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Nancy,
As it turns out, my case appears to be a bit confusing -- at least in the opinion of my chiropractor, because the evidence is somewhat contradictory. My leg pain symptoms are consistent with femoral nerve dysfunction -- which involves L2, L3 and L4. But the nerve conduction study indicated L5 radiculopathy, and of the 3 lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections I had last year, only the one involving L4-L5 and L5-S1 actually helped; the other two were L3-L4 and L4-L5.
I just had a bilateral facet injection on Friday, also involving L4-L5 and L5-S1; that was at the suggestion of the chiropractor, who felt it might actually help my back pain. I'm still trying to figure out if it has.
The chiropractor (who is just about the best one in this area -- she was an RN before she became a DC) now believes that my leg pain might be "sclerotogenous" in origin, and that the symptoms I feel might be referred pain from the facet joints at the L5 level. Only time will tell I guess.
She has also asked me to wear an SI belt to see if it helps, because when she lightly touches my back near the SI joints, particularly on the right, it is painful enough to produce a sound on my part -- perhaps because that spot is pretty much the source of my original back pain back in December 2003, or perhaps because that spot also coincides with a fibromyalgia tender point.
Whatever the case, the chiropractor is the first one to look at the big picture to try to determine which part of my pain is being caused by which physical problem.
-- Mary
As it turns out, my case appears to be a bit confusing -- at least in the opinion of my chiropractor, because the evidence is somewhat contradictory. My leg pain symptoms are consistent with femoral nerve dysfunction -- which involves L2, L3 and L4. But the nerve conduction study indicated L5 radiculopathy, and of the 3 lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections I had last year, only the one involving L4-L5 and L5-S1 actually helped; the other two were L3-L4 and L4-L5.
I just had a bilateral facet injection on Friday, also involving L4-L5 and L5-S1; that was at the suggestion of the chiropractor, who felt it might actually help my back pain. I'm still trying to figure out if it has.
The chiropractor (who is just about the best one in this area -- she was an RN before she became a DC) now believes that my leg pain might be "sclerotogenous" in origin, and that the symptoms I feel might be referred pain from the facet joints at the L5 level. Only time will tell I guess.
She has also asked me to wear an SI belt to see if it helps, because when she lightly touches my back near the SI joints, particularly on the right, it is painful enough to produce a sound on my part -- perhaps because that spot is pretty much the source of my original back pain back in December 2003, or perhaps because that spot also coincides with a fibromyalgia tender point.
Whatever the case, the chiropractor is the first one to look at the big picture to try to determine which part of my pain is being caused by which physical problem.
-- Mary
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