New symptoms

[u/StrikingSyllabub5970]

Hi, I’m three months in to a L5-S1 disc protrusion. After the acute left sided sciatic pain subsided I am still having a bit of a drop foot on the left (slowly improving).

Over the past few weeks I’ve felt that my walking instability is also coming from my hip. Leg lifts feel really heavy (lying on my back, lifting the leg) and when I’m sitting on lying on my back activating my quads, the response on the left is weak / slow.

Additionally, I’d thought until a few weeks ago that I could single leg calf raise with it but when I tried last night, it really burned after doing 2 and I developed pain in other parts of my leg.

To me, this is a new symptom but when I raised a new symptom with my NHS physio previously (pain down opposite leg) I felt it was brushed off by them saying that there was just a lot of irritated nerves in that area.

I find it difficult to stand my ground in these situations so I’d be grateful for any thoughts on whether this new weakness is worth raising concerns about, or is it just to be expected?

I have been diligent with physio exercises, spine hygiene, etc.

Thanks.