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Hello, I am a male age 54, no other health issues. I have compressed nerves in the fibular area of both knees causing foot drop in both feet. I cannot dorsiflex my feet. My neurologists did an EMG and confirmed the compressed nerves. He prescribed pysical therapy and said an MRI is not needed. He said time and rest may heal the nerves. If that doesnt work he will send me to a neurosurgeon. The nerve compression is unexplained. The doctor said no other diseases are present. It has now been 2 months since this happened and I am not getting better. Any recommendations on additional treatment that may help decompress the nerves? How long should I wait before I find a new doctor? Anything else I should be doing to help my situation. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks
Hello, I am a male age 54, no other health issues. I have compressed nerves in the fibular area of both knees causing foot drop in both feet. I cannot dorsiflex my feet. My neurologists did an EMG and confirmed the compressed nerves. He prescribed pysical therapy and said an MRI is not needed. He said time and rest may heal the nerves. If that doesnt work he will send me to a neurosurgeon. The nerve compression is unexplained. The doctor said no other diseases are present. It has now been 2 months since this happened and I am not getting better. Any recommendations on additional treatment that may help decompress the nerves? How long should I wait before I find a new doctor? Anything else I should be doing to help my situation. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks
Ask your doctor if Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) would help. You can buy a TENS unit.
Use of a DC muscle stimulator will keep the muscles from becoming completely atrophied. Regular muscle stimulation will not help as they stimulate the nerve to make a muscle contraction. You need a DC stimulator as it has a wide pulse width which makes the muscle itself contract without involving the nerve.
Your PT should be able to help you order one to use at home. B vitamins are supposed to help nerve function as well.
Not sure why a MRI isn't being considered as then the compression spot can be visualized to see if decompression would be ultimately needed and performed early enough to reduce risk for contracture at ankles and permanent nerve damage.
AFO braces maybe needed to prevent tripping when walking.
Bilateral involvement without trauma involving a physical nerve entrapment is unusual. Were other possible causes like diabetic neuropathy, spinal cord involvement or MS ruled out? An MRI of the knees would confirm a physical compression of the nerve rather than assuming that is where the problem is.
Use of a DC muscle stimulator will keep the muscles from becoming completely atrophied. Regular muscle stimulation will not help as they stimulate the nerve to make a muscle contraction. You need a DC stimulator as it has a wide pulse width which makes the muscle itself contract without involving the nerve.
Your PT should be able to help you order one to use at home. B vitamins are supposed to help nerve function as well.
Not sure why a MRI isn't being considered as then the compression spot can be visualized to see if decompression would be ultimately needed and performed early enough to reduce risk for contracture at ankles and permanent nerve damage.
AFO braces maybe needed to prevent tripping when walking.
Bilateral involvement without trauma involving a physical nerve entrapment is unusual. Were other possible causes like diabetic neuropathy, spinal cord involvement or MS ruled out? An MRI of the knees would confirm a physical compression of the nerve rather than assuming that is where the problem is.
Best regards
Hi, I had an MRI of the spine done, a blood test and an EMG. The MRI revealed no issues and the blood test revealed I had low vitamin B12 levels (290) range is 200-1100 pg/mL and Low vitamin D level (11) range is 30-100 ng/mL. The doctor said all other tests were negative. I also, had an EMG done and it revealed a severe demyelinating and axonal lesion of the common peroneal nerve at the fibular head on the left, and a moderate demyelinating and axonal lesion of the common peroneal nerve at the fibular head on the right, consistent with bilateral peroneal palsies. The doctor can't figure out why peroneal compression occured since I had no trauma or injury to the affected area.
I am currently undergoing PT 2x per week including elect. stimulation and taking Vit. B12 1000 daily and Vit.D2 50,000 once per week. The right foot has improved a great deal since the foot drop symptoms began on or about November 19, 2016 and the left foot has seen no improvement since the foot drop symptoms began on or about December 7, 2016. Everything i've read says that doctor should do MRI in head and knee area to confirm or exclude others issues such as ALS, MS or other lesions...I'm not sure if the blood test would have confirmed or excluded any of these issues. On Tuesday I have an appointment at Brigham and Womens hospital in Boston MA for another opinion.
If what you have is what I once did, then your peraneal nerve is being compressed because for some reason or other, the ligaments between your fibia-tibula have stretched an now, the outer leg bone is compressing that nerve. I was in a full leg cast for months and months to attempt to correct it. It didn't work and ultimately, I ended up with surgery, with the top part of my outer leg bone being removed, and the ligament that it supported, stapled to somewhere else.
Because I only weighed 105 at the time, there was no reason to get into my ankle and pin any bones there. That surgery occurred 33 yrs ago and to this day, I am fine. The drop foot thing went away. The only difference I could tell is that my ability to lift myself or jump, was reduced a bit, thus making getting on a horse more difficult.
My surgeon was at one time, the orthopaedic for the US Olympic ski team. So I had a great one. He said the condition was very rare. My leg had this problem because of a medial strike injury.
Good luck.
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