Does diskogenic low back pain and leg pain exist without nerve root entrapment?

Abstract

Diskogenic low back pain can radiate into the leg as referred pain without nerve root entrapment. Lumbar diskography, when properly performed, is nothing more than an attempt to perform a “remote” physical examination of the individual disks in an attempt to determine if mechanical deformation is painful. Spine fusion surgery, performed for the relief of diskogenic low back pain, is a logical extension of the wellrecognized principle that a joint that is degenerated and painful with motion can be rendered painless by the surgical ablation of motion with a fusion. At this time, the properly performed diskogram is the only test available that approaches reliability in diagnosing mechanical diskogenic low back pain and its specific location.