Anyone for suggestions or heard of this please ?

[cavalier]

I just sent this note to Dr. F.M. - due to delays in being to see a spine doc here for a apptmt - Can anyone help with this please ?

I am having increasing foot pain in my left foot - on the bottom center & also swelling of this same foot & ankle. To where I wake up now with it still being in this same state as when I went to bed- it can cause me some restless sleeping along with my back muscles for the 1st time since my ADR surgery.
I am also having increasingly tight back muscles & it is not made better by walking but actually it makes both of these worse. However bed rest does not alleviate this either. I can not see my spine doctor here until the beginning of January.
I just wondered have you ever heard of this before ? - I was doing great until about 2 � wk�s ago - & this has been getting worse not better. A PT exercise seemed to aggravate things or it is coincidence but when I do these it makes things flare up more immed. while doing them - so I have stopped doing this one -abotu 2 wk's ago now - yet it has not resolved itself or gone away. I am 4 � months out from my Prodisc surgery at L4L5 - I was doing much better than this before & I could walk with no foot pain before this point, since my ADR surgery. I had only burning feet left, which I still have.
It actually can involve all the way up to my sciatic nerve getting flared up & hurting - so that is why along with the back muscles that I felt this is all related & I should ask.
I still can not tolerate sitting for long, I realize that it is still early & so I was not worried about the sitting part, as long as the rest was still doing so well, but I also know the foot & leg can go painful & numb all the way up to my thigh along with the back muscles are not good to just keep letting this go by.
Could this mean the spondylo is increasing again or even a possibility ? I hope not. I have not read of anyone with these symptoms at this juncture.
Thank you for any general suggestions you can offer.

Jill

[Alastair]

Hi Jill,
as long as the swelling is only slight in your foot, I would think that this is just swelling due to inflammation. If it goes into your leg and your leg swells also, and becomes more painful, then do get a checkup for DVT.

I'm not entirely sure what you have been doing in your recovery routine. I'm afraid that's been due to circumstances beyond my control.

Have you been doing your stretching exercises? Achilles tendon and hamstring stretches, they are in the FAQs here also.Are you doing curls, with your hands round your knees lying on your back? I'm not entirely sure what you are doing, but if you wish to let me know please e-mail me.

It sounds as if you might be limping with this foot injury (and this is what it sounds like), in this case you are walking with your pelvis at an uneven angle. Have you tried icepacking the foot? Are you sleeping with a thigh pillow, to keep your pelvis stable whilst you are asleep?

It is quite logical that pain from your foot and because of this badly angled pelvis due to the pain from your foot is causing the rest of your problems.

I wouldn't worry too much, it sounds like a general hiccup in your recovery. Remember you could be another three to four months before you are 100%.

I'm about to dive into a big Bath, ( the springboard is at the plughole end) -- -- --lol

I will come back and have another look at about 9:30 p.m. which is in about another hour and and half time.
Best wishes,
Alastair

[Alastair]

PS
Could this be a strain of the Arch across your toes???Under your foot known as the lateral arch?


Or is it a strain of you basic arch of your foot?
See a podietrist maybe
Best
Alastair

[cavalier]

Good thoughts Alastair in the podiatrist - it is my leg & foot that are swollen - I am trying to still put weight on that foot no matter how much it complains - as to the hands under the legs yes & I have done stretches - I will check it out with that doc - you can visually see the differences in my feet - but it does go up all the way up my leg in the back & over to the thigh for the sciatic & yes that whole leg is painful - I always sleep with a pillow under my knees - Thanks - Jill

[wbaker68]

Hi Jill, sorry to hear your having some problems. What kind of exercise were you doing when you first felt this pain? Just wondering if that in and of itself may help in figuring out the problem.

take care and hope you get some relief soon.

Bill

[Alastair]

Yes Jill, what were you doing to trigger this off? Please tell us and we will all avoid doing it -- -- --lol

[Harrison]

Jill,

Sorry about the discomfort you are experiencing. It seems post-op recovery with ADR is sort of like �a box of chocolates � you never know what yer gonna git!�

My recovery has been relatively smooth, but any problems I had were entirely in my left leg � from the top all the way down to my feet. In month 3 and 4, the tightness was definitely noticeable, especially where the hamstrings terminate in the butt and all the way down in the ankle area. Before surgery, I noticed �weird� things going on in my left leg; it�s even stranger during post-op �connecting the dots� and identifying the relationship between pre- and post- symptoms.

