INTERVERTEBRAL DISC A SOURCE OF PAIN? - LOW BACK PAIN: PROBLEMS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS - - Case reports -

The objective of this article is to provide evidence supporting the idea that intervertebral disc is a source of low back pain. Summary of Background Data: Diagnostic tests currently available for diagnosis of a painful disc are inadequate. Treatment protocols for low back pain generally ignore the presence of a painful disc. Pathological processes that may be responsible for discogenic pain are incompletely understood. Without diagnosis and treatment, disc disruption evolves to advanced stages of spinal dysfunction. New treatment modalities are becoming available which if applied earlymay stop disc disruption. Case Reports: We describe here two case reports where discogenicnature of patients’ symptoms was suspected based on patients’ history, MRI findings and discography. We highlight the inadequacies of spinal