that would cause tingling/numbness in feet would most likely travel down your legs, and effectively give you some odd sensation in at least part of your leg. Usually spinal problems will also not cause identical symtoms in both limbs/feet either. If both of your feet are tingling/burning at the same time in the same pattern, more or less, it is most probably not the back.

As I have said, I have had spinal issues 8 years and when I first came down with PN, an orthopedic and a neurologist in consult advised that this might be stemming from my lumbar originally. I knew then it was not possible.

it is very possible to have PN from some unknown or not yet evident cause,and also have PN from spine as well. 2 seperate conditions overlapping and confusing you.

Now due to the limited ability to diagnose over the net, I am taking my best guess as someone who has both PN and herniated discs in the same area.

Are you going to see a neurologist? Have you had an MRI? Have you had any testing?

Yeah I am seeing a neuro, a one that believes that a fasting glucose of 110 is OK. Anyways, I've seen 3 neurosurgeons for my spine. One says do surgery, one says NO, and one says go conservative and then surgery if it doesn't help. I'm going to see a fourth in a couple of weeks. MRI of lumbar, two herniated, not ruptured, not very severe, but there is some compression on both sides. I've had vitamin tests, and an NCS, that's it. I'm thinking of changing to another neuro.

There are a few memebers on this board hat attribute pre-diabetes to their PN. Maybe a change in diet would help you, and maybe also look at a supplement that stabalises blood sugars like Chromium & Vitamin D?

As far as surgery is concerned, I now know 5 people including myself who have undergone the operation. I also have a top surgeon meself over here. What happens is they remove the prolapsed disc material, and ofcourse that would release the pressure from any pinched nerve roots immediately.

So if you had sciatica and problems with your legs due to the herniated discs that would most likely resolve. But...once your back is damaged, it will always be your achilles heel... operation or no operation. My operation gave me relief for about 2 years. Then I started having back pain again,and 8 years on I have the same 2 discs reherniate. Me dad has had 2 operations on the same discs for the same reason. Me cousin has had her operation last just 4 years and no is trying to have another one.

Me surgeon told me I have a good degree of scar tisue which has built up in the old opertaion site,and now I have limited mobility and ofcourse some athritis. So the doctor that advises you to do everything conservative first, is probably the wisest, as he is also recognising that people have operations because they sometimes get to the end of their rope.

By the time I had my operaton, I was on the phone to my parents crying every night. I was having massages daily. I was begging my 75 year old grandmother to masssage my back. I couldn't even hold my child. My body was twisted and in spasm. I couldn't sleep or eat, and I was popping pain killers most likely to dangerous doses. I had lost all touch with reality. When I finally saw the surgeon who was to perform the operation, I couldn't even get on the table for an examination, nor drive myself there, and I burst into tears when he shook my hand. My husband and my father had to carry me to the hospital as I was unable to walk by that time. People looked at me in pitty, and always offered me a seat or a chair everywhere I went. An elderly woman got up from her seat on the bus and had offered it to me. I was so desperate that I even accepted it. I had home delivery of groceries.

After the operation, I actually walked out of the hospital.

So yes, I do not regret the operation. And if one gets to the point of being so disabled, than what else really matters? If someone told me that eating rat faeces would have cured me I would have gladly done it.

But go into this with your eyes open, and understand that this may not be a permanent cure. If you have young children it is unrealistic for anyone to say you can't move or run anymore.

One thing that also works for herniated discs that few people can do, is to just saty in bed for 2 weeks, no work, no meal prepartaion, no nothing. Take voltaren and paracetomal. This is what they did for me the last time I had a major re-hernaition. But I was in hospital. The disc settled down on it's own.

I second Mrs D's advice on PT and salt. I have experienced tingling & numbness (at different times) from both a back injury and PN while stretching large nerves. Whatever caused my small fibre sensory PN also caused some of the large nerves in my legs to become very sensitive to stretching. I think it was B12 deficiency but none of the neurologists I have seen agree. I have been taking B12 now for about 20 months and my large nerves have recovered almost 100%

You need to find a good physiotherapist (physical therapist in the USA?)to advise you on exercise & stretching for your back problem. Some stretching & exercises can make your back worse so it is important to find a good PT. I saw two physiotherapists before I found one who I think has the right approach - he advises Pilates-type exercises and very careful stretches which are modified specially for me. I think I now have my back problem under control. I would avoid surgery if at all possible.

