Alternative treatment

Because the symptoms had an acute onset, cause by bending over to pick something up, the problem is most likely a herniated or slipped disc, causing sciatica. This causes spinal stenosis, as the disk is being wedged by your L1 or L2 vertebra, causing it to intrude into the space the spinal nerve root is trying passing through. This is essentially pinching the nerve, causing pain.
The nerve roots that pass through this area are part of the sacral plexus, and contribute to the sciatic nerve which runs down the back of the leg.
As mentioned, to remove the part of the disc impinging on the nerve, you can have surgery to remove that part of the disc, or have a chiropractor adjust your lumbar vertebrae back into alignment. If your vertebrae are properly aligned, the disc between them should return to it's healthy position, and release it's pressure on the nerve relieving symptoms. This solution would probably cost less than $100, and be of minimal discomfort to the patient, and eliminate the source of the problem, which surgery would not (except for a lumber fusion possibly).


This discussion is related to Back Pain With radiating Leg Pain.