What does cauda equina pain feel like?

By Igor Hernandez, CHG Lawyers, Coral Gables, Florida

If You Are Hurting or Worried About Someone You Love

If you are reading this in pain or frightened for a family member, the most important point comes first: symptoms that may point to cauda equina syndrome need prompt emergency medical care. This page is for education only. It does not replace your doctor’s care and cannot tell you what is happening in your body.

What Cauda Equina Syndrome Is

Your doctors can explain which parts of your spine and nerves are involved in your condition. Your doctors can explain which bodily functions may be affected in your situation.

Outcomes depend on each person’s medical condition and records, so follow your doctors’ care. Whether a particular person’s nerves are affected depends on their medical evaluation and records.

How People Describe Their Symptoms

Symptoms differ from person to person, and your doctors can evaluate yours. Do not try to match your symptoms to a description on a webpage. Tell your doctor exactly what you notice, when it started, and whether it is changing.

The main symptoms to report include:

• Low back pain.
• Leg symptoms. Pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling in one or both legs. Legs may feel heavy or give way.
• Saddle numbness. Reduced or missing feeling in the inner thighs, buttocks, or genital or rectal area.
• Bladder and bowel changes. Trouble starting to urinate, a reduced sense of needing to urinate, leaking, or loss of bowel control.
• Sexual changes. New numbness or loss of sensation.

If you have symptoms that concern you, follow your doctors’ guidance rather than waiting for back pain to “prove” something is wrong.

Warning Signs That Need Emergency Care

Follow your doctors’ guidance about which symptoms need prompt attention.

Why Symptoms Can Seem to Come and Go

Symptoms may change over time, so follow your doctors’ guidance on monitoring them.

Information on this page may help you prepare questions for your doctor, but it does not replace an evaluation. Ask your doctor how timing applies to your situation.

How Doctors Evaluate Cauda Equina Symptoms

A doctor may ask about bladder, bowel, and saddle sensation and may check reflexes, leg strength, and sensation. Imaging such as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan may be used to look at the nerves and any pressure on them. Your doctors will decide which examinations are appropriate for your situation. An MRI or other imaging study is not a final answer on its own.

This section is educational, not medical advice. Only a doctor can diagnose you. If you have these symptoms, get evaluated in person right away.

Why Delayed Treatment Is a Serious Concern

Outcomes depend on each person’s medical records and should be discussed with your doctors. Surgery to relieve pressure on the nerves (decompression) is one treatment doctors may consider. Timing and outcomes depend on each person’s condition and medical care.

For background on spinal cord injury and paralysis, see the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The American Spinal Injury Association describes its International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI), which include the ASIA Impairment Scale. Whether any classification applies to a particular person’s condition is a question for that person’s treating doctors.

The message is simple: go to the ER. Do not wait for a scheduled appointment, and do not wait to see whether symptoms improve.

When a Delayed or Missed Diagnosis Causes Lasting Harm

When a permanent, life-altering injury follows a delay in diagnosing or treating a condition, families may have many questions about what happened and what options exist. Whether a claim exists depends on the facts, the medical records, and the applicable law. These matters can involve catastrophic-injury or medical-negligence questions, and each case differs.

If the condition followed a motor-vehicle crash, Florida law adds limits. Florida law limits when pain, suffering, and other non-economic damages may be recovered in a motor-vehicle claim, and whether those limits apply depends on the facts of each case and the medical records. Florida’s comparative fault rules may also limit recovery, depending on the facts of each case (Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6)).

Deadlines apply to these claims, and they depend on the type of claim and the facts. Contact the firm promptly rather than waiting.

We cannot promise any specific result. If a permanent injury followed a missed or delayed diagnosis, you can ask CHG Lawyers your questions. To discuss your situation, contact CHG Lawyers for a case evaluation. CHG charges no attorney’s fees and no case costs unless there is a recovery.

Related Questions and Resources

For plain-language definitions of terms used here, visit our glossary of injury terms. You can also read about spinal cord injuries and paralysis, paraplegia, and quadriplegia.

This page is educational. For any medical concern, contact a doctor or call emergency services. If someone is in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

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