Is muscle spams common post tethered cord surgery?
Patient: I am a 39 year old male and I had tethered cord surgery in March of 2011. My symptoms were pain in my legs, buttocks, groin, back and feet with also having muscle spasms and weakness. My legs feel like I ran a marathon about one hour after I get out of bed. A cyst was also noticed from L4 to S2 but nothing was done to the cyst. I still have all the same symptoms and they are getting worse instead of better. I also take 1200 mg of gabapentin a day. Could this pain be from the cyst or is this what a tethered cord can leave a person with. Doctor: Hi,  Symptoms in tethered cord occurs not only because of stretching of spinal cord but also because of degeneration in the cord, post surgery symptoms produced as result of stretching will gradually disappear but those of degeneration will not.  Prognosis after the surgery is also explained prior to surgery. In case if the cyst persists as in your case there might be a chance that it still causes stretching of the cord. You need to thoroughly examined and investigated only after that prognosis can be ascertained.  Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.  Regards, Dr. Rohan Shanker Tiwari, Orthopedic Surgeon