Anonymous

2 years

Back pain that radiate to left leg

Hi, I am a female student and now I’m 21 years old. This past few days i have been experiencing back pain that radiate to my left leg. The pain had subsequently increasing by days and lately i’m unable to stand or walk for more more than an hour and half without being in pain. During the MCO, i’ve been living sedentary lifestyle and not as active as i was in the university. When i was 16 years old, i was diagnosed with herniated lumbar which causes the same painful situation and the only treatment i had was physiotherapy and some painkillers and gabapentin.

In your opinion, is it possible that the herniation is recurring again? or could it be different diagnosis?

Dr Ramzdhan,

2 years

Hello!
Thank you for your query.

Based on the information above, we understand that you were diagnosed with herniated lumbar disc at 16 years old which was treated with physio and pain management. Currently, the symptoms recur and you are worried whether it is caused by same problem or different conditions. We will try to help you.

For your information, the symptoms you described is highly likely to be the recurrence of your lumbar disc herniation. However, there are other diseases that can present with similar symptoms, such as:

  • soft tissue sprain
  • TB spine infection
  • multiple myeloma
  • sarcoma
  • trauma

These are only general lists regarding your diagnosis. We are unable to give accurate treatment plan or diagnosis without medical history, physical examination, MRI or X-ray result. If the cause is herniated lumbar disc, the best treatment pathway is rest, reduce movement, remove pain with analgesics and rehab such as physio. 2/3 cases will resolve with these regimen.

There are another surgical option which are only reserves to patient with severe nerves problem, cauda equina syndrome, fails conservative treatment as mentioned above and highly recurring problems. We recommend that you refer this current problem to a doctor. You can also talk with our specialist via online consultations. Hope this answers your question.
Thank you.

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