Numb legs

Asked for Female, 54 years

My mother is having lumbar spondylosis from 3 4 months. Due to pain in back our doctor prescribed physiotherapy (traction and heating pad). She is going to physiotherapy from 2 months. She is avoiding bending and taking stairs. Now she doesn’t experience pain but her leg gets numb. The Neurologist suggested us a surgery due to numbness and asked to consult a surgeon. Can you please tell me that if we should go for surgery? If yes than is it a major surgery and is there any risk involved?

Posted 6 years ago

Responses (1)

Dr. Beenish Ehsan

General Physician - Karachi

Dear Patient,

Numbness occurs when the nerve is getting pressed and sensations are not passed through. If this nerve is permanently pressed due to the slip disc then the numbness will not improve.
What you can do is meet with a neurosurgeon who can suggest what to do from here, and you could also ask him if you can continue physio for 6months and see if it improves the numbness so that one can delay/avoid surgery. If it doesn't improve the compression needs to be relieved by surgery. Risks can be discussed with your surgeon in detail.

For further help, we recommend checking with one of the
best neuro surgeons in Lahore and seek a piece of in-person advice at https://oladoc.com/pakistan/lahore/neuro-surgeon

You can seek help from the doctors listed below: