From the first symptoms to develop a full radicular syndrome may take several months or several years.

The first sign of disease, sometimes before a few years, the occurrence of radicular syndrome are pain in the neck and shoulder area.

Patients studied "had a radiologically confirmed disk herniation...incapacitating lumbosacral radicular syndrome that had lasted for 6 to 12 weeks...Patients presenting with cauda equina syndrome, muscle paralysis, or insufficient strength to move against gravity were excluded."