Lumbar Strain & Low Back Injury

Car accidents produce several injury mechanisms that affect the lumbar spine: axial compression from the vertical forces of the impact, rotational forces if the torso is twisted at the time of collision, forward flexion during frontal impacts, and hyperextension in rear-end collisions. These forces can strain lumbar musculature and ligaments, compress or shear intervertebral discs, and stress the facet joints and sacroiliac joint. Falls — particularly slip and falls on hard surfaces — produce similar compressive and shear loading of the lumbar spine.

A lumbar MRI can demonstrate disc herniations, disc bulges, annular fissures, end-plate signal changes consistent with Modic changes, facet joint effusions, ligamentous hypertrophy, and paraspinal muscle signal changes — all of which may indicate acute or traumatic pathology. The radiologist's report will also note pre-existing degenerative changes, which your treating physician can address in the causation narrative by explaining the aggravation of pre-existing condition doctrine under New York law.

Yes. MAIC accepts New York State No-Fault insurance for all lumbar injury evaluation and treatment including X-ray, MRI, physical therapy, orthopedic consultation, pain management, and NCV/EMG studies. We handle all No-Fault authorization directly. Our PI coordination team manages the billing and correspondence with the carrier so your attorney's office has no administrative burden.

Lumbar strain refers to injury of the muscles and/or ligaments of the lower back without structural disc pathology. Lumbar disc herniation involves disruption of the disc structure itself — the outer annulus fibrosus tears, allowing the inner nucleus material to protrude into the spinal canal or neuroforamen where it can compress nerve roots. Both conditions can be caused by accident trauma, but disc herniation typically produces more severe symptoms, particularly when associated with radiculopathy (sciatica), and has greater long-term significance for the personal injury claim.

Sciatica refers to radicular pain radiating from the lumbar spine down the leg, typically in a dermatomal distribution corresponding to the L4, L5, or S1 nerve roots. It is most commonly caused by lumbar disc herniation with nerve root compression. For PI documentation, sciatica is established through clinical neurological examination (documenting dermatomal sensory changes, reflex asymmetry, and motor weakness), lumbar MRI showing the disc-nerve root relationship, and NCV/EMG studies providing objective neurophysiological evidence of radiculopathy. MAIC's NCV/EMG laboratory provides this electrodiagnostic documentation with same-day availability.