Had my EMG today , Really confussed? Any thoughts pLease

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I had a herniated L5 s1 disc w/ impinging on spinal canal. So it has been about 12 weeks now

1) Comp sent me to a Physical medicine & Rehabilation place for EMG( which i thought nuero do that )

What they found was not much, was " Mild Right side L5 S1 Radiculopathy "

During the exam the doc said she can see that i lost muscle tone in calf muscle, And that my thigh was losing muscle as well and is now 1 1/4 less in size .( roundness)

Now she told me there was NO major nerve problem, but would not explain to me why the muscle loss?

All she did tell me was that the thigh Problem IS NOT from the herniated L5 S1 disc.

I am starting to go crazy been out of work for 12 weeks now and i am thinking to just go back to work and deal with the pain.

I never had weakness are problems with my leg, so what can be going on if this Doc found no Problems with nerve?

Any thought would be great. Thanks Mike
 
If you have been inactive for 12 weeks due to your injury, that in and of itself could explain the loss of muscle mass. It is amazing how quickly muscles can lose tone. And you do have mild radiculapathy --

There may not be any major nerve damage, but that is not to say that you don't have sciatic nerve involvement which is causing you to use your legs in a way that is different from "normal."

I can't tell from your post where your pain is located. Is it in your back or in your calf, perhaps running down into your foot?
 
just curious if your MRI report that i am assuming you have also had done at some point,mentioned anything about the word 'myelomalacia" being present within your cord,or how really impacted your actual cord is by the canal issue? is this indenting the thecal sac or indenting your actual cord in any way? the one thing about EMGs is they will only show nerve flow and when it is actually an impinged nerve root or some other issue that can compress and lessen the nerve flow. not everything that can affect nerves and muscle will actually show up on any given EMG,believe me. i had horrid radiculopathy with a totally "normal' EMG. it all depnRAB on just what is actually being affected and just where that is.

like MM mentioned above,you DO tend to not use certain muscles when you have pain or nurabness or other issues going on with one of your legs or even both. this would create the muscle atrophy pretty darn quickly. it doesn't take much disuse to have it there. but it can take quite a while to just gain it back once the problem is resolved too. thats just how our muscles are.

you stated in your post that you 'had' this problem,has it been surgically corrected in some way or is this still there? honestly,going to a physical medicine doc probably was much better than going to a neuro,they do understand the inner workings of muscle to nerve much better at a physio than the neuro. my entire rehab program after my spinal cord surgery was done only by whats called a physiatrist? this is an enhanced physio doc. they DO normally undrstand things with your type of issue much better there. and know the best possible therepies to help it too. were you given any type of a PT program to follow or was this just for the EMG alone?

depending upon whether or not you have actually had any surgery would dictate just what they would or would not actually do for you. if this was just a straight out referral for the EMG they would actually do more than that.

just for the heck of it,really look at how you are walking these days. it may suprise you in just how you have actually changed your normal gait just to compensate for the current problem. like i said,muscle just atrophies very quickly when it is not being used normally/regularly for some reason. marcia
 
Hey Mike workers comp is paying for your loss time I hope ? I take it this Dr. is a comp Dr. ? Don't give up , find another Dr. to go to. I also have nerve damage and my left leg is weaker than the right with loss of muscle too. The Dr. said I had minor L5 nerve damage.. Minor my butt I say.

Keep us up to date .

Shawley
 
Yes workers comp has been paying me but now has cut me down to 25% disability which i guess i wil have to appeal.

The pain is in my front thigh, which started about 4 days after the injury to the disc and has never gotten better ( are worse) . That is where the weakness is felt when i lift my leg up and that is where the muscle has gone down about 1 1/4 in size. And i have been active i do favor this leg going up stairs which is painful and get very sore just driving.

About 3 weeks agao the lower calf muscle is starting the feel like a very bad cramp that does not go away.

Besides that i have the normal back pain, butt, pins and needles.

I did do rehab for about 4 weeks , stopped because pain was alot worse. Went to Spine Doc yester who wants me to start rehab again.

What does this radiculopathy mean ??
 
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