Femoral nerve - Lateral femoral cutaneous nerve / Meralgia Paresthetica

Hello!


Your site is just amazing! I can understand everything you are saying and would like to address my pain/numbness/tingling issue on my right thigh. I hope you can help me find help in the Virginia/Maryland/DC Metro area.

In 2014 I broke my femur, we don't know why it broke - there was no fall. The break occurred right at the top of the bone, just to the outside of my hip. It was decided that I would need a total hip replacement! I also - just 12 months prior - had both knees replaced because of degenerative joint disease.

My hip was replaced - the surgery for it went well. However, when I woke up from surgery it felt like a thousand bees were stinging me and it was like the worst sunburn I have ever had in my life! I was given Lyrica for a time and the feeling subsided.

But now I am left with what is described here for the Meralgia Paresthetica. I have numbness to the touch going down the outer right thigh, but when touched where the incision is I have a jittery electrical tingling feeling that runs down to my knee. I have some numbness down at the inside of my ankle - I can live with that. Sometimes when I lean too hard into my thigh I get a very sharp and unbearable pain in the muscle. It is so painful I have to back right off of it!

Can I be helped to remove the sensory numbness and/or get regular feeling back to my skin and stop the tingling electrical lines going to my knee?

thanks, so much,
Karla

Hello Karla,
If it goes below your knee then it's possible that the main femoral nerve and not just the LFCN have been affected; or both.

Then the knee jerk reflex will be reduced, but difficult to measure after bilateral knee replacements. And the femoral nerve stretch will be painful.

If you lean backwards and to the side do you get pain in the back, and the thigh too?

When you break bones without trauma, you absolutely must look at the medication you are taking; for example many meds for depression cause osteoporosis.

Then a complete evaluation of your diet is necessary. See a dietician. It's really important or you'll be breaking other bones.

Ask the surgeon when you can start water aerobics. Do all this or major disability and pain lies ahead in the not too distant future. Could you completely overhaul your diet and start exercising, if meant escaping the wheelchair?

Good luck; I'm afraid I can't help you find a local chiropractor; talk to your friends and your doctor and ask for a name.

Dr B

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