consequential injuries a result of low back injury?

[Mavey]

I suffered a back injury in 1985 as a result of trying to pull a large tire from the back of a truck.I now have a bulging disk in the L4 L5 are of my back. A couple of years ago my left foot began to pronate inward.Could this be a result of my back injury?I also now have problems in my thoracic region often getting a pinched nerve and my cervical spine area.Are all the injuries a result of the one.Because my back is compensating for my lower back injury could it have resulted in these other injuries?

[Mavey]

How could a left foot pronation be compensatory to low back pain? My family doctor says that the left foot pronation is not a result of my lower back pain.
I think I have a pinched nerve in my left side thoracic region because I have this numb spot about the size of a hand and whenever I do something that requires me to do overhead work it knots up and i get arm weakness and pain radiating down my arm/shoulder. Which sometimes leads to neck pain and severe headaches.

[Stephen Ryu, MD]

It is always to determine if there a cascade of events with one leading to another. It is usually impossible to say. If you did not have the injury, would these things have happened anyways? Often in patients with degenerative spine disease the answer is yes. Then the question is if the injury sped up the onset of the symptoms. Again, hard to say.

A bulging L4-5 could mean nothing or could be from degeneration or from an injury. Many people have bulging discs as incidental findings with no symptoms. It is hard to say much from just saying "I have a bulging disc". It, in of itself, is not alarming.

Left foot pronation is a little strange. Do you mean the foot is turned inward? Probably not the disc but could be compensatory from backpain. How do you know you have a pinced nerve in the thoracic region - it is not common and causes a very specifc pattern of symptoms - not usually several back pain. And I don't have enough info on the neck.

Short answer is that back problems could lead to problems elsewhere but it is hard to say for sure. If you have a horrible scoliosis or traumatic injury that alters your biomechanics, then it is a bit easier to say. If you have back pain and a 'bad back', you are more like to be experienceing the natural history of your degeneration. Many people have back problems from bad posture, work habits, and ergonomics and eventually (if those habits are not corrected) they start causing upper back, neck, and hip problems, too.