I found a difference in the opinions of physiotherapists (even the good one) and the sports medicine doctors who I saw for my back regarding stretching nerves. The PT thinks it is OK to stretch nerves gently until they just tingle but the doctors advise that stretching nerves is not good. I agree with the doctors and I don't stretch nerves that tingle. Every time you feel tingling or numbness from stretching a large nerve you might be damaging that nerve. Large nerves might eventually not recover from repeated injury.

Restricting salt intake is good for lots of reasons. If you eat a 'normal' diet you are probably eating about 5 times more salt than you need and your body carries about 2 litres of extra water to dilute the excess salt. That water has to be stored somewhere. Too much salt increases blood pressure and causes or exacerbates a host of other problems. My simple philosophy is that nerves work by moving sodium and potassium around, so normalizing my sodium intake can only help my PN. I follow the guidelines in http://www.saltmatters.org. There is also good info at http://www.awash.org.au and http://www.worldactiononsalt.com. A simple way to avoid eating too much salt is to avoid processed foods which almost all have about 5 times too much salt.

Martin

I think that what MrsD said is right on. Very good explanation about how salt and water retention figures in. When nerves are stretched to the point of causing tingling, numbness or pain, they are BEING DAMAGED. Normal nerves can take some stretching without harm, but with neuropathy, we have to be very careful. Jane Fonda's advice of "no pain, no gain" is soooooo wrong. That tingling, numbness, and pain you feel when you stretch is your body telling you to stop and don't do this again! Exercise is valuable, but we need to listen to our bodies and go slowly. We have been so brainwashed by the "pop" exercise culture to go too far, too fast. While it is true that some PT's are not very good at what they do, this is true of all professions. I would try again and hopefully you will be pleased with how they help you. They are really the best equiped to help people with pathologies find the best way to exercise without causing damage. Be kind to yourself and your nerves, and good luck with exercise!

If nerves are compressed with "restrictions" of connective tissue, and don't have free movement, stretching can cause symptoms such as these. I've had two kinds of bodywork which haave helped a lot. The first was myofascial release therapy (google John Barnes, Therapy on the Rocks, Myofascial release to find out more or find PTs who do this). It totally cured thoracic outlet syndrome and released nerves which were lightly scarred down all over my body. That increased the abilty of these nerves to get blood and energy, and made stretching possible without further compromise.

The second is Feldenkrais. Rather than strething in the direction of muscle fibers, Feldenkrais emphasizes making very small movements perpendicular to the muscle, very very small, just to the point where you feel a restriction in your movement, and repeating this over and over. It accomplishes what stretching does, by signalling muscles to let-go, that there contraction is not needed. There are CDs on the feldenkrais.com website which is use. I like the series "moving out of pain". These are very very gentle movements.

What I've learned most is that there is no inherent value in stretching. There's value in being loose enough to make movements used in everyday living easy to perform, and nothing to be gained from yogic like flexibiltiy. I've also learned that our connective tissue, over the years, develops all sorts of little catches and snags, which end up compressing and limiting bloodo supply to nerves.

All my doctors now find my right ankle reflex without difficulty. This is pretty amazing, as in 1999 I had zero reflexes on both sides, and now I have a definite reflex on the right, and a sometimes-present reflex on the left. I credit the bodywork and supplements.

Keep moving, but doing it with the newer state-of-the-art understanding of how the musculo-skeletal system works and what its needs are.

Good on you!

I get something like what you're talking about. It happens when I stretch my feet. Like pointing my toes straight out. I get this tingling/burning/stretching feeling on the tops and insteps of my feet. My toes tingle. It hurts a good bit. I have no idea what causes it.

Thanks to my son who is Massage and PT. and got me started on Malf.I
think i would be screaming my head off..When he moved away and got
a pt to take over i'm not sure what i would do..Guess he would have to come
back and i'm no competition to that beautifull dr. wife of his..It's a blessing for some of us...hugs lady, Sue

I have got problems with C5 C6 & C7, the best advise i have ever got before doing any stretching exercises, is to warm the affected/injured area for 10 minutes before hand with a heat bag, this is the only possible way i can do any stretching to that area i mention and i found that it's most important is not to over do the stretching, i have tried doing stretching exercises without the heat before and finished up in real pain.

Brian

so I was doing stretches and my knee went completely numb after stretching my adductor. I put ice on it for about 15 minutes and now it is swollen and still has no feeling. It is under the knee cap and above the connection of the calf muscle in the front side. I'm worried about blood clotting or if I pulled a nerve or something.