Question
Hi there,
I am 36 years and 4 days old(still getting used to the 36 bit :-) )
I had a full ceramic hip replacement in Feb 08. I was born with dislocated hips & knees and had surgery on both hips and my left knee when I was a baby. My leg was shorter by inches, I knew it was shorter but hadn't realised it was as short so the team equalised my leg lengths. When I tried to wiggle my toes the night after surgery, I couldn't feel my leg and was told the next morning I had a dropped foot or 'drop foot' I couldn't feel anything from my knee down and my foot was just like a lump of jelly.
I was told it could take 6 weeks to 6 months to get better by my consultant and up to 2 years by another.. if it came back at all.. Nerve pain started immediately and got progressively worse.. stabbing, burning, electric shocks, tightness, crawling feeling, extreme coldness etc
After approximately 2 months I had slight movement as in I could lift my foot up ever so slightly.. a year and 7 months on I have allot more movement back, thank god but still have loss of sensation in my foot and muscle weakness around the top/front of my foot. Toes are still quite weak. My question is, do you think I should make a full recovery due to the fact that I have improved so much, although extremely slow!! I reckon some people may think I'm milking it at this stage but I tell you, i wouldn't wish nerve pain on anyone! Also is there anything I can do to help nerve regeneration?
I thought maybe the spinal anaesthetic was something to do with it as I got a terible shock through my left leg when getting that which terrified me!

Looking forward to hearing from,

Kind regards
Susanne

Answer
Dear Susanne,

This is avery complicated question and really my opinion can't be taken for medical advice because I have not had a chance to do a physical eaxmination. So please take my advice with that disclaimer in mind.

I would say that you have achieved really good results with your footdrop to date. Could you improve more? I would like to believe that you will improve and I believe the human body is capable of a lot more than most medical personel do. So keep a positive attitude and just keep doing what has worked for you in the past and never give up on yourself.

In my 28 years of clinical practice I have seen several cases where as spinal anesthesia brought about pain and numbness. And there really is no ryhme or reason as to which symptom you will suffer with. So I do believe in some cases there is a direct correlation but not all. This may or may not be true in your case. Little can be done by a surgical insult to your nerves.

If you are also suffering with leg and or Low back pain it would be a good idea to seek the care of a chiropractor in your area to see if you have any subluxations in the lumbar spine and or the pelvis. If you do chiropractic care may be of help. Notice I did not say that it would cure you or that all of your pain would go away. Nor did I say that going to the chiropractor will solve all of your foot drop problems. I stated that if there is subluxation involved then chiropractic would be an avenue to persue to help your symptom complex.

As far as nerve regeneration I know there is some work being done with stem cell research but that area is out of the auspices of the chiropractic field.