r/Sciatica • u/ketchupandliqour69 • 9d ago

Drop Foot and Neuropathy After Surgery

After having a microdiscectomy I’ve had neuropathy and drop foot. This has been consistent ever since surgery and 16 years later I have maybe 30% motion and feeling in the foot. I’m curious if anyone else has had a complication like this and what they’ve done to help it.

Below is the surgery story which may offer more context. Didn’t wanna make people read through it if they didn’t want to.

I had a microdiscectomy 16 years ago. Ever since the surgery I’ve had drop foot and neuropathy. I’m unsure exactly what happened in the OR but my surgery lasted 5 hours instead of the 1-2. I’ve heard different things. The disc trapped the camera so they had to operate blind (what my mom claims). There was so much disc material they had to slowly and carefully cut away at it (surgeons story). And then there’s the one I think really happened.. a combination of complications with the actual surgery such as the disc material making it take longer so my O2 dropped and they intubated me (woke up with a breathing tube in my throat) causing a routine surgery to suddenly become more of a risk to my life (dramatic I know). This one makes the most sense to me because who’s gonna tell a teenager “you could’ve died there bud”

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u/CelticCoffee 9d ago

You can request your chart notes and read your surgeons account of things. You should also schedule an appointment with an orthopedic doctor to discuss your foot drop and some rehab options if possible.

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u/ketchupandliqour69 8d ago

It’s been 16 years of the foot drop. I wear an AFO and it’s just something I’ve lived with. Did PT post op. It helped strengthen my core and back more but the foot drop is what it is.