Many patients come to my clinic and describe the symptoms with low back pain and foot numbness, what is the cause of this situation? Many patients will inquire on the Internet and suspect that they are lumbar spine problems, so these symptoms must be caused by lumbar spine diseases? Today, I will tell you about several situations that may occur that cause low back pain and foot numbness.
There is both low back pain and foot numbness, first of all, it should be clear whether there is a correlation between the two!
In fact, there are many diseases that may cause foot numbness, and to determine whether it is caused by lumbar spine diseases such as lumbar disc herniation, it is necessary to clarify whether there is a correlation between low back pain and foot anesthesia.
Many people have long-term low back pain, and suddenly one day there is unilateral foot numbness, and the lower limbs also have radioactive pain, then we have to highly doubt the possibility of lumbar disc herniation.
However, many people have also had low back pain before and have recently experienced foot numbness, but there is no strong correlation between the two, so it is necessary to consider the possibility of other diseases.
If it is not a lumbar spine problem, what will be the manifestation of such foot numbness?
In general, diseases such as poor blood circulation, peripheral neuritis, diabetes, and hypertension may cause foot numbness. Foot numbness caused by this systemic disease and foot anesthesia caused by lumbar disc herniation are not the same and have their own unique characteristics.
Foot numbness caused by systemic status is characterized by numbness in both feet and numbness in the tips of all ten toes. We can use this to roughly determine which diseases our foot numbness is directed to.
What are the peculiarities of lumbar disc herniation causing low back pain and foot numbness?
Low back pain and foot numbness are associated with lumbar disc herniation. In the presence of long-term low back pain, the muscles themselves will strain, and the muscle strength of the muscles in the lower back will weaken after relaxation, and the pressure of the intervertebral disc will increase accordingly, so it is easy to cause the rupture of the fiber ring and the herniation of the lumbar disc. Compression of nerve roots after lumbar disc herniation can cause lower limb symptoms such as foot numbness.
In such patients, low back pain and foot numbness are mostly manifested: at the same time as low back pain, numbness occurs in one foot, and numbness may appear on the outside or inside of the foot, as well as instep or sole of the foot.
The foot numbness of this condition also has its characteristics:
Mostly unilateral foot numbness. Simply put, the lumbar disc consists of the central nucleus pulposus and the fibrous ring wrapped outside the nucleus pulposus, and when the nucleus pulposus protrudes from the opening of the fibrous ring, the lumbar disc is herniated. Because the incision of the fibrous ring often occurs on the posterior side, the protrusion is mostly unilateral, and the compressed nerve roots are mostly unilateral, resulting in symptoms that are mainly unilateral lower limbs.
Foot numbness has a regional division and the positioning is very clear. The patient himself can also clearly feel the numbness of his foot, and the numbness of the foot for a long time is more likely to appear in the same position, rather than the whole foot is numb. This is due to the herniation of the lumbar disc in different segments, compressing different lumbar nerves, and different lumbar nerves control movement and sensation in different areas of the lower limbs. Therefore, the areas of lower extremity pain and numbness in patients with lumbar disc herniation are banded.
When our low back pain causes the local or single foot numbness mentioned above, it is necessary to go to the neurosurgery department of the regular hospital as soon as possible for the corresponding examination, do a CT or magnetic resonance of the lumbar spine, and see if there is a lumbar disc herniation compressing the corresponding nerve roots. After finding out the cause of the foot numbness, it is necessary to receive treatment as soon as possible.