A typical situation with back pain is that people who suffer from it can often place a finger or point to where the problem is felt the most intense. While this may indicate where, in general, the tissues and nerves are excited more than usual, it is common that no actual tissue damage is found.
Thus, are the nerves simply too sensitized or is there something that chiropractors are missing when evaluating pain in the back? Discomfort from an injured back can be felt far from the estimated location of the damage, even all the way down to the hips.
Between 1 and 3 percent of the population shows evidence of damaged discs, yet this does not always lead to pain. In fact, there are just as many people with a bulging disc who do not have back soreness as there are people who do experience problems. This begs the question, is having a bulging disc in the spinal column required at all for lower back pain, or is something else at work?