Possibly Injured Femoral Nerve

by Marian Orr
(West Tennessee)


Possibly Injured Femoral Nerve questions whether the knee is starting to give on the stairs.


A week past I fell in my living room. The first couple of days, I was fine. Then, the upper, outside of my upper right leg began to ache. Four years past, I had a total hip replacement in that leg. The replacement was on the side and to the back of my leg.

After falling, I felt that everything was ok. Then after another day, my upper leg and buttock had an uncomfortable sensation and pain. There is also a burning sensation. What could be damaged in this leg; what causes the uncomfortable sensation? I can walk well, would that indicate that the hip had not misplaced?

Hello Marian,
It's not totally certain but I feel you are probably correct in assuming this is not your hip.

A burning sensation suggests nerve pain. The outside of the thigh points to a condition called meralgia paresthetica where a branch of the femoral nerve is pinched in the mid lumbar spine and also in the groin. It's a sensory nerve, so there is no weakness.

Also though the femoral nerve proper must be considered; then there's the possibility of the knee beginning to give on the stairs because of weakness in the quadriceps muscle. The knee jerk will be reduced whereas unaffected in meralgia paresthetica. Use the search engine at chiropractic help for more information about these terms.

Both of these are treatable with chiropractic, though working in the groin where the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve escapes from the pelvis under the inguinal ligament is just as important as working on the spine.

The sacroiliac joints need to be examined too.

I hope this all contributes.

Dr B


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