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Anyone with foot parasthesia? Not exactly neuropathy but similar.
I had a left hip replacement 4/2023. The surgery left me with parasthesia in my right foot and ankle as a result of nerve damage to my spine. My doctors think the nerve block went into my spinal cord and caused this damage. I now ambulate with a cane and wear an orthotic. I was totally “normal” before the surgery. There is a procedure called tendon transfer surgery which may help me. This procedure is typically used for foot drop, which I don’t exactly have. My problem is more with plantar flexion of my right foot and not so much with dorsiflexion. I will soon be seeing a doctor to discuss this procedure. Has anyone had tendon transfer surgery for the foot? If so please let me know if it helped. Thank you!
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have you pursued any physical therapy in addition to the orthotic? just curious
Yes I had months of physical therapy. I still need a cane and orthotic to ambulate.
@juliet10
Have you had a myelogram to map your nerves/nerve health and EMG of your lower limbs to check nerve health and signaling?
I am not sure if tendon transfer would improve your foot flexion if your spinal cord was damaged with the nerve block. There may have been nerve damage to the nerve(s) that controls your foot flexion when they did your hip replacement.
Have you had an updated MRI of your hip recently to check for compressed nerves?
@juliet10
In addition to seeing a neurologist for EMG and nerve testing, you may also want to see a orthopedic spine specialist to get an MRI of your lumbar spine to check spinal cord and nerve roots that affect your hips/legs/feet. I had cervical and lumbar surgeries (lumbar just 8/2/2024). My lumbar spine problems included spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease and neurogenic claudication which caused pain/numbness/weakness in my lower back, hips, buttocks, legs and feet.
Sometimes surgery on hips can cause changes in spine and knee alignment and cause new issues. Have you had your issues with your foot right after surgery or did it develop later? Have you had any ultrasound or vascular assessments of blood vessels from hips to feet to see if there is any vascular claudication?
OMG!! Your symptoms sound just like mine. I had the spinal block and then developed worse back pain and leg and foot numbness. I do have the entire spine herniated, bulging and L5-S1 spondylolysis. Let me know what treatments or radiographs work or don't work in the future. I'm going to see my doctor for the Medicare exam in October and want to give her all the info I can to seek more treatment or exams. I am going to ask if she'll refer me for a pain pump. After all I've read about the spinal cord stimulator, I'm walking away from that. Thank you so much for writing in.
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I had surgery on L3-L5 (decompression/fusion) because spinal injections for pain were not working anymore and I could not stand/sit/walk for long without my hips/buttocks/legs/feet feeling numb and weak.
I also had L4 spondylolisthesis vertebrae slipping over L5. I could feel my vertebrae move with certain movements which felt weird. They used hardware to stabilize my spine. See pictures below.
I have noticed a marked improvement of symptoms since surgery. The surgery was extremely painful and a full 3 month recovery time for me but if it helps me recover some quality of life (I am 55), it will be so worth it.
MRI from a spine specialist would be best. EMGs by neurologist only test limb long nerves and isn’t a reliable way to determine spinal cord/nerve root compression symptoms that travel down limbs. For example, my EMGs of legs were “normal” but I had many symptoms from lower back down to feet all stemming from my lumbar spine. I also have small fiber neuropathy (confirmed via skin punch biopsy done by neurologist) so this added to foot numbness.
Good luck getting the right doctors and tests/diagnoses. You can feel like you are getting the runaround but keep advocating for yourself if you are not getting answers or treatment options for your symptoms and root causes.
I had about 3 months of PT