The straight leg raise maneuver is used to test for which condition?

• A. Lumbosacral radiculopathy
• B. Peripheral vascular disease
• C. Cervical radiculopathy
• D. Myopathy

Answer: (A)

The straight leg raise targets lumbosacral radiculopathy. When the leg is raised with the patient supine, the nerve roots exiting the lower spine are tensionsed. If this reproduces pain that travels down the leg below the knee in a dermatomal pattern, it suggests irritation or compression of a lumbar nerve root—most often from a herniated disc (often at L4–L5 or L5–S1). This distinguishes nerve-root problems from other issues: cervical radiculopathy would involve the neck, myopathy would cause proximal muscle weakness without radicular pain on nerve stretch, and peripheral vascular disease would cause claudication with vascular symptoms rather than nerve-root–driven leg pain.