What should I do after a lower extremity nerve injury?

  Lower extremity nerve injury is also a serious peripheral nerve injury, which can affect the patient’s walking and weight-bearing life to varying degrees. In recent years, with the development of the transportation industry, the number of cars has increased exponentially, while the construction of roads has lagged behind, thus bringing an increase in car accidents and other types of trauma, of which we also found that lower extremity nerve injuries are also on the increase year by year.  Lower extremity nerve injuries can be divided into high and low nerve injuries: high nerve injuries are mainly lumbosacral plexus injuries and sciatic nerve injuries; low nerve injuries are divided into common peroneal nerve and tibial nerve injuries. If it is paraplegia or combined with urinary and fecal incontinence, it belongs to the orthopedic category (spinal cord injury), which is out of my scope of practice, and I hope that the patient concerned can find the right doctor to consult.  The lumbosacral plexus is the most serious lower extremity peripheral nerve injury, it can be divided into lumbar plexus injury and sacral plexus injury, the former is mainly manifested as the inability to extend the knee joint, the latter manifests all the dysfunction below the knee joint and combined with gluteus maximus atrophy, this kind of injury is often high energy injury, most of the combined pelvic fracture pelvic organs and other injuries. Therefore, we recommend that patients first treat the fracture pelvic organ injury, and then come to our hospital for detailed examination and treatment after the general condition has stabilized (usually three months after the injury is better). If it is a lumbosacral plexus injury, it is best to operate as soon as possible, because the injury plane is higher and the nerve regeneration distance is longer and requires longer recovery time, so we suggest that such patients must hurry up and not delay the treatment (there are still many such cases in the clinic). For the sacral plexus, its efficacy is not as good as the lumbar plexus, but I have patients who have recovered very well, and the summary found that they are patients who were seen earlier, and at the same time were able to strengthen the postoperative exercise of perseverance.  The recovery of sciatic nerve injury is still very confident, but of course there is a certain pattern of recovery, that is, in general, the tibial nerve recovers earlier than the common peroneal nerve, and the motor recovery earlier than the sensory recovery. The recovery time is about two years, so patients must have the confidence to recover and the persistence to exercise.  The exercise of the lower extremity nerve injury in the early stage is also to promote nerve regeneration through intentional training, can not do the action must use the brain to think, nerve electrical stimulation is also a very useful adjunctive therapy, which is to overcome walking slope line can wear foot brace, but it is recommended that patients do not wear all day, which is not beneficial to the recovery of the nerve. In the later stages of recovery, that is, the emergence of action that should be strengthened strength training and gait training, it is recommended that patients can go to a large shopping mall with floor mirrors to it normal walking training, which is very effective in restoring a normal gait. All nerves have varying degrees of pain, although only a small percentage of patients, but the recovery and quality of life is still affected, about this kind of problem can refer to another article.  Finally, I sincerely hope that all patients can recover as soon as possible, but peripheral nerve injuries, whether upper or lower extremity, require time to recover. No one can change it. I hope my dear patients can understand and appreciate.