The nervous system & my right leg

Factual Questions
1

So, for much more than a year, maybe two now, I’ve been limping. My right leg is seems “stiff” and bit sluggish. There’s a double-hand sized patch on my right thigh that has no surface feeling although I can feel deeper pressure.

About December last year I do something wrong & end up flat on my back unable to move without extreme pain. Give it a day, take some codeine-based painkiller left from a previous operation and do my best Quasimodo impersonation to the Doctor’s office.

He has me stand & looks me up & down. He checks my left-leg reflexes: “tap”. “twitch”.

He checks my right-leg reflexes, “tap”. “tap”. “Tap”. “TAP”. “twitch”.

“Hmm” he says.

While sitting, he presses up with his hand on the underside of my foot, near my toes. Left leg then Right. Seems to be feeling for some sort of pushing back. He’s not happy with my right leg (which is fair, I’m not happy with it, in general, either but I’m there for my back, right?)

So, pain-killers, muscle-relaxants, & a trip to the MRI shop (open-sided - it’s like being the filling in an Oreo cookie).

I’ve got two herniated disks in my lower back (bulging to the right side). Continue the pills, get some Physical Therapy. Due to mucho family problems during this time (I’ve got a chronically sick 15-month old), I didn’t get the PT. After a week of flat-on-the-backness, I’m back at work, just limping again.

The Flexeril reduced the limp a lot but I can’t spend my days on muscle relaxants so I stopped it in due course. Now, many months later, my right foot is stiff again and I’m limping all the time. Maybe “very stiff” is right - it may be worse than the end of last year.

The general feeling is that my ankle doesn’t want to rotate through its full angle. As I roll toward my toes, the ankle stops bending and it forces me up and onto my toes too early. It hurts. It also hurts (a lot) to walk without shoes. I think my foot is trying to roll over (pronate? supinate? Turn inward) without the support of the shoe.

So, some questions (and yes, I know I should see the doctor but the kid problems persist). What relationship does my reflex have to my spinal cord? I didn’t think the brain was much involved in reflex actions so involving the path seems strange. What does it mean when your reflexes are slow (weak?).

How could my spine be related to my “limberness” in my ankle (or is it).

When the doctor was pushing up on my foot, what’s happening there? Why would he be unhappy at the results (or lack thereof?)

I never got the PT, is it too late? What’s the PT supposed to do for me, work the herniated disk back into place?

So - what’s going on here? Sure, the legbone’s connected to the hipbone & the hipbone’s connected to the backbone but how’s it all wired up?

Yours (parenthetically) - B

2

Just curious if most of the following apply to your situation?

•problems with walking, running, and balance
• to avoid tripping, you often raise your knees unusually high, resulting in a distinctive gait
• impared sense of touch as well as the ability to distinguish hot and cold
• foot pain that routinely interferes with sleep

If so, it may be a nerve problem, something along the lines of a neuropathy…? They can cause many of the symptoms you describe.

I’m not a doc, so hopefully QtM will stop by in a while and offer something more subtstantive. Betcha you’re gonna be advised to see your physician to get a diagnosis nailed down though. Knowing what’s causing the problem is pretty important in fixing or coping with it.

Wish you the best…

3

Well, I’m not really looking for a diagnosis as much as an explanation as to why the Dr. used these tests and said “Hmmm” so much.

I guess knowing if lower back nerve problems can lead to stiffness & weakness would be nice. I’m not sure why “stiff” and “reduced angle of joint function” would be on the symptom list. Pain I can see & perhaps weakness (although I’d think my body would just compensate by “upping the signal strength”, so to speak).

4

I’m not a doctor, either, but it bugs the heck out of me when they don’t explain EVERYTHING to patients. IMHO you should have gotten a complete explanation of what every test was for, what the results were and what they mean.

I’ve had some very positive results with physical therapy, and with a knowledgeable physical trainer. These things can become vicious cycles – a muscle cramp hurts, so you don’t use it normally, which overstresses some other muscle, which then starts to hurt. Or the pain causes muscles to tense up, which causes pain, etc., etc. A PT told me that you need balanced strength in opposing muscles. I found that one reason I had a limp was that my calf muscles in my left leg were much weaker than the ones in my right leg. So I walked off-balance, which pushed other things out of line, and so on. Contributing issues were an old injury and spinal arthritis, which causes nerves to be pinched by incompletely supported vertebrae, leading to sciatica. Exercises to strengthen the supporting muscles – in a balanced way – has helped me a lot.

In my humble non-professional opinion, you might derive a good deal of benefit from some PT. They can help improve range of motion, for example, and find out which muscles need strengthening, and give you exercises to help that without putting too much stress on your back. In some states, you need a specific doctor’s prescription for PT, though.

Again, I’m not any kind of a doctor; these are just my own observations.

Oh, and good luck with the sick baby. Do try to remember that by taking care of yourself you are also making yourself better able to help your child. It’s a tough balancing act.

5

I’m not a doctor, I’m a critical care nurse. I’m not going to attempt to diagnose. That said, I will give some advice.
Your doctor was unhappy with you foot because, as the old song goes, the back bone’s connected to the ankle bone. You have herniated discs. That means there is pressure on the part of the spinal cord that works your feet. I understand how difficult it is to take care of yourself when you have a sick child, but (now this is going to hurt a little) you child needs a whole parent, not a paraplegic. Go back to the doctor. FOLLOW instructions, and get yourself better.
I’d hold you hand if I could, I’d even babysit, but my husband keeps preventing me from actually leaving the state, so good luck with everything, and keep us posted. :slight_smile:

6

The nerve roots coming out of the spinal cord are pushed on by a disc problem. The reflexes run up the leg, through the spinal cord and down these nerve roots. That is why the reflexes are absent. Your doctor probably thought your one foot was week when you pressed down, which could also be caused by the spinal root compression.

7

A medic I’m not-------a victim I am!

I carried those same symptoms for about thirty of my 80+ years.

For thirteen years now I have had irreversible drop foot[right], walk with canes,crutches or a walking frame and have had hand controls installed in my automobile.

By the time I went in for surgery it was too late

I make no diagnosis and claim no medical knowlede----------I only comment on the similarity.

Get yourself in to a NEuRO man-----CHOP CHOP!!!