Is your foot pain caused by your low back?

Is your low back pain causing your foot pain?

How can your foot pain be coming from your low back?

There are nerves in your low back that create the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve branches and continues all the way down to the foot.

Irritation or compression to the nerve anywhere along that path will create pain.

If the nerves get compressed long enough the pain will eventually travel all the way down to the foot. 

How can you tell if it’s coming from your back without seeing a doctor?

If you are sitting and notice pain in your foot, the problem is coming from your lower back. Sitting for extended periods of time or with poor posture puts extreme amounts of stress on your back. 

When you have a disc injury in your back that irritates a nerve root, any extra compression on the spine will cause the disc to balloon or swell. Next, pain signals get sent down the entire tract of the sciatic nerve. If the irritation to the nerve is bad enough it will eventually end up in the foot. 

Does this mean you need surgery?

Not necessarily, in most cases a thorough examination and diagnosis will reveal the next best step. In our experience, 95% of the cases we see with this presentation don't require surgery.

In some cases, people have already had surgery yet their symptoms remain. We help those cases too.

When I see cases like this, I need to get the complete functional (ROM and strength) picture. We test low back flexion, hip flexor mobility, and sciatic nerve mobility. When those tests are poor and need improvement, most commonly, due to fibrous adhesion, that is a good sign. That means there is a window of opportunity to improve function and decrease/eliminate the swelling around the disc and nerve. 

If you or someone you know experiences foot pain when sitting or when not actively using your foot there is a problem elsewhere causing that pain. That problem needs to be found. We are really good at finding those problems.

~Dr. Seth Schultz