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Study Design.

In vivo strain techniques were used in an animal radiculopathy model.

Objective.

To quantify the severity of compressive nerve root injury and characterize its effect on resultant mechanical allodynia in a lumbar radiculopathy model.

Summary of Background Data.

Clinical and experimental work indicate many factors contributing to radicular pain mechanisms, including mechanical injury. Although it has been suggested that the degree of mechanical injury to the nerve root affects the nature of the pain response, no study has quantified local in vivo injury biomechanics, nor have such measures been linked with the resulting magnitude of mechanical allodynia or other clinical symptoms.

Methods.

Male Holtzman rats were divided into a sham group with only nerve root exposure or a ligation group in which the nerve root was tightly ligated with a single silk suture. Using image analysis, nerve root radial …