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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Numbness And Muscular Spasms In The Leg With Lower Back Pain?

I have leg weakness with Spasms and numbness from my groin and buttock. It s been getting progressively worse for 3 days. This afternoon my temp is 99.5, it was previously normal. X-Rays show degraded L3/L4 disk However I have little pain in my lower back. Today I started cyclobenzaprine, ibuprofen and methylPREDNISolone. Could this be something else and should I go back to the ER.
Mon, 8 Jun 2015
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hello there,

The symptoms that you are having seem to be due to disc changes. This means that the discs are compressing against the nerves in your lower spine(lumbar spine). This irritates the nerve and causes shooting pains and spasms along the distribution of the nerve. Generally starting from the back, moving on to the back of the thigh and going to the heel.

The treatment for this involves-
1) You sleeping on a hard surface. The mattress that you sleep on should be firm not soft or squishy.
2) Doing lower back strengthening exercises under physiotherapy
3) Accupressure/accupunture therapies are also of some help but go to a therapist only if you have talked to the patients he has treated first and they can see an improvement in their symptoms.

Meds which are painkillers like vicodin or tramadol are a temporary fix as they only treat the symptom(pain) but do not treat the cause of pain.

It would take you upto 3 months to start seeing positive results under physiotherapy but being regular is the only way you can keep off the pain.

Hope this helps, Please get back to me with any further queries. I would be glad to help you,
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What Causes Numbness And Muscular Spasms In The Leg With Lower Back Pain?

Hello there, The symptoms that you are having seem to be due to disc changes. This means that the discs are compressing against the nerves in your lower spine(lumbar spine). This irritates the nerve and causes shooting pains and spasms along the distribution of the nerve. Generally starting from the back, moving on to the back of the thigh and going to the heel. The treatment for this involves- 1) You sleeping on a hard surface. The mattress that you sleep on should be firm not soft or squishy. 2) Doing lower back strengthening exercises under physiotherapy 3) Accupressure/accupunture therapies are also of some help but go to a therapist only if you have talked to the patients he has treated first and they can see an improvement in their symptoms. Meds which are painkillers like vicodin or tramadol are a temporary fix as they only treat the symptom(pain) but do not treat the cause of pain. It would take you upto 3 months to start seeing positive results under physiotherapy but being regular is the only way you can keep off the pain. Hope this helps, Please get back to me with any further queries. I would be glad to help you,