Foot drop following L4/L5 decompression
 

Hi

I had L4/L5 decompression (lamina and disk) a couple of weeks ago due to spinal stenosis and a bulging disk causing severe back and leg pain.

Prior to the op I had mild numbness of the left big toe however following the surgery I now have numbness and foot drop in my left foot and a small amount of numbness in my right foot.

On the plus side I'm no longer suffering from the severe leg pain I had previously although by the middle of the afternoon I do have moderate burning in both legs.

My questions are
1. Has anyone out there had this problem?
2. Will it get better on it's own?
3. What are my options?

I've a doc appt tomorrow so any questions you can think of that I should ask would be greatly appreciated.

I would definitely ask if this foot drop is permanent - and WHY it happened.

I would ask why I have burning in both legs, which suggests nerve damage. Ask if you DO have nerve damage, and should you be on medication for the burning?

This COULD just be the result of the healing process so I would Not get too upset. I would probably wait and see and if it's still like this in a few months, then I would begin to wonder. Nerves grow back at the rate of one inch per month, and you DID have some nerve damage just by having the surgery so like I said, be patient. I'm sure the longer time goes on, the better you'll fee. Take care, Hugs, Lee

Hi,

I had a minimally-invasive laminectomy at L4 in 2010, and like you it immediately took care of leg pain in both legs, but during recovery from that I noticed that I had numbness in both feet, both ankles, and in both legs below the knee.

My neurosurgeon originally told me in appointments after that surgery, and after a 2nd re-exploration surgery, that it was "motor nerves", and might heal after 18 months, but I subsequently developed intermittent burning in the same areas, and the numbness never went away.

I've been posting in one of the other forums here for peripheral neuropathy:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread177574.html

As mentioned in that other thread, I've seen a bunch of other doctors for the numbness and burning, including a neurologist earlier this year, who diagnosed "idiopathic" (i.e., unknown cause) peripheral neuropathy, but so far, still have the same problems. Since then, I've seen several other orthopedic surgeons, who think that the L4 laminectomy caused scar tissue, and have recommended full laminectomies at L4 and L4 and a fusion, which I'm kind of dis-inclined to do yet.

I have an appointment with a new physiatrist tomorrow, to see what he says, and to try to get a new EMG test.

At this point, I'm not sure what's causing this for me, i.e., is it because of the earlier back surgeries, or some remaining spinal problem(s), or is it because of something else?

FYI, I think that my numbness/burning gets worst when I sit or lie down.

Later,
Jim

Jim there is medication for the burning, which CAN make it go away. I'm on Topamax for that, and it totally removes all burning from the nerve damage, which I have in the right leg especially. The burning was just AWFUL for over 25 years, but the Topamax totally wipes that out. I no longer have ANY burning at all. It's great -- and I only take 400mg per day. Usually with something like Neurontin (Gabapentin) you'd have to take up to 3500mg to get the same results, and I retained all kinds of water with that. :eek:

Also with further surgery for scar tissue, it doesn't make sense cause you'll just develop more scar tissue. That never made sense to me. :confused: Plus with a fusion, the levels above and below the fusion site will fail due to having to take on more of the load. So you end up having to have more surgery. So you're darned if you do and darned if you don't. :( Studies have shown that people who have had fusion end up having the same results as people who have had just physical therapy!!! Interesting, huh?

Best of luck and I hope things work out for you! God bless. Hugs, Lee

Lee,

Thanks for that info. I'll check into Topamax, and understood about further spine surgery and fusion, the latter which I've been extremely wary about (which is why I opted for the minimally invasive laminectomy).


Magella,

Sorry, but I appear to have inadverdently hijacked your thread :(!!

Jim