Did you happen to notice if your symptoms were localized in your left leg pre-op? And have you been doing massages along the way? I am convinced that massage is an important part of a healthy recovery.

As a BTW, last month I was getting lazy and not doing as much stretching as I (perhaps?) should have been doing. I found a more comfortable way to do it at home (using a futon laid flat) and I do it MUCH more often and as a result feel much better. I think finding the right regime of stretching-massage-exercise is the right solution, but finding the right balance among those three is the big challenge.

PS: Pls keep us posted on your progress.

[Jim M2]

Hi Jill,
Glad to see you here. Sorry to hear about this problem. I had irregular pronounced boughts of foot swelling through seven months post ADR L5S1 Charite. The swelling usually came when my back pain was the highest. Pain down the legs was also part of the package, although it wasn't nearly so bad as the LBP.

Your other symptoms sound familiar. My back muscles have been tight since surgery. Recently a radiologist reported loss of normal lordosis probably due to spasms. Most of the 15 months since ADR have been painful. Unlike pre-surgery, laying down no longer helps. As of the past few weeks I've been mostly uncomfortable with some periods of pain. It's a welcome improvement.

Even if you can find a US ADR doc all they can do is x-ray to verify nothing big is out of place.

Best wishes,
Jim

[judyc]

i'm getting a little nervous about the pain after ADR after surgery. it sounds like there are a lot of unsucccess results. is it just temporary pain. since my pain runs the gamet from lower back down to my feet i didn't know that the bottom of the foot was all part of this problem too. question - today i have pain in my inner thigh as well. is this also "normal"?

sorry about your pain jill - hope it is temporary.

[cavalier]

Dear All - many thanks for the input it is VERY much appreciated. I will copy a note here I sent to someone who is having the exact same type of problems still that took the time to write to me privately - - I hope it summarizes things well - if not let me know

Hi Thank you so much for taking the time to write. You know how hard it is to reexplain this to someone who is not experiencing this to know. I appreciate their trying to help, but it is like trying to explain how does gravity exist You just know it does & also I have seen by experimenting a direct correlation with increasing foot & leg pain & my back pain with sitting.
I know my entire foot & leg is affected with the pain & if I keep on it - it can then finally flare up my right leg but normally it is the left & starts off when I get up with my left. The visual swelling of my left foot & ankle into the leg - is not my Heart blood pressure etc that can cause extremities to hurt & swell - why for one my hereditary does not predepose me to this & also because all of that was just done the end of June for my pre-op work-up - I have exccellent Blood pressure no diabetes - do not smoke & I have no cholestrol or even placque in my arteries- meaning i have as good an heart as one can have & having 0% clacification or plaque - this was done via an heart scan & it impressed the doc's - it has not changed since with a follow-up visit to my GP since. I have not had any foot problems other than the leg claudication that my back was causing -it all traced for the nerve pathways to my L4L5 disc. So ... My GP by the way is not to be confused with my spine OSS

IF I can have a couple of days without this - laying down instead of ANY sitting it does get better, but builds back fast when activity resumes - including just walking which I hate as it is making just steps around the house hard to do - & is making miles of walking hard sometimes impossible - which is a vicious circle - of not helping me recondition build strength or help my back - I hate not knowing once again - how far how long. When I 1st had surgery & was not driving yet I could walk no foot pain or leg pain only the burning feet in both feet which was stronger than pre-surgery - but the horriffic leg pain & foot pain was gone & other than muscular aches the back pain too was gone - I was extremely happy. HOWEVER I could not do much of my housework still due to the 3 month restriction I had & did not chase errands or make lengthy car trips - I did much better.
My back always told me to get up & when I could avoid or listed I did - however many things were put off getting done i that time period & now that I am stepping up the bar & I can not rest in-between - mainly trying to get back to life - I find I am unfortunately not up to par still - & am still severely ltd. - meaning if I keep a low activity level I am VASTLY improved from the last 9 months presurgery at this same level - Actually much less activity level just prior to presurgery - however - I find driving more than a total of 30 minutes a day - this includes both ways - or sitting for more than 10 -15 min's at a time to have me wonder how I can do so well to feeling geesh is something wrong to even did I even have surgery ? Only to remind myself well I am BETTER off - I just am not to where even a P.T. job is feasible yet & I do find it frustrating - how can I get stronger & now find so far - as of yet cant get past this bar ?

