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Cauda equina is latin for horses tail. It represents the nerves that leave the bottom of the spinal cord, which ends in something we call the conus medullaris, typically around L1-L2 in the lumbar spine.

The cauda equina can become trapped as a consequence of severe disc bulges, disc herniations, or hypertrophied facets. The symptoms of cauda equina are loss of bowel and bladder control, or difficulty voiding ones bladder, numbness and tingling in your inner thighs or groin and genitals.

This is not something to mess around with!

If you think that you have this, or you have the above symptoms you should immediately go to the hospital.  A loss of bowel or bladder function is grounds for immediate admission into a hospital. This will likely require immediate surgery to take the pressure off of the nerves before this becomes permanent.