extreme compression, sending bone fragments outward and potentially into the spinal canal, where they can injure the spinal cord or nerve roots.
ReadAfter a previous operation
6 articlesPain that came back, never went away, or moved somewhere new after spine surgery. Evaluation considers the earlier operation, current symptoms and possible causes.
Failed Back Surgery Syndrome
A condition in which chronic or recurrent back and/or leg pain continues or develops after one or more spinal operations intended to relieve that pain.
ReadSpine · ConditionAdjacent Segment Disease
A condition in which new, symptomatic degenerative changes develop at the spinal level immediately above or below a previously fused segment, causing pain, nerve symptoms, or walking difficulty.
ReadLumbar · ConditionPost-Laminectomy Syndrome
Persistent or recurrent pain in the back or a limb that continues after one or more spinal operations, arising from a combination of scar tissue, incomplete decompression, and neuropathic processes.
ReadSpine · ConditionPseudarthrosis (Spinal Nonunion)
Pseudarthrosis is the failure of a spinal fusion to develop solid bone, leaving a residual mobile segment that can cause persistent pain and hardware stress.
ReadSpine · ConditionHardware Loosening
Gradual loss of fixation between spinal implants and bone after fusion surgery, which can cause new or recurring back or neck pain and sometimes requires revision surgery.
ReadSpine · ConditionCage Subsidence
A mechanical complication of spinal fusion surgery in which the interbody cage gradually sinks into the adjacent vertebral bone, potentially causing a return of pain or nerve symptoms.
ReadProblems that look like spine problems
7 articlesNot every case of arm or leg pain comes from the spine, and an MRI showing degeneration does not prove the degeneration is the cause. These are the diagnoses worth excluding before anyone operates on your back.
Shoulder Pathology as a Cervical Mimic
A shoulder disorder (such as rotator cuff disease, impingement, or frozen shoulder) can produce arm pain that closely resembles a pinched nerve in the neck, making accurate diagnosis essential before any treatment is started.
ReadCervical · ConditionCarpal and Cubital Tunnel Syndrome as a Cervical Mimic
Nerve entrapments at the wrist and elbow can produce hand numbness and weakness that closely resembles a pinched nerve in the neck, and accurate diagnosis directs treatment to the right place.
ReadSpine · ConditionHip Osteoarthritis as a Spine Mimic
Hip osteoarthritis frequently mimics lumbar spine conditions by producing groin, thigh, and buttock pain that overlaps with spinal nerve-root territories, making accurate diagnosis essential before any treatment is started.
ReadSacral · ConditionSI Joint Pain as a Spine Mimic
Pain from the SI joint, where your pelvis meets the base of your spine, is commonly mistaken for a lumbar disc or nerve problem.
ReadSpine · ConditionPeripheral Neuropathy as a Spine Mimic
A disorder of the peripheral nerves that produces numbness, tingling, burning pain, and weakness resembling a spinal pinched nerve or cord compression.
ReadSpine · ConditionVascular Claudication as a Spine Mimic
Cramping leg pain caused by narrowed arteries during walking closely mimics the neurogenic claudication of lumbar spinal stenosis, making accurate diagnosis essential before any treatment begins.
ReadSpine · ConditionCentral Sensitization as a Spine Mimic
Central sensitization is a condition in which the nervous system becomes hypersensitive, producing widespread pain across many body regions that can closely resemble a pinched nerve or spinal cord problem.
ReadTalk through your next steps.
An initial evaluation or second opinion can help you understand your findings and discuss appropriate options for your goals.