I am FULLY aware that this is good on so many levels - yet I am not able yet to break thru this - I do believe that I do not heal as fast as I did or could have had I been able to have had this done when I was 40 - I am 50 now. The facts are this could be as good as it gets 1/2 way or not - it does take time & I am not calling it yet. I also know this is NOT in my head & the fact that this has occurred with someone else - is good to know - I am sorry this has happened for you too - I was on Nuerontin for a bit after my surgery & it may well be with the increased activity prob. not a bad idea to go back on it for a bit - I only took 600 - 900 MG of Nuerontin but I always hated waking up groggy feeling - I have this trouble enuf !! other than that I did well on that dose.
I have NO DOUBT it is sitting related & my nerves are not healed as evidenced by my burning feet that remained & were worse even after my surgery - it was explained that may or may not be perm. up to 2 yr's to heal. VIT B-12 supplements helps & I also take SAM-E 400 mg for joints & also Glucsomine & I CAN tell when I do not - I notice it is worse yet - they do not take it all away but anything that helps keep me off of Hydrocodone I feel is better for my liver - I had enuf of that over 10 yr's even though my Prescriptions lasted me 3-4 times longer than as directed. I do have 10 mg of Flexerol & I was able to avoid taking that -a muscle relaxer until recently - I felt I needed help in breaking thru a vicous cycle for my back was getting so tight - it helped. B ut still something I am having to watch. I always struggled with tight hamstrings due to pain - but I could with excercise keep on top of them better than I can now - I tend to think or hope it is muscles getting retrained restoration of the full back & the 1/2 inch I regained after having lost that single disc height for so long. I think it is frustrating to still have limitations but nothing is guaranteed or perfect - as I said many would be glad to trade places & for that I do feel for folks - & I know I am still happy to have been afforded this - I still would have done this even with where I am at now & not knowing if I will get better still yet or not - but it was because I was so LOW before & when I think of it I have pushed myself pretty hard since being released - mainly as I said I had too - but I am still trailing & my body is complaining & yet I am not even working P.T. yet IF I put in a day like you have been ( sitting for 8 hr's every day even alternating - I would be in NOT very good shape right now & I know I would have to take Hydrocodones to endure & yet I would still be in pain - so the sad fact is there is medically saying OK you should be ready - but unfortunately I do NOT think our bodies have heard that message quite yet - I sure wish they would !!! But THEN doesn't anyone whose is hurting & yet needs to get things done & be part of society ? I am trying to ignore this as much I can other than avoiding sitting for long - more than 10 min�s & keep moving - until it gets so painful I have to stop - I am facing the fact that I may always have some pain in this left Leg & sometimes I cant feel things well when I step with it -

As to the excerises that someone asked me on the forum -You have to picture this - about it is a adapted bridge but not that exaggerated NO ARCHING of the back at all - it is a neutral at all times positioned back bridge - but this is either coincidence but this is when I really got the stuff going on much worse for me as I described above - - it is using a med. sized exercise ball - on a mat or rug on the floor & you put your knees up on the ball draped over it so your feet are spaced out a bit - on the outside edge of the ball - you do not arch your back EVER - your back is kept flat -it is for ab�s strengthening & thighs - you raise your back up in the air keeping it level - so you are raised up hold it for a few sec�s & then lower yourself back down but the minute you touch the floor you do not stay - you go back up again immed. - it is the going back up immed. action that after I did this over a few different days - I could feel pain going back up in the midst of this - not in my ab�s or my legs it was actually VERY easy for me to d this - excerise & it felt great til then - I got the pain in my back right where the disc ends are attached too for me - right above & below - it was aggravating it there- maybe I have not healed up enuf yet for this - I don�t know - I talked to my PT guy about this - he said to make a smaller movement going up but it didn�t help or make any difference I laid off of this one & will retry it again but if pain I will immed. stop not work thru it - I was doing 40 reps of this once a day - Hope this clarifies things - I had to stop & start this note - sorry for the delay -
All the best - Jill