Back pain and burning pain in both legs, hands after back injury

[bojangles_73]

Hi, I am a 34 year old male who has been experiencing a host of symptoms since spending extended periods of time sitting at my computer working on final papers for school and sustaining an injury from falling on my back during the same period. About a week after my injury, I began to experience mild fasciculations (muscle twitches) in my left leg and my right ankle. A week later, I began to experience burning sensations in both legs from the knees down to my feet which kept me up at night. Because of my lower back pain, I had an x-ray that ruled out a fracture to the back. The twitching subsided for the most part; however a week later, I began to experience waves of burning, shooting pain from my knees to my toes. At times, the pain is present in either my left leg or right leg, and often it is in both legs at the same time. At other times, the pain is just barely noticeable. Last week, I also began to experience soreness in my left and right arms and hands, and occasional, short-lasting, sharp pain in my fingers. My symptoms keep me up at night. They appear better in the morning but tend to worsen by the end of the day. Also, my symptoms appear to worsen when I am in one position, but seem to improve after swimming. Some have suggested arthritis as the cause, others have suggested early symptoms of MS. I have no history of arthritis and have not experienced numbness, tingling, motor coordination problems, vision problems, or problems with balance. My symptoms started almost immediately following a fall on my back and sitting at the computer for about three weeks everyday. While I am aware that my anxiety can worsen the situation: I am extremely worried. Please advise.

[bhups1]

Hi, probably this is neuropathy due to nerve pinch at multiple spinal levels. Please use waist belt or use back rest while working on computer. Try physiotherapy and hot compressions on spine. MRI would be diagnostic

[bojangles_73]

Hi,

Would you suggest an MRI for both lumbar and cervical spine? Also, I wanted to point out that I am no longer working at my computer (other than this message) but yet continue to experience all the symptoms mentioned before 2 weeks after.

Bojangles