PAIN COURSING along the distribution of the sciatic nerve is a common symptom of compression of one or more of its roots. Protruding intervertebral discs are by far the commonest producers of sciatica, and this disorder is being recognized with increasing frequency. The distribution of pain following root compression in patients in whom part of the peripheral portion of the sciatic nerve is missing proved of sufficient interest to warrant notation.
During recent years two patients have come under observation who have sustained a protrusion of an intervertebral disc and who had, in addition, sustained a major amputation of a lower extremity before the onset of back complaints. Both were active men of middle years, well adjusted to their deformities, neither of whom had had any previous complaints that might have suggested phantom limb phenomena.
Report of Cases
Case 1.—
The patient was a large, muscular machinist, 49 years of