{"id":2460,"date":"2020-04-18T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/?p=2460"},"modified":"2020-07-13T13:21:53","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T12:21:53","slug":"cauda-equina-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/cauda-equina-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Cauda Equina Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/aes5ghiE8cJOA9z0JFEBAwuujTf9dSNxbJXjQedQuDHwgzgKUPsTYwANllzjh-EbR-DEc9SrE0aaJ56g3McU47JULJWiGK-pdC7qdyGVDYo4_PR3FMukHh6fy_9f2j2YKFBCbI7ef813Tg3SZQ\" alt=\"Cauda Equina Syndrome\" width=\"366\" height=\"407\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The cauda equina (meaning \u2018horse tail\u2019, due to how is looks) is a collection of lumbo-sacral nerve roots in the area at the bottom of the spine. There are several reasons why this area could become compromised; these include slipped discs (most commonly), infections, birth defects, significant trauma (such as road traffic accidents, gunshots and heavy falls), neurofibromas and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msdmanuals.com\/home\/brain,-spinal-cord,-and-nerve-disorders\/tumors-of-the-nervous-system\/spinal-cord-tumors\">spinal cord tumours<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lesion affecting this region will give neurological symptoms, such as weakness, numbness &amp; pins and needles, inability to control bowel and bladder movements and pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Don&#8217;t worry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Thankfully cauda equina syndrome is rare, but it is significant if present. The main differentiating symptoms between this and non-emergency back pain is the unreliability of controlling bowel and bladder movements. If this does sound like something similar to your symptoms, it needs to be considered a medical emergency and should be treated within 48 hours of the initial onset of symptoms.&nbsp;<br><br>Long-term <a href=\"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/hypertension\/\">neurological damage<\/a> could ensue if not treated promptly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Toolkit to help identify cauda equina syndrome:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Loss of feeling\/pins and needles between your inner thighs or genitalia<\/li><li>Numbness in and around the back passage of your buttocks<\/li><li>Altered feeling when using toilet paper to wipe yourself<\/li><li>Increased difficulty when you try to urinate<\/li><li>Increasing difficulty when you try to stop the flow of urine<\/li><li>Loss of sensation when you pass urine<\/li><li>Leaking urine or the recent need to use absorption pads<\/li><li>Not knowing when your bladder is full or empty<\/li><li>Inability to stop a bowel movement or leaking<\/li><li>Loss of sensation when you make a bowel movement<\/li><li>Change the inability to achieve an erection or ejaculate<\/li><li>Loss of sensation in genitalia during sexual intercourse (1)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>If you have any questions or are worried that you may have cauda equina syndrome, please consult a medical professional.&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Ed Madeley M.ost,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"mailto:info@movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\">info@movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0161 209 3980<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1)<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/author\/S.-E.-Greenhalgh\/40202271\">S. E. Greenhalgh<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/author\/Carole-Truman\/47542691\">Carole Truman<\/a>,\u00a0+1 author\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/author\/James-Selfe\/4383500\">James Selfe<\/a> 2016 <em>Development of a toolkit for early identification of cauda equina syndrome<\/em>Published\u00a0in\u00a0Primary health care research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cauda equina (meaning \u2018horse tail\u2019, due to how is looks) is a collection of lumbo-sacral nerve roots in the area at the bottom of the spine. There are several reasons why this area could become compromised; these include slipped discs (most commonly), infections, birth defects, significant trauma (such as road traffic accidents, gunshots and heavy falls), neurofibromas and spinal cord tumours. A lesion affecting this region will give neurological symptoms, such as weakness, numbness &amp; pins and needles, inability to control bowel and bladder movements and pain. Don&#8217;t worry Thankfully cauda equina syndrome is rare, but it is significant\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":5}},"acf":{"info_box_title":"Additional information","info_content":"<b>Summary<\/b>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A rare, but very serious, condition where a herniated disc can impinge on the nerves that help<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Occurs in around 2% of all disc herniations<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If any of the toolkit list applies to you, please seek medical help within 12 to 24 hours.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>"},"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":""},"post_excerpt_stackable":"<p>The cauda equina (meaning \u2018horse tail\u2019, due to how is looks) is a collection of lumbo-sacral nerve roots in the area at the bottom of the spine. There are several reasons why this area could become compromised; these include slipped discs (most commonly), infections, birth defects, significant trauma (such as road traffic accidents, gunshots and heavy falls), neurofibromas and spinal cord tumours. A lesion affecting this region will give neurological symptoms, such as weakness, numbness &amp; pins and needles, inability to control bowel and bladder movements and pain. Don&#8217;t worry Thankfully cauda equina syndrome is rare, but it is significant&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list":"<a href=\"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/category\/osteopath\/back\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Back<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"Ed Madeley","url":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/author\/mrosteo\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ed Madeley","author_link":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/author\/mrosteo\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The cauda equina (meaning \u2018horse tail\u2019, due to how is looks) is a collection of lumbo-sacral nerve roots in the area at the bottom of the spine. There are several reasons why this area could become compromised; these include slipped discs (most commonly), infections, birth defects, significant trauma (such as road traffic accidents, gunshots and&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movementandwellbeingclinic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}