Do children ever have lumbar disc problems?

Yes, children and teenagers can and do have lumbar disc herniations. It's fairly rare as the most commonly affected person is an adult between the ages 40 and 50 years old.

It's also possible that more children have disc problems than we ever know about. Studies of adults show a fair number of people who have disc damage and even herniations without symptoms. The same may be true for children.

At least one study has been done of children ages 16 and younger with disc herniations. They were followed for years into adulthood to see the outcome of surgery to remove the disc.

More than half had back and/or leg pain later on in life. Almost one-third had to have a second operation for disc problems.

More studies would be helpful since data on this problem is limited. Without a national data base, finding all the individual cases is difficult. As imaging technology continues to improve we may see a wider use of studies in younger groups.