LEG LOCK

[Lonnie Dog]

Hello I am diagnois with Myelomalcia and suffers with weakness in my right leg,spasmatic jerk,leg lock,my balance is alter too all on my right side.I had surgery about a year ago removing a disk at C-4 and C-5 and replace with a titanium bracket fuse with my bone chips. No change in symptoms but I havn't got any worse since surgery.I have notice that my spastisity is much greater when I go outside in public then when I'm in the house.When I'm in house I walk much better, not great but much better than outside. Outside my leg totaly goes in a spasmatic lock and will not bend at all. Could you please give me some insight on this because I am finding myself staying inside  a great deal dodging the plubic eye,and I know I can't keep that up much longer. It is having an effect on my relationship with my family,never wanting to leave the house. Need advise Thank you Lonnie.

[Annabel]

Hi Lonnie Dog - my left leg weakness means I can't extend my left leg forward to walk as much as my right, so throwing my off balance, when I sit on the floor with a rolled up towel and try to lift my lower legs one at a time, my left is unable to lift as high as my right. So, I try to build up the muscle on my left side more with exercises given to me by a much trusted physiotherapist. When I am at home I take smaller steps to get around, not on purpose, you can check yourself, what happens when you go out is that you have a larger area to cover and your brain wants to tell your hips and legs to briskly walk forward, but either one of them or both just can't do it. This is always a dilema because at home if you fall over you mainly have a soft landing or a wall to stop the fall, but outside there is more danger of injury, so outside I take a walking stick or a rather natty umbrella with a rubber tread at the bottom such as the type found on the bottom of walking sticks, some umrellas these days are made with straight handles and so are easier to hold, but it's there for you if you feel unbalanced. This imbalance of strength in the legs causes knee problems in my good leg - unfortunately, often there is a bulge at the outer side of my knee and the muscles above and below feel stiff and heavy, that gives me the John Wayne walk - without the horse of course - ok if I was a man, but try looking like a young Joan collins with a walk like old John, gee! I get some funny looks, and comments, a recent one was that I walked like arnie schwartenagger meets john cleese. Mainly the falling off to the left annoys me and any unlevel flooring can see me doing the 'slipping on a banana' routine. Sometimes I must look as if I'm drunk, but I keep on walking anyway, like you I avoid outside as much as possible - mainly because of peoples ignorance and I'm lucky that I have a latge apartment so I can walk a fair distance in a day just being at home. I purposely put the tv remote on top of the tv so I have to get up and walk across for it, and other such things, the best present to yourself is a physio you can relate to and trust, if you can't - change him/her!

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

First of all, it would be important for you to know why you have myelomalacia - trauma, genetic, developmental, etc... just to make sure there's no correctable underlying cause that needs to be treated.  Another question for you and your docs is if the myelomalacia is the cause of your right leg symptoms (quite likely), but again it would be good to make sure that you don't have correctable problem causing your symptoms.

As for treatment - Have you tried antispasmodic agents such as baclofen (cheaper, but sedation is a big problem for some patients) or zanaflex (more expensive, but some patients tolerate it better)? Talk to your docs about the possibility of trying these medications.  Physical therapy with daily stretching exercises may also be of help. I have patients with very severe myelomalacia who have been able to function with zanaflex, meaning they are able to hold a regular job and carry out many activities of daily living independently (not without some difficulty of course) but I'm glad that they're able to get out and about despite their disability. Good luck.