Cauda Equina Syndrome Bilateral Leg Symptoms

Failing to recognise the significance of bilateral leg pain can mean the patient develops complete cauda equina syndrome with all the appalling associated long-term problems.

Leg symptoms

Pain in one leg with accompanying tingling, weakness or numbness could be sciatica. If this is the case, your pain could travel all the way from the buttocks down the length of the leg. This is due to a condition such as a prolapsed disc impacting on the sciatic nerve.

If these symptoms begin to develop in the other leg as well, it is possible that the cause originates in a different area of the back and that you may be developing a far more distressing and debilitating condition – cauda equina syndrome.

Bilateral leg pain and tingling is one of the red flag symptoms of cauda equina syndrome.

Testing for cauda equina syndrome

Caused by compression of the cauda equina nerves in the lumbar region at the base of the back, cauda equina syndrome can affect both legs as well as causing an array of other unpleasant symptoms.

If you visit your GP with bilateral leg pain and weakness, your medical practitioner should check for other symptoms.

• It would be appropriate to check your ankle reflexes to identify if you are experiencing a loss of muscle function.
• The extent and source of your leg pain can be tested with a Straight Leg Raising Test.
• It would also be appropriate to check if you are starting to lose sensation in the saddle area by carrying out a pin prick test of the perineum and around the anus.

The results of these tests should help to identify if your symptoms have a physical cause or are due to a loss of nerve function and where that nerve damage might be occurring.

It is vital to ascertain whether the patient is experiencing any difficulties with urinating as this is a significant measure of how far the condition has developed and the urgency of surgery to decompress the nerve.

Medical negligence

If a patient attends their GP with early symptoms of cauda equina syndrome but the GP fails to investigate those symptoms or fails to warn the patient to attend A&E urgently should symptoms deteriorate, then it may be appropriate for the patient to pursue a claim for compensation.

Cauda equina syndrome is a medical and surgical emergency and a failure to make an emergency referral for an MRI scan when a patient may be developing this appalling condition can leave the patient doubly incontinent and unable to mobilise independently.

Speak to a solicitor

If you or a loved one are suffering the devastating long-term impact of cauda equina syndrome due to a failure to act on your early symptoms, contact us to talk to a specialist medical negligence solicitor with expertise in this shocking condition.

Please call us free on 0800 234 3300, from a mobile click to call 01275 334030 or complete our Free Online Enquiry for a no cost, no obligation opinion.

Share Article With: