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Compression of spinal roots produce lower motor neurone signs and sensory impairment appropriate to the distribution of the damaged root. Root pains are described as sharp, severe, and shooting; they are precipitated by movement, straining or coughing.
Compression of the spinal cord additionally produces sensory impairment and upper motor neurone signs below the level of the lesion as a result of interruption of ascending sensory and descending motor tracts. Segmental pain are described as continuous, and deep aching; they radiate into the whole leg or one half of the body, and are unaffected by movement.
There may be urinary and faecal incontinence as fibres involved in these pathways lie just medial to the descending pyramidal tracts. They tend to be a late finding. Impotence may also occur.
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