Redness and pain in foot after back surgery.
 

Hello all,

This is my first post on these forums. It is great to be amongs such knowledgable and supportive people!

I had two procedures on my back on 10/4/2017: 1.) lumbar disc replacement at L5-S1 and 2.) decompression to remove a sequestered disc fragment on my right sided s1 nerve root. Now post op, my s1 nerve is waking up, strength in my right leg is returning and the muscles are coming back. Oh and I have no more back pain which is fantastic.

A couple of days after the surgery I noticed my left foot was warm and I couldn't flex my toes upward. Over the coming weeks this progressed to paresthesia/dysesthesia and sharp, stabbing pain and my foot began to turn red. My orthopedic surgeon insisted this was normal, and that it was just the nerves healing. He told me to give it time.

I went to a pain management doctor who gave me 3 sympathetic nerve blocks which did much to help with the pain and paresthesia/dysesthesia. My EMG showed that L5 is irritated.

The pain is now much, much better -- something like a 1 or a 2. I can also flex my toes upward again. However, My foot is still red and there is this kind of low grade ache. I'm hoping this is just temporary as I would like to avoid a chronic condition from happening.

I'm currently on Gabapentin - 1800mg/day. Nortripylene 20mg at night. MetaNX for nerve regeneration as well as other supplements.

So I'm on this board to see if anyone else has experienced this post back surgery and if it cleared up for them eventually. Thank you so much for your collective wisdom!

-Tony

Hi Tony-

Good to hear that your surgery produced some positive results. Did any of the Drs mention Complex Regional Pain Syndrome? The red foot and stabbing pains are symptoms of CRPS. Both meds your are on and blocks are the treatment for CRPS-

j.