What is a neurological examination for low back pain?

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After your doctor finishes taking your medical history and performing a physical examination, he or she will often do a neurological examination. This examination will usually focus on the spinal nerves in your lower back.

The spinal nerves can be examined by looking at three components. These include the sensory examination, the motor examination, and the deep tendon reflex examination. Each test is important because different areas in your legs and feet are associated with specific spinal nerves. This is called dermatomal patterns or just dermatomes. If a spinal nerve isn’t working properly, your doctor might notice this by your response to these examinations.

• The sensory examination involves testing if you can feel different things in specific areas of your legs and feet, such as a light touch from your doctor’s finger or a cotton swab. It might also include a pinprick using a sharp instrument like a needle or pointed metal wheel.

• The motor examination involves testing the strength in different muscles in your legs and feet. The doctor might test these by asking you to push against their hands in different directions.

• The deep tendon reflex examination involves testing the reflexes in different parts of your legs and feet. The doctor might test these by tapping them with a rubber hammer.

In rare cases, your doctor might also do other tests as part of the neurological examination. They might include tests for balance and walking gait, tests for other reflexes, and tests for cranial nerves. These tests are usually done to rule out the possibility that your low back pain might be related to another medical condition.

After the doctor has finished the medical history, physical examination, and neurological examination, he or she should be able to tell you more about the type of low back pain you might have. The doctor should then be able to educate you about low back pain and give you tips for managing this yourself or recommend specific treatments for your low back pain. These treatments might include medication, supervised exercise therapy, or spinal manipulation therapy.

 
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