Severe pain in the back of both thighs

by Carolyn `
(Ponchatoula LA USA)

My husband suddenly had a bad sharp aching pain in the back of his left thigh. It was so bad that I ended up taking him to the emergency room one night at which time they did nothing but give him a shot for the pain. The next night I took him to a different ER with a pain now in both of his legs. It was determined not to be related to his heart, he has a good pulse in his legs and was checked for blood clots and there were none found. He can get some relief by sitting in his recliner and raising his feet but when he stands the pain in his legs gets unbearable. Any ideas?


Hello Carolyn,
Yes, classic sciatica. Don't know why they were looking at his heart...

Do a simple test. Have him sit in a kitchen chair, and YOU raise first the leg in which the pain started later. Have him remember what he feels in the leg, back, and opposite leg.

Now repeat with the naughty first leg that hurt. What happens?

If he bends SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY forwards and then backwards and then to the side what happens?

Do coughing, sneezing and bearing down on the toilet hurt? Does flexing his head onto the chest hurt? Where?

Can he stand on his toes on one leg at a time? In other words can he raise his heel normally?

If he has no back pain then it is nasty. Well, it's nasty anyway, but in the absence of back pain it means that the chances of a prolapsed disc are faily high. Does he have a history of lower back pain?

Plug Slump test into the "Search this Site" at C-H. Gently, try this test. Gently.

An X-ray of the lower back and pelvis are indicated and probably a scan. There are other possibilities... is he in good health? Prostate okay?

I hope this contributes. You need to get to see someone who specialises in the lower back, not a cardiologist!

Dr B.

Comments for Severe pain in the back of both thighs

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Mar 17, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		The diagnosis
by: Carolyn

The reason we were checking his heart is because he has a history of problems with his aorta going to his lower body.. which then cause leg problems.. and he was scheduled to have an angioplasty within a week for abnormalities...

We finally did narrow down the problem.. the nerves at the L5-S1 level are obviously irritated.. so he will be having a nerve block in the near future.

It took a CT scan of his lumbar.. along with aggressive pain management to relieve his pain so he could be diagnosed.. this is the first time we have had to deal with an injury such as this.. and did not realize that the pain he said he was feeling in his bones.. were actually in the back of his thigh due to the nerves..

I'm just glad we finally got things diagnosed and are on our way to recovery!

Hello Carolyn,
A whole new lifestyle is called for. Smoker? Cholesterol, atherosclerosis, overweight?

And lots more exercise, both specific for the back and legs, and general, like walking or swimming.

Chiropractic is not contraindicated for a patient with an abdominal aneurism / severe atherosclerosis but you should certainly warn your chiropractor about them. S/he will have to use other techniques. Chiropractic is more likely to help that lower back pain and leg pain than nerve blocks, that's symptom treatment. Treat the cause... not the symptoms.

https://www.chiropractic-help.com/Lower-back-exercises.html

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Chiropractic help Questions (Neck pain).





Did you find this page useful? Then perhaps forward it to a suffering friend. Better still, Tweet or Face Book it.

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Then forward it to a friend. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.