Your foot has become weak. The toes catch on the floor, the foot may slap when you walk, and lifting the front of the foot toward the shin has become difficult. This is commonly called foot drop. Two important causes can look remarkably similar: L5 radiculopathy, where a nerve root is compressed in the lower […]
You notice numbness in your big toe. Maybe it also affects the top of your foot. Perhaps there is tingling, burning, or pain farther up the leg. Does that mean you have a pinched L5 nerve root? It certainly can. The L5 nerve root commonly supplies sensation toward the top of the foot, big toe, […]
You have pain running down your leg. Your MRI mentions several abnormal discs. One doctor says L4, another says L5, and the report mentions narrowing near S1. So which nerve is actually causing the pain? L4 vs L5 vs S1 nerve root pain can produce different patterns of numbness, weakness, and radiating leg symptoms. Textbook […]
A spinal cord stimulator trial can answer an important question: does electrical stimulation meaningfully reduce your pain right now? What it cannot tell you with certainty is what will happen after the temporary leads are replaced by a permanent system and that system has been in your body for one, three, five, or ten years. […]
Pain starts in your lower back or buttock, travels down the leg, and reaches the foot. Your MRI shows abnormalities at L4-5, L5-S1, or perhaps both. Is the problem the L5 nerve root or the S1 nerve root? This is one of the most common localization problems in lumbar radiculopathy. L5 and S1 sit next […]
A diagnostic nerve root block answers a question that imaging often cannot: when your MRI shows degeneration at several levels, which nerve is actually producing your leg pain? This is a more common problem than most patients realize. A lumbar MRI in an adult with back and leg pain frequently shows a disc bulge at […]
Occipital neuralgia is one of those diagnoses patients sometimes reach only after a long and frustrating detour. The pain may begin at the base of the skull and shoot upward across the back of the head. It may feel sharp, stabbing, burning, or electric. The scalp may become unusually sensitive. In some patients, pain travels […]
Why pain may temporarily feel different or worse after RFA, how to distinguish nerve irritation from ordinary procedural soreness, and when you should call your physician. If your back or neck develops a burning, raw, or sunburn-like sensation after radiofrequency ablation, one possible explanation is post-ablation neuritis, also called post-neurotomy neuritis. This is a temporary […]
📱 SMS ✉️ Email 📘 Facebook 💼 LinkedIn 🐦 Twitter 🖨️ Print Deep gluteal syndrome (DGS) is one of the most quietly frustrating diagnoses in pain medicine — not because it’s rare, but because almost nobody calls it by the same name twice. A physical therapist may call it piriformis syndrome. A chiropractor may call […]
📱 SMS ✉️ Email 📘 Facebook 💼 LinkedIn 🐦 Twitter 🖨️ Print If you’ve been told your MRI is “normal” — or that it shows only mild, age-appropriate wear and tear — and yet your low back pain hasn’t budged after months of physical therapy, medication, or rest, you’re not imagining it. For a specific […]
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