What are your symptoms? Pain is the primary reason that someone with a spinal condition seeks medical attention. Symptoms originating in the spine vary depending on the anatomical location of the underlying condition. Anatomically, the spinal column consists of the structural spine, which includes the vertebrae and intervertebral discs, and the neurological spine, which includes the nerve roots, spinal cord, and cauda equina.

Pain, stiffness (or tightness), and tingling are all structural symptoms. These symptoms indicate that an anatomical structure in your spine has failed to maintain its normal structure and/or function, for example, as a result of wear and tear (degeneration or structural damage). Numbness, weakness, radiculopathy, and sciatica are all neurological symptoms. These symptoms indicate that neural tissue, such as your nerve roots and/or spinal cord, is compressed (i.e., pinched) and/or irritated.

The terms structural and neurological are used to describe the source and/or sources of your symptoms. Structural symptoms tend to be axial (i.e., situated in, on or along the spine; internal), whereas neurological symptoms tend to be peripheral or radicular (i.e., situated away from or external to the spine; radiating into other parts of the body, such as the extremities). Structural and neurological symptoms are not mutually exclusive, however. A spinal condition can simultaneously cause both types of symptoms. For example, pain in the back and extremities, among other symptoms, such as numbness, weakness, and tingling, may occur when an intervertebral disc herniates: when the annulus fibrosus (tough, outer ring) of the disc tears and the nucleus pulposus (soft, jelly-like center) squeezes out and places pressure on nerve roots and/or the spinal cord.

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