When herniated material presses against a spinal nerve root, the brain registers pain along the path that nerve travels. A cervical disc herniation can send pain or tingling into the shoulder and arm. A lumbar herniation can produce the same symptoms down the leg, often called sciatica. The pain in the extremity is real, but its source is in the spine.
This referral pattern is why treatment aimed at the arm or leg alone does not resolve the problem. The intervention needs to address the disc. Beacon Clinic of Chiropractic evaluates herniated disc cases with this anatomy in mind, identifying which disc is involved and how the nerve compression is behaving.
