Radiculopathy is a diagnosis commonly made by physicians in primary care specialities, chiropractic, orthopedics, physiatry, and neurology. The diagnosis may be suggested by symptoms of pain, numbness, and weakness in a pattern consistent with the distribution of a particular nerve root. Neck pain or back pain may also be present. Physical examination may reveal motor and sensory deficits in the distribution of a nerve root. In the case of cervical radiculopathy, Spurling's test may elicit or reproduce symptoms radiating down the arm. In the case of lumbosacral radiculopathy, a Straight leg raise maneuver may exacerbate radiculopathic symptoms. Deep tendon reflexes (also known as a Stretch reflex) may be diminished or absent in areas innervated by a particular nerve root.

For further workup, the American College of Radiology recommends that projectional radiography is the most appropriate initial study in all patients with chronic neck pain. Two additional diagnostic tests that may be of use are magnetic resonance imaging and electrodiagnostic testing. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the portion of the spine where radiculopathy is suspected may reveal evidence of degenerative change, arthritic disease, or another explanatory lesion responsible for the patient's symptoms. Electrodiagnostic testing, consisting of NCS (Nerve conduction study) and EMG (Electromyography), is also a powerful diagnostic tool that may show nerve root injury in suspected areas. On nerve conduction studies, the pattern of diminished Compound muscle action potential and normal sensory nerve action potential may be seen given that the lesion is proximal to the Posterior root ganglion. Needle EMG is the more sensitive portion of the test, and may reveal active denervation in the distribution of the involved nerve root, and neurogenic-appearing voluntary motor units in more chronic radiculopathies. Given the key role of electrodiagnostic testing in the diagnosis of acute and chronic radiculopathies, the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine has issued evidence-based practice guidelines, for the diagnosis of both cervical and lumbosacral radiculopathies. The American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine has also participated in the Choosing Wisely Campaign and several of their recommendations relate to what tests are unnecessary for neck and back pain.

Ideally, effective treatment aims to resolve the underlying cause and restores the nerve root to normal function. Common conservative treatment approaches include physical therapy and chiropractic. A systematic review found moderate quality evidence that spinal manipulation is effective for the treatment of acute lumbar radiculopathy and cervical radiculopathy. Only low level evidence was found to support spinal manipulation for the treatment of chronic lumbar radiculopathies, and no evidence was found to exist for treatment of thoracic radiculopathy.

Polyradiculoneuropathy describes a condition in which polyneuropathy and polyradiculopathy occur together. An example is Guillain–Barré syndrome.

Treatment with a single course of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) infusions has been demonstrated to be a potentially effective treatment (reported to have caused prolonged remission in a case associated with systemic lupus (Systemic lupus erythematosus) ).

People under 55 years without alarm symptoms can be treated without investigation. People over 55 years with recent onset dyspepsia or those with alarm symptoms should be urgently investigated by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. This will rule out peptic ulcer disease, medication-related ulceration, malignancy and other rarer causes.

People under the age of 55 years with no alarm features do not need endoscopy but are considered for investigation for peptic ulcer disease caused by "Helicobacter pylori" infection. Investigation for "H. pylori" infection is usually performed when there is a moderate to high prevalence of this infection in the local community or the person with dyspepsia has other risk factors for "H. pylori" infection, related for example to ethnicity or immigration from a high-prevalence area. If infection is confirmed, it can usually be eradicated by medication.

Medication-related dyspepsia is usually related to NSAIDs and can be complicated by bleeding or ulceration with perforation of stomach wall.

Antacids and sucralfate were found to be no better than placebo in a literature review. H2-RAs have been shown to have marked benefit in poor quality trials (30% relative risk reduction), but only a marginal benefit in good quality trials. Prokinetic agents would empirically seem to work well since delayed gastric emptying is considered a major pathophysiological mechanism in functional dyspepsia. They have been shown in a meta-analysis to produce a relative risk reduction of up to 50%, but the studies evaluated to come to this conclusion used the drug cisapride which has since been removed from the market (now only available as an investigational agent) due to serious adverse events such as torsades, and publication bias has been cited as a potential partial explanation for such a high benefit. Modern prokinetic agents such as metoclopramide, erythromycin and tegaserod have little or no established efficacy and often result in substantial side effects. Simethicone has been found to be of some value, as one trial suggests potential benefit over placebo and another shows equivalence with cisapride. So, with the somewhat recent advent of the proton pump inhibitor (PPI) class of medications, the question of whether these new agents are superior to traditional therapy has arisen.

Currently, PPIs are, depending on the specific drug, FDA indicated for erosive esophagitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, eradication of H. pylori, duodenal and gastric ulcers, and NSAID-induced ulcer healing and prevention, but not functional dyspepsia. There are, however, evidence-based guidelines and literature that evaluate the use of PPIs for this indication. A helpful chart summarizing the major trials is available from the functional dyspepsia guidelines published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology in 2006.