Expert: David Kulla, DC - 12/25/2011

Question
Hi. I am 31 years old. I get a tingling sensation in my left leg, in the outer and front area of the thigh, starting from the knee going up to let's say three quarters of the thigh. It starts to get really worse when I stand, and if I don't sit or lie down it gets so bad that if feels like burning or like my flesh is being ripped apart inside all over the thigh. Now the pain does not go completely away even when I'm sitting or lying down. I didn't notice any limitation in my movements. I can lift the whole leg up, I can turn my foot up from the ankle, I can walk normally. The only limitation in movement is just when the pain becomes strong and I'm trying to relieve it. Other than that, the muscles work OK.



A little medical history:

I already know that I have spinal problems. I have damage in five disks. These problems begun about seven years ago when I started getting some pains in my lower back on random mornings that were so painful that would limit my movements so much that it could take me up to 45 minutes just to manage to get out of bed. Then these pains would last about three to four days until I could move more freely. I guess I can attribute that to some heavy lifting I did at work, and probably a few mistakes in the gym. At the time I could not afford a doctor, and I was under the illusion that those pains were muscular. About three years ago, after helping a friend move, I got radiating pains in the legs that kept me up for three nights. After that the problem got worse, with a different kind of pain that constant, but not as strong. I just couldn't stand straight. I looked like my torso was shifted towards the side. That's when I went to the doctor. The first one gave me a cream and dismissed me saying that the problem was muscular. The second sent me for an MRI scan and that's when we could see the five damaged disks. He prescribed 20 sessions of decompression therapy (DRX9000). After that, I just was very careful not to stress my spine, so i avoided problems.

The problem with my leg going numb started becoming prominent a few months ago if I standed up for more than 10 minutes. It's also worth noting that I had noticed a small area on my left thigh that was numb about nine years ago, before my back problems began. This area was just above my knee, on the outside of the thigh. When I touched it I could not feel it on my skin. It felt like a layer of my skin was numb only, but beneath that I could feel just fine.

One of the things I am trying to determine, is if this problem is definitely related to my back problems, or if it is a different one. I read in a few online pages that this is called meralgia paraesthetica and is caused by compression on the nerve where it passes between the upper front hip bone and the inguinal ligament, which is not anywhere near my damaged disks.

Answer
Reading on the Internet is not always the best thing to do. Your numbness into the legs is clearly due to the damaged discs in the spine causing pressure on the spinal nerves. This was also clear many
Years ago, given your history and MRI results. You need to remove pressure off those nerves. I suggest either chiropractic (which will not repair damaged discs, nothing will repair that) or spinal decompression.