Hi,
Crashed in Feb last year, had increasing leg pain until my back imploded in August, had emergency microdisectomy, not been able to lift my left heel off the floor since, calf muscle refuses to contract, trying to ride gave me peroneal tendinitis - ruined my life!!
The NHS are not being forthcoming, I have managed to get these notes but my follow up is not until Feb 13. Any indication as to if this is good / bad, am I banished from riding forever? I get strange tingling in my foot when doing ham stretch or if I lift my left from the ground, not every time but sometimes. Back of ham is numb and does not tingle, can't tense my left glute anything like my right. Little toe left foot, heel and outer foot numb.
Cheers!!
NMG TEST
L COMM PERONEAL - EDH ANKLE LATENCY 5.25 AMP 4.1
L TIBIAL AH ANKLE LATENCY 5.95 AMP 8.5
L SURAL LATENCY 3.35 PEAK AMP 22 DIST 14 VELOCITY 41.8
L TIBIAL AH MIN F LAL 56.6 MAX 59.1 MFLAT 57.88
MRI LUMBAR WITH CONTRAST, EVIDENCE OF INTERVAL SURGERY AT L5/S1. LARGE PROTRUSION SATISFACTORILY REDUCED. POST OP ENHANCEMENT AT DISC MARGIN AND LEFT LAT RECESS IN KEEPING WITH POST OP FIBROSIS. ALL OTHER LEVELS STABLE.
I've had a look at the results, and I'm sorry to have to tell you this.
You have AIDS.
Not that I'm an expert but the MR shows evidence of post operative swelling and that may be the cause of your discomfort. radiologist has noted this but reckons it to be normal. that said, i'm the IT guy here so probably not a reliable source of information. if the discomfort doesn't seem to be easing i'd be giving your gp a shout
Whilst I understand NMG I don't know what a "normal" result would be so can't really help.
Do you have a number for your consultant's secretary? Might be on any copies of clinic letters you've been sent. Might be worth a call to see if they can help? Or your GP should probably be able to give you a rough interpretation.
Good luck!
I knew doing your Mum bareback was a mistake, she told me you were positive but had only done her twice.
Other than than, cheers for the update. Surgeon is incommunicado, will not tell me anything over the phone.
Might bite the bullet and go private.
Basically you have post operative scarring and swelling around the nerve root. It can be normal for a few months after surgery (I had a successful microdiscectomy at l5/s1 back in 2001). It's important to do post-operative rehab. What exercises/advice have you been given?
These might help you understand what is going on. Top one shows which areas are served by which nerve root for sensation, bottom one shows which nerve roots supply which muscles.
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Lots of nerve glides, ham stretches, lower back 'cobra / mckensie' stuff, mine was an acute impact then degeneration, not chronic. The physio said my core etc was fine (always done lots of core stuff).
I'm at 4 months now, they said my calf muscle would be working again after 6 weeks.
Return of function after a nerve injury is an inexact science. I wouldn't be too worried just yet.
Return of function after a nerve injury is an inexact science. I wouldn't be too worried just yet.
This. Nerves are not like muscle and bone which are highly vascular and heal relatively quickly. They can be very slow to regenerate/repair after damage. Personally I found swimming helped a lot but it sounds like you are doing everything you can at the moment to encourage the healing process.