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. Your spinal cord runs downward through a canal in the center of vertebrae in the spine.

Understanding the Context

Nerve roots branch off the cord and go between the individual vertebrae. When problems affect these nerve roots, the condition is called radiculopathy. Radiculopathy refers to symptoms that develop when there is compression of a spinal nerve root. Most commonly, the nerve compression is related to a disc herniation or spondylosis (degenerative changes in the spine) and may occur with or without trauma.

Key Insights

Radiculopathy refers to a set of symptoms that occur from spinal nerve root compression. Pain, muscle weakness, and numbness are symptoms, presenting either individually or in some combination. Radiculopathy describes a nerve being pinched by the spine. Learn the causes of this condition, how it is diagnosed, and more. Radiculopathy (from Latin radix 'root'; from Ancient Greek πάθος (pathos) 'suffering'), also commonly referred to as pinched nerve, refers to a set of conditions in which one or more nerves are affected and do not work properly (a neuropathy).

Final Thoughts

Learn about radiculopathy symptoms, treatment, causes, and more. Discover different regions affected by radiculopathy including the cervical, lumbar, and thoracic spine. In radiculopathy, the problem occurs at or near the site of the origin of the nerve root as it exits from the spinal cord, but the pain and accompanying symptoms usually radiate to the part of the body that is supplied by that specific nerve.