[Battista85]

#33974

Thanks again Doctor. I know my anxiety is just getting the best of me and I need to be patient.

Just another question. On a straight leg test today the non sciatica leg (right) seem to trigger that sharp foot pain on the sciatica side (left). Any reason for this beyond the irritated nerve as you said? How are they connected? Thanks again

[Donald Corenman, MD, DC]

#33976

What you describe is a contralateral straight lest raise test and is typically positive with moderate to severe opposite sided nerve root inflammation. Don’t read too much into this finding. Give it time.

Dr. Corenamn

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.
 
Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

[Battista85]

#33977

Thanks again. When the doctor did this test last week I felt no pain. I just finished the steroids off today and decided to try the test again and that’s when I got the sharp pain. Repeated attempts produced the same result. I’m trying not to read much into it but shouldn’t I be concerned that it is a worsening symptom? I did walk a lot more yesterday than previous days so maybe that had something to do with it?

Again, thanks so much. As I said my anxiety is through the roof with this and you’ve been one of the the only calming voices in my life.

[Battista85]

#33980

One other question, in addition to my last post (sorry, you’re just so much better at answering questions than my doctor!), is there any signficance to the pain disappearing before the surgery? I’d say the pain entirely disappeared 10-14 days before the procedure. Was the nerve dying? As far as I know it was still fully compressed and the numbness and weakness never went away. The MRI for what it’s worth says it was a “L5-S1 large left paracentral extruded HNP with resultant moderate central canal stenosis. Recommend clinical correlation for impingement of the descending and traversing left S1 nerve root”. I worry if the lack of pain I had prior to the surgery was an indication of signficant nerve damage…

[Donald Corenman, MD, DC]

#33981

Pain disappearing prior to surgery is always an unanswered question as to the source. For example, if you had severe pain with weakness prior to surgery and you underwent an epidural steroid injection, this would most likely relieve much of your pain but would do nothing for the injurious compression against the motor nerve and surgery would still be necessary to give the motor nerve the best chance to recover.

In addition, the loss of pain could be from a complete sensory block due to compression which is not a good sign either. Decompressing the root allows restoration of function of the sensory root which in turn allows pain signals to be restored.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.
 
Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

[Battista85]

#33983

Thanks again. I suppose then having this pain post surgery I should take as a good sign that the nerve is at least somewhat functioning, even if the numbness and weakness hasn’t disappated yet?

Also, again not to harp on it, but the opposite side (right) slr causing pain in my left foot isn’t cause of alarm even though this wasn’t the case a week ago? That doesn’t indicate that something is causing increased irritation? For what it’s worth I’m relatively pain free now EXCEPT when doing the slr /sitting too long or sometimes rolling out of bed/getting out of car (which even with the log roll can be awkward and difficult at times).

And as an update, I see my surgeon on Thursday but he suggested ovet the phone going for another MRI with contrast. In your opinion, is 3 weeks post-op too soon to be doing that?

Again, thanks a million. This site is a lifesaver

[Author]

Posts