Chicago ? Turns out, Sammy Sosa’s injury is nothing to sneeze at.

The Chicago Cubs’ slugger has a sprained ligament in his lower back and probably is headed to the disabled list.

Sosa missed Sunday’s game in San Diego after two violent sneezes brought on back spasms. He was examined by Dr. Michael Schaefer, the Cubs’ orthopedic specialist, before Tuesday’s game against the Giants, and tests revealed the sprained ligament.

“He’s going to receive an epidural tonight to calm down some of the inflammation and lower back pain,” general manager Jim Hendry said. “It’s pretty certain he’ll be missing a couple of weeks. So it looks like it’s a (disabled list) situation.”

There were no problems with any discs, Hendry added.

“It’s something that doesn’t seem to be long-term,” Hendry said. “But he’s not going to be ready to go in two or three days.”

Sosa’s injury is the latest setback for the Cubs, who are already without right-hander Mark Prior, reliever Mike Remlinger, second baseman Mark Grudzielanek and shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Kerry Wood missed his scheduled start Sunday because of tightness in his triceps.

“There’s no sense hanging your head. You’ve got to deal with it,” Hendry said. “We’ll work our way through it.”