L2, L3 and L4 spinal nerves provide sensation to the front part of your thigh and inner side of your lower leg. These nerves also control hip and knee muscle movements. L5 spinal nerve provides sensation to the outer side of your lower leg, the upper part of your foot and the space between your first and second toe.
The symptoms of L4-L5 nerve damage are typically chronic lower back pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness that radiate to the legs and feet. Spinal nerve damage can be severe.
Common symptoms and signs include: Sharp pain, typically felt as a shooting and/or burning feeling that originates in the lower back and travels down the leg in the distribution of a specific nerve, sometimes affecting the foot. Numbness in different parts of the thigh, leg, foot, and/or toes.
Small blood vessels and capillaries in the lower back muscles can become constricted following decreased physical activity, reducing the blood flow to these muscles. Walking allows for more movement in these muscles, allowing these capillaries and blood vessels to open up again.
A slipped disc is one of the most common causes of a pinched nerve. An L4-L5 disc bulge or slip-disc (slipped disc) pinches and leads to serious health issues, including impotence, reproduction issues, infertility, loss of bowel and bladder control, or paralysis in one or both legs.
Types of exercise to avoid
Weight lifting exercises that involve this movement can be, for example, bent over rows using dumbbells, deadlifts, squats or lunges. If you're not receiving any treatment for your back pain, it's important to stop doing these exercises until you've sought help.
Damage to L4 and L5, including spondylolisthesis, can lead to hip pain. This is because the misaligned vertebrae can press on nerves that extend through the hips. When these nerves become irritated, inflamed, or damaged, the patient may experience significant hip and leg pain.
It may take 4 to 6 weeks to get back to doing simple activities, such as light housework. It may take 6 months to a year for your back to get better completely. You may need to wear a back brace while your back heals.
Walking is a gentle form of exercise that has the potential to be beneficial if you have a bulging or herniated spinal disc. We explain why below. Walking isn't too strenuous, which is one reason it tends to be beneficial even with a bulging disc.
Symptoms of an L4-L5 lumbar disc herniation
When a patient has a lumbar hernia at these levels, one of the common symptoms will be sciatica, the pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve that passes through the lower back, through the hips and buttocks, and leads into one of the legs.
Most commonly, it involves the L4 slipping over the L5 vertebra. It most frequently affects people age 50 and older. Symptoms may include pain in the low back, thighs and/or legs, muscle spasms, weakness and/or tight hamstring muscles.
As a clinical finding, gluteal pain is related to low lumbar disc hernia. The L4/5 level is the main level responsible for gluteal pain in lumbar disc hernia.
A L4-L5 bulge in the disc can cause sciatic-like symptoms by impinging nerves running down the legs. A pinched nerve can be caused by a slipped disc. A L4–L5 disc bulge (or slip-disc) in the L4-L5 region can cause severe health issues such as impotence and reproduction issues.
Deep Tissue Massage: There are more than 100 types of massage, but deep tissue massage is an ideal option if you have a herniated disc because it uses a great deal of pressure to relieve deep muscle tension and spasms, which develop to prevent muscle motion at the affected area.
People with degenerative disk disease need to avoid foods that promote inflammation and physical activities involving heavy lifting and twisting. Additionally, a person should avoid smoking, if applicable, slouching, and consuming more than moderate amounts of alcohol.
The optimal sleeping position for a herniated disc is on your back. Lying on your back keeps your spine in a neutral position so you have less chance of pinching the nerve. For added comfort, nestle a small pillow or rolled-up towel under your knees and lower back.
It is proper to sit up straight without slouching. When you slump, you put extra pressure on the discs in the spine and can aggravate your herniated disc. Additionally, you want to ensure your knees are level with your hips. Your hips should be slightly above your knees if you sit at a desk.
The typical person with degenerative disc disease is active, otherwise healthy and in his or her 30s or 40s. Common symptoms of this condition include: Pain that is worse when sitting. While seated, the discs of the lower back have three times more load on them than when standing.
L5 radiculopathy is usually associated with numbness down the side of the leg and into the top of the foot. S1 radiculopathy typically results in numbness down the back of the leg into the outside or bottom of the foot. Weakness is another symptom of nerve root compression.
The 4th lumbar nerve root (L4) is the 3rd most frequently affected nerve and results in pain that radiates through the lateral thigh and the inside of the lower leg. Numbness usually occurs on the outside of the thigh. The thigh muscle can be weak and the knee reflex can be decreased or absent.