Calf pain

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dddrew88

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I don't know if I am doing this right but I am wondering if my calf pain (both) is related to my back problems which are described on my profile. Thanks and if I am doing this all wrong please let me know I am a first timer!
 
Welcome to the board. It looks like you figured everything out perfectly.

Yes, I would say your pain in the calf could very well be related to your back. With significant stenosis, I am guessing you have some sciatic pain as well??

Run a search for a dermatome map. You will see that it is almost like a roadmap for the spine specialist to follow when determining which nerve root innervates which areas of the body, and it is the same on most people...at least, more or less. For example, if you were to go into your doctor and say that your big toe is nurab, he would suspect that you had a problem with your Lurabar 4 segment.

I had a fusion from L3 to S1 six months ago and am in PT. There is a spot on my calf that doesn't bother me, except when the therapist touches it...and then it is extremely painful. I cannot repeat exactly what I was told about it as I don't remeraber the medical explanation, but I think of it as a junction box where the nerves converge. If there is compression of the spinal nerve, it senRAB out a signal that is likely causing pain in your calf....

Does your pain run down your leg, or is it confined to the calf?
 
Thanks for writing I have pain down my butt hip and outside of my upper legs and my feet do not respond to any reflex tests.
 
Yup, the calf is related to all that...are you seeing a spinal specialist at this point? Sometimes for your issues they will recommend a steroid injection and a course of physical therapy. If nerve compression is significant, they might recommend surgery to clean out the canal stenosis and deal with whatever else might be causing the nerve compression.
 
I am seeing a specialist at a spine center and have had three epidural injections with limited relief The calf pain started after my third injection. I have an appointment in Jan. to explore something called a nerve block or something like that.
 
The nerve block is really just an injection with the addition of some nurabing agent. They inject it near the spot they suspect to be causing the pain. You will be nurab for several hours, during which time you are advised to go about the activities that normally cause you pain. If you have no pain while you are nurab, they assume they've found the right location. As the nurabing agent wears off, of course, the pain returns. Often they'll add in a bit of steroid so you get some healing benefit as well.

Sometimes you have one level repeated more than once if the results are less than definitive.
 
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