Last week we exchanged e-mails with a man wondering if his Parkinson's disease and back pain could be related. He had lived with Parkinson's disease for five years, and was concerned about episodes of sciatic back pain he had been experiencing for about six months.
"The symptoms worsen before my next dose of Sinemet is due," he writes. "Forty-five minutes after my dose is taken, the symptoms improve. Are there cases similar to mine?"
My Parkinson's Info is confident that there are similar cases. Back pain is common in people with Parkinson’s disease. Both conditions involve the nerves, and nerves are complex. Our reader can’t ever be sure his medications address his sciatica. However, it is possible that Parkinson's medications provide some relief of the sciatic pain by delivering a little more dopamine to the nerves.
The vertebrae in the spinal column are separated by discs. Among their functions, they act act as shock absorbers between the vertebrae. Sciatica usually occurs when the disc in your spine fail. The vertebrae (back bones) squeeze and irritate the nerves. Bone spurs may also contribute to sciatica.
It is possible that nerves starved for dopamine may already be weak. Perhaps a mild to moderate squeeze may create sciatica that would not otherwise bother a neuron with a healthy supply of dopamine. This information is just a guess or a theory.
Interestingly because the spine is such a large part of the nervous system, neurologists are remarkably well-trained in back pain diagnosis and treatment. So a person with Parkinson’s is in pretty good hands when it comes to back pain. If your neurologist cannot address your back pain, he or she will be able to refer you to a spine specialist.