INDUCED PAIN PATTERNS ON PASSIVE STRAIGHT-LEG RAISING IN LOWER LUMBAR DISC PROTRUSION A Prospective Clinical, Myelographic and Operative Study in Fifty Patients

Passively raising the straight leg is a clinical test widely used in orthopaedic practice for the assessment of lower lumbar disc protrusion. Forst first described the manoeuvre in 1881 after his attention had been drawn to it by Las#{232}gue(Sjoqvist 1947, Rang 1966, Brody and Wilkins 1969). Fajersztajn (1901) added the foot dorsiflexion test and neck flexion test, which are performed with the leg elevated and are positive when pain on straight-leg raising is aggravated. He also described the cross sciatic reflex or well-leg raising test (Woodhall and Hayes 1950). These tests are closely related to the Kernig’s and Brudzinsky’s sign found in meningeal irritation (Brody and Wilkins 1969). The biomechanical effects of straight-leg raising on the lumbo-sacral nerve roots and dura mater have been fully investigated by a number of workers, both in cadavers and in patients undergoing operation (Inman an