L5 incomplete nerve injury

[Patty228]

In June 2009 I landed in the hospital, diagnosed with a small L5-S1 disc protrusion that should heal.  It did not.  I had surgery on 9/8/09.  Immediately after surgery I had numbness and tingling in my left calf, arch of my foot and big toe.  Three days later I lost the strength in my left foot (foot drop).  The foot drop has improved a little bit, but I have had constant pain since surgery.  In 11/09 I had an EMG and was diagnosed with an L5 incomplete nerve injury from which I "should expect to recovery" but it would take 6 to 12 months.  I started physical therapy and have been taken out twice due to increased pain.  I have had pain since surgery, but this past week it has gotten so much worse that I have barely able to sit.  I can't walk very far without severe pain.  I have also started having shooting pains like electric shocks in my left calf and foot.  When I sit, I feel pressure in my leg between my hip and knee.  I have sharper pain in my left buttock and hip.  This is all new in the last two weeks.  What is happening?  I'm at the end of my rope.  This doesn't seem like healing.  Also, would acupuncture help relieve pain?

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Thank you for your question. Although without being able to examine you I can not offer you the specific advice on diagnosis and treatment that you need, but I would try to provide you some relevant information about your health concern.

I doubt that some spinal nerves still may be compressing in spine after the surgery. By the reason of that nerves from the spinal cord can be irritated causing weakness in the leg, leg/thigh pain and numbness, tingling. Few persons also face generalized body weakness and numbness due to other nerve irritation on back. If you suffer continuous weakness and notice reduced strength of muscle bulk in both the legs, please arrange an appointment with a neurologist right away who will evaluate the possibilities here. These “red flags” could be indicative of compression of the spinal cord and its nerve branches and early treatment is essential if permanent damage needs to be avoided. Further referral to a physiotherapist for spinal exercises could be beneficial and may produce relief of symptoms. Hope this helps.

Take Care & Stay Healthy!!!

[ggreg]

I suppose in the beginning swelling at the operation site caused symptoms, and then the physical therapy could be causing a little swelling, and thus the pressure on the nerves in your back is causing the pain and other symptoms in your leg.  You can always ask for a scan of your lumbar spine to see how the operation is doing and if there's been any changes in the situation.  You also need better pain relief medicines, and yes, acupuncture can sometimes help with nerve pain.  And obviously you need to let the surgeons know who did the procedure what is going on with your pain and discomfort situation.  But as to whether all this is normal, I think for someone to say you should "expect recovery" in six to twelve months is not enough of an explanation, all the more reason for a neurologist and/or the surgeons who operated on you to do a scan and give you better feedback on how you should be doing, and give you better meds until you do recover, if that was indeed a true assessment of where your improvement levels should be.