A 23-year-old male asked:
think iv had a l5 s1 herniated disk for 2 years i have burning down the front of my legs and numbness from waist down mri shows no cauda equina ?
2 doctor answers • 4 doctors weighed in
Dr. Thomas Dowling answered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 40 years experience
A disc herniation at: L5-s1 would not cause numbness from the waist down but a disc in the lower thoracic spine region could. Your MRI may have been only of the lumbar spine so you need further evaluation by a neurologist with additional testing and imaging to exclude other possible causes even higher on the spine including other possibe diagnoses other than a disc herniation which are multiple.
5180 viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Dr. Mark Weston answered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 31 years experience
Look high: A disc herniation at l5s1 can't explain your symptoms so logically treating it would not expect to resolve. Continue to look for a problem that explains your symptoms neurologistt are familiar with a broader set of neurological conditions beyond compressive neuropathies i can think of any condition that would be expected to give you the symptoms you have described with a clean MRI good luck.
5180 viewsReviewed >2 years ago
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Last updated Jul 30, 2020
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