What is radiculopathy?
Radiculopathy is caused by a pinched nerve in your spine. More specifically, it happens when one of your nerve roots (where your nerves join your spinal column) is compressed or irritated. You might see it referred to as radiculitis.
Radiculopathy will cause the area around your pinched nerve to feel painful, numb or tingly.
Depending on where along your spine the pinched nerve is, your healthcare provider will classify the radiculopathy as one of three types:
- Cervical radiculopathy (neck).
- Thoracic radiculopathy (upper middle back).
- Lumbar radiculopathy (low back).
Usually improving your posture, over-the-counter medicine or at-home physical therapy exercises are the only treatments you’ll need to relieve radiculopathy symptoms. In fact, some cases of radiculopathy improve with no treatment at all.
Radiculopathy vs. myelopathy
Both radiculopathy and myelopathy are painful conditions involving your spine. Radiculopathy is a temporary issue caused by a pinched nerve root near your spine. Myelopathy is compression of your spinal cord caused by a trauma, tumor, degenerative disease or infection.
If it’s not treated, myelopathy can worsen over time and cause permanent damage to your nerves. Radiculopathy is a temporary issue that heals over time and often goes away without treatment.
It can be hard to tell what’s causing your pain. That’s why it’s important to talk to your healthcare provider as soon as you notice any new symptoms — especially if they last more than a few days.
Radiculopathy vs. spondylolysis
Spondylolysis is a weakness at the point your vertebrae (the bones that make up your spine) connect together. This can lead to small stress fractures that cause pain, usually in your lower back. It usually affects teens going through growth spurts.
Radiculopathy can be caused by bones in your spine moving out of place, but symptoms like pain are caused when your nerve roots are compressed or irritated, and not by a broken bone.
Radiculopathy vs. sciatica
Both radiculopathy and sciatica are caused by pinched nerves.
The difference is which nerves are pinched causing the pain. Radiculopathy happens when a nerve along your spine is irritated or compressed. Sciatica is the pain or discomfort you feel when your sciatic nerve — the longest nerve in your body that starts in your lower back and runs down the back of each of your legs — gets compressed or pinched.
Radiculopathy usually hurts in the area of your back near the pinched nerve. Sciatica is a type of radiculopathy that causes pain along your sciatic nerve in your lower back and down your legs.
Advertisem*nt
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
Who does radiculopathy affect?
Radiculopathy can affect anyone, but it’s more common in people older than 50.
How common is radiculopathy?
Radiculopathy is rare. While neck pain and back pain — especially lower back pain — are common problems, they’re rarely caused by radiculopathy.
Advertisem*nt
How does radiculopathy affect my body?
The most obvious way radiculopathy affects your body is the pain and other symptoms it causes around your pinched nerve.
Depending on how severe your symptoms are — and which type of radiculopathy you have — it might be hard or uncomfortable to sit, stand or move. For example, if you have cervical radiculopathy, it might be painful and difficult to move your neck.
