My Mum has had this awful pain down the back of her upper leg for 3 months now....seems to star from the top of her buttocks..it does not hurt when in bed...but when she walks it hurts badly and she has to sit down (she has always been active) the hos said they could not find anything wrong...and would not do x-rays.She has had a lot of pain killers that do not work....we thought it was sciatica...but seems to be from the back somewhere...she is having a Physio this afternoon...hopefully we will get some where.
Anyone any advise...we are at our wits end :confused:
Di

Hi there,
Physio is good but you need to find her a doctor that will do an MRI. If I understood your post correctly you said you don't think it's sciatica because it seems to stem form the back? Well it does sound like sciatica to me. Sciatica is usually caused by a pinched nerve or ruptured disc. I strongly suggest that she has an MRI done and depending on the outcome, possibly getting an orthopedic or neurosurgeon (spine Specialist). This does need to be taken care of asap. Good luck and please keep me posted as you find anything out. Take care. Kristy. ;)

A lot of elderly people have spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal) caused by any number of problems... arthritis, injuries, scoliosis, etc. When you have stenosis in the lumbar region, you have pain and numbness when standing or walking. It is usually relieved when sitting or bending over. Does this sound like your mother's symptoms? If so, an MRI or a myelogram with CT scan would be what most doctors would order. However, many surgeons are reluctant to do surgery on elderly patients and prefer to do other things to alleviate the pain without surgery. Hope this might help. Keep us informed.

Best wishes, Mary in Texas

I just thought of two other possibilities. My mother-in-law started having a lot of back pain. The xrays showed several hairline fractures in various vertebrae. We think it may have been caused by health care workers who were not careful about how they helped her out of bed... they would actually pull on her arms. She had to wear a very restrictive back brace for several months and the aids had to be instructed on the proper way to move her. In another case, my mother developed severe back pain because of the terrible curvature of her spine (scoliosis) as she got older... there was not a good answer to that problem... we tried injections and a TENS unit. Mary in Texas

My grandmother, 88 years old and in terrific back pain (bless her heart) saw a spine surgeon for her back who decided the best for her was the epidural injections. Surgery would be the logical choice for her condition but at 88, why put her through it? (I feel like I had a rough enough time coming through it at my age, can't imagine someone her age having to recuperate from it.)

Perhaps this is an option for your mom. How old is she? (Really hoping they don't say in their 40s, after reading the subject line of this post HA)