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What Causes Weakness In Leg And Difficulty Walking?

Posted on Wed, 28 Jan 2015

Question: Hello I'm 57 and experiencing leg weakness in the left leg that makes it impossible to walk very far without stopping to rest it and also the toes go numb. Could this be from sciatica or something else? Three years ago I fell and broke hip on right side, it was pinned and plated hoping to heal but only broke down as break was at ball in hip. I was 1 year going back and forth to doctor and then he recommended total hip replacement which was done. That operation was 2 years ago and hip is good and strong. The problem with left leg started about 1 year ago and I don't see any change since then. I did have pain in the left buttocks at beginning of this but now has turned to dull ache when sitting and the weakness and numb toes are still very big problem hope you can help! Thank you YYYY@YYYY

Answered by Dr. Dr. Sudhir Kumar (56 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Most probably you are having lumbar spinal stenosis

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for choosing healthcaremagic for posting your query.

I'm Dr. Sudhir Kumar,

I have gone through your question in detail and understand your concern.

Most probably you are having lumbar spinal stenosis. In this condition spinal canal space is reduced leading to compression of spinal cord. Its symptoms are sciatica (pain in distribution in supply of sciatic nerve) and numbness in toes specially after walking for some distance. It can be confirmed by MRI scan.

Treatment of it is analgesic (you are already taking) and neurotrophic agents such as Mecobalamin (vitamin B12). Back exercises are helpful. Diacerine and glucosamine are of some help.

If it is not relieved by this(conservative) treatment then operative decompression is required and relieve it.

You can discuss with your treating Doctor about it.

Hope I have answered your query.
If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you.
If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for me, so that I get a good feedback.

In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link:
https://www.bit.ly/askdrsudhirortho

Wishing you good health.

Take care.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Sudhir Kumar (24 hours later)

Thank you for answering and I had a follow up thought on my problem with left leg weakness and numbness in toes. I was going nuts trying to figure out why this problem didn't show up when I broke my hip, or when I had total hip replacement on right side. It came on just when I thought I would be able to walk anywhere with my new hip fixed. So this condition just was devastating. But I was thinking the explanation maybe because through most of the last 3 years I had pain medication and it wasn't till after they were out of my system and thought all was well, that's when left leg problem became noticeable. I await to hear from you to see if this makes sense to you also or not.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Sudhir Kumar (27 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It is unlikely to be your right hip problem

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Welcome back

Your this problem seems to be unrelated to your right hip problem. It may be possible that that when you are taking analgesic then pain may be masked in other areas but most of pain medicine are out from systems within a week so pain should have started within a week if it was masked by pain medication.

Rest already discussed.

You can discuss with your doctor about it.

Hope your query get answered. If you have any clarification then I will be happy to help. If you have no clarification then you can close the query and rate the answer.

Wishing you a good health.

Take care.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D