Leg Weakness
 

For about a year now, I have had trouble with weakness and tightness in my thigh muscles. I have had MRI's of my keck, lower back, and brain. I have also had EMG's twice, eight month apart, All of the tests were negative for MS, ALS or any kind of nerve disorder. I also have some slight upturning of the toes on my right foot. I continue to fight it by walking 1.5mi, 2 to 3 days a week, however the walk continues to get more difficult. and I'm having some loss of size and slightly accelerated weakness in my right leg. The only thing the doctors can tell me is that during the last EMG they noticed some nerve "static" in my lower back. I've also been told thad I have some slight disc bulging in my lower L4 L5 area, but that shouldnt be causing the problems I'm having in both legs????

Any Ideas???????

I'm 50 years old, and before this started happening a year ago september I was easily running 2 miles 3 days a week and riding my bike 50mi on the weekend. I would say that my legs are now at about 65% of the strength that they were.

HELP!!!!!!!

Is there any pain associated with the weakness, any tingling or numbness? Is there any problem bringing the leg across the body? How about any problems moving the leg to the side? Any stiffness, pain or other difficulty moving the straight leg straight ahead in front of you? Is there severe tightness in your hamstrings (at the rear of the leg)?

Several possibilities occur to me. It could be compression of the nerves within the spine. But don't panic yet. Compression of the sciatic nerve by muscles beneath the gluteus maximus (your butt) create all kinds of symptoms, including muscle weakness. The chief culprit is the piriformis, a little muscle that does important work (it stabilizes the thigh). Its origin is on the sacrum, it inserts high on the femur. In 25% of the population the sciatic nerve runs right through the center of this small muscle; in everybody else the piriformis covers the nerve. When the muscle becomes hypertonic, it presses on the nerve, inhibiting interplay between brain and the many muscles of the thigh, calf and foot. And a muscle or a part of it that can't receive communication cannot fire...cannot work to its full capacity... will in fact be weaker. If the problem stems from pressure on the sciatic nerve as I suspect, a licensed massage therapist who is trained in neuromuscular therapy (NMT) can bring you relief in a few minutes.

Schedule an hour with an NMT-trained massage therapist before you do anything else. I hope your problem is not something more serious.

There is no pain except when I over do. If you mean "bringing my leg across my body" as crossing my legs while sitting, yes. No problem side to side. It is difficult to raise a straight leg straight out in front of me. My leg muscles do seem tight all of the time (including , I think that is why they're weak. In addition, I sit a lot in my job and sitting always seems to make the symptoms worse, and the harder the chair I sit in the worse the symptoms get. So, whatever the problem is, sitting agrivates it!!!

I do think it's neuromuscular... nerve compression by a muscle or muscles, probably in the posterior hip. Six small muscles beneath the gluteus maximus work in tandem to stabilize and laterally rotate the hip (i.e. bringing the knee toward the center of the body rotates the head of the femur as it sits in the acetabulum of the hip outward) The largest of these is the piriformis, which as mentioned can compress the sciatic nerve that innervates the leg.

Without doubt the best way to alleviate hypertension in muscles is the release of trigger points via therapeutic massage. Drugs are a temporary fix. Stretching and exercise help to prevent the problem from recurring. NMT massage therapy will not only alleviate the pain and muscle weakness, it can eliminate the cause.