Can patients with extremity pain participate?
Yes. More than half of the patients we treat have some component of leg and/or arm pain. Sometimes the pain is referred, sometimes radicular. Some have neurologic deficits. All variations have responded to the proper kind of exercise. There is often a perception that the presence of extremity pain is cause for alarm, a reason to immediately get an MRI scan or refer the patient to a surgeon. But if a neurologic deficit is not profound (i.e., a complete foot drop) or progressive, conservative care is appropriate. Fortunately, the vast majority of patients presenting with neurologic deficits will not exhibit profound or progressive problems. It is important to remember that even though disk herniations can be very painful, the prognosis without surgery is actually quite good, and 90% or more should heal with conservative care (References 1,3,4.5.6.7). Disk herniations often shrink or are totally resorbed; the larger the herniation the more likely it is to resorb. Our outcome studies have
