What Do Itching And Pain In The Legs Indicate After A Spine Surgery?

Posted on Wed, 27 Sep 2017

Question: Hi sir this is ambujam patient son I hope you remember us this is just a follow up question the spine surgery happened for my mom in the month of February , now she is getting recovered slowly . My mom started sitting for more than 3 hours nowadays she is able to stand and walk perfect also but right from the day she got operated she got a complaint saying that sometimes she id feeling itching sensation in legs and very rarely it pains but without giving any medicine or injection it is getting cured in a while .We already highlighted this condition to doctor he told that she became weak after her operation due to which she is feeling these issues by Aug 15th doctor did a checkup by getting X-ray and measuring certain parameters like ESR,CRP even though they are bit elevated he told that everything seems normal in X-ray the elevated parameters will become normal in short since we stopped the medicines . Now we took the ESR , CRP test on our own interest and it is almost normal i guess CRP -9 and ESR 16 for 30 mins and 34 for 1 hr should we worry about this slight elevation and about the leg pain can you please guide me on this

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Nothing worrisome.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
The CRP and ESR are almost normal and are not worrisome. This mild rise can be incidental. It does not suggest any active illness. The mild pain in the legs can be related to mild nerve root compression due to degenerative changes in the spine. The main treatment of such problem is bed rest along with pain killers and muscle relaxants. Muscle relaxants can help with her symptoms if used in appropriate dosage in combination with a potent analgesic. You can get these prescribed from her orthopedician.
Local analgesic gels and hot fomentation may provide a short term relief. She can use analgesic gels like Volini gel. Exercise is not advisable in the times of acute pain.
I hope this answers your query.
In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.
For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Praveen-Tayal

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar