How to treat lumbar discogenic low back pain?

  Clinically, we often see patients complaining of lumbosacral pain, sometimes accompanied by bilateral hip pain, aggravated after prolonged sitting or exertion, alleviated after bed rest, no abnormality in lumbar spine X-ray, no abnormality in lumbar spine CT examination, the doctor may tell the patient that there is no problem in the lumbar spine, lumbar muscle strain, symptomatic treatment, lumbar back muscle exercise will be fine. However, many patients in the clinic have many recurrent episodes, which affect work, study, and mood. In fact, many of these patients will be found to have degeneration of the lumbar spine if they undergo MRI examination: there is no disc herniation or bulging, and there is no nerve root or dural sac compression, commonly known as “black disc”, suggesting that the disc has degeneration and will lose some of its function, while the nerve fibers grow into the disc causing pain. This pain is referred to as referred pain and is not clearly localized, which is why it is easy to ignore and not easily treated in clinical practice.  For these patients, MRI of lumbar spine is necessary, and lumbar discography is needed to confirm the diagnosis.