Mystified. Moving pain below waist and in both legs

This sounds so much like a pinched nerve caused by spinal stenosis. Something I have been dealing with for 3 years. I am now scheduled to have decompression surgery next month. I have a lot of the kind of pain that you describe.

Hey Rob,

Your symptoms sound like you may have a pinched sciatic nerve in your lower back. The sciatic nerve gets pinched, pain in the back of the legs all the way to the feet is possible.

I suggest you see a doctor as soon as possible. The Dr will likely do X-rays to determine if the spine is the culprit here. A pinched sciatica can be caused by numerous conditions. A Dr should be able to diagnose and treat this.

All the best to you.

Joe

Good luck with the decompression surgery. I had that done about 11 years ago (I'm 70 now). The procedure is called a laminotomy - holes were drilled in the back of my S1, L5, and L4 vertebrae. This created more room for the sciatic nerve, removing arthritic spurs to reduce stenosis, all without the need for fusion and leaving the integrity of the vertebrae intact.

It sounds like this is what you're having done. The surgeon can also trim a ruptured disc (discectomy), or in my case, remove the part of a ruptured disc that was present in my spinal canal.

All the best! I think this is the most conservative surgery for the back to treat sciatica and stenosis. As I recall, it didn't require stitches. I did get pain in my leg and difficulty sitting down for 3 or 4 days after surgery. The sciatic nerve doesn't like being bothered - even though it stays, or should stay, intact. Like any surgery, there are risks. I hope your surgery gives you the same relief I got.

Joe

Joe

Has your uric acid level been tested? It’s a very simple blood test and you could be suffering the side effects of gout. For years and years I would get stiff to a standstill like RA but I was tested and always told it was OA. Turns out after 30 years it was gout. I went to the doctor sometimes three times a week. Would get RA tests every couple of years always negative. Had so much OA. That’s what the doctor said, but it felt like my immune system attacking my joints. God only knows why no one ever looked at as a possibility. I asked my doctor this after figuring it out after 30 years by starting a supplement that someone had mentioned here. And it worked so then I asked for the uric acid test blood test, and then I asked to be put on allopurinol. That brought my uric acid levels right in line and stopped the myriad of aches and pains all over my body, my stiff hands, my sore wrists and all the rest. I like ZAZZEE Art cherry capsules on Amazon. They are $20 and if they do you some good then you know you’re on the right track. I. , my stiff hands, my sore wrists and all the rest. I like ZAZZEE Art cherry capsules on Amazon. They are $20 and if they do you some good then you know your on the right track. I see an orthopedic surgeon a couple times a year. I am not quite ready for my next lumbar surgery as my back is collapsing. I can tell you that when you have Cortizone injections or epidurals, they have to diagnose the exact area where your pain is emanating. They finally found an exact area for me, but the Cortizone only lasts about a month. These myriad pains in my legs were so debilitating and keeping me from sleeping, that besides walking twice a day for a mile, I started writing my exercise bike for an hour almost every day that seemed to fix it. I needed to get my legs stronger. If you had regular pain, I would recommend radio frequency ablation RFA/RFI. It is basically a painless outpatient procedure, and that stopped all my referred pain around to my front legs, which kept me up at night by knocking out the nerve endings exiting my facet joints. But I would think you have to have indications which you said you Don’t of things like stenosis and other spinal back disorders. For many years I was at the wrong doctors. I should’ve been at an orthopedic surgeon who does the x-rays and reads the MRIs by visually looking at them and not depending on interpretations for a “read.“ If you haven’t been to an orthopedic surgeon, find some good ones and start there from the top down . The people at the bottom, the physical rehab don’t necessarily deal with the structure of the house. They only deal with what they can see on the surface level after it’s all put together. Pain management just is a Band-Aid on your symptoms. But the orthopedic surgeon can give you an idea if somethings impinged exiting your spine and causing your problem and focus on a location. Good luck.

It is the waist down pain and progressive loss of motion ability that got me when I read this. August 2022 I had spinal stenosis surgery with instrumentation . I progressed to walking a mile or more with no serious discomfort by the next April 2023. Then my hips started to hurt. My Dr prescribed prednisone for the PMR he thought I had. Nothing is apparent on my MRIs, The Neurologist says i am fine and my leg veins passed the test. Now, two years later, I am virtually crippled when I ambulate. I use a ByAcre rollator at all times. I take a variety of pain meds. 8 hour Tylenol three times a day. Also every 8 hours: 300 Neurontin; 5 mg oxycodone; Duloxatine. Lower body hurts. Leg pain wakes me up.