Diagnostic Tests for Leg weakness
Diagnostic Test list for Leg weakness:
The list of diagnostic tests
mentioned in various sources as
used in the diagnosis of Leg weakness
includes:
- General appearance - looking for bruising, deformity of leg, swelling of the leg, abnormal posture of body, muscle wasting.
- Physical examination
- Blood pressure and pulse to detect risk factors for stroke
- Listen for carotid bruits which can indicate narrowing of arteries to brain and thus risk factor of stroke
- May be necessary to examine a variety of joints including the lumbosacral spine, hips, knees, ankles and the various joints of the foot
- Test muscle tone, power, reflexes and co-ordination of lower limbs
- Test sensation of lower limbs ( including pain , touch , temperature and vibration sensation) examine each nerve of the lower limb
- Examination of cranial nerves ( if also affected would suggest a diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease , a mass in the brain or multiple sclerosis
- Examination of the upper limbs
- Blood tests
- Full blood count, platelets, ESR, Electrolytes
- Blood sugar to detect diabetes which can cause peripheral neuropathy, peripheral nerve lesions, increased risk of strokes
- Thyroid function test (hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism may have muscle weakness)
- Lipid profile looking for high cholesterol can increase risk of strokes
- Clotting screen if thrombotic stroke in young person or recurrent thrombotic disease to detect antithrombin III deficiency, protein C or S deficiency, lupus anticoagulant
- Radiology investigations
- Lumbosacral spine X-ray
- CT Scan or MRI of Lumbosacral spine - can detect nerve root entrapment in the intervertebral foramina of the lumbosacral spine or a disc prolapse.
- Carotid artery Doppler - to measure flow through arteries to brain.
- CT Scan Brain to detect stroke , brain mass
- ECG - to detect atrial fibrillation that may have caused a stroke; can detect a recent heart attack that can predispose to a stroke.
- Nerve Conduction studies
- Electromyography - to diagnose entrapment syndromes of peripheral nerve.
Home Diagnostic Testing
These home medical tests may be relevant to Leg weakness causes:
Conditions listing medical symptoms: Leg weakness:
The following list of conditions
have 'Leg weakness' or similar
listed as a symptom in our database.
This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete.
Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause
of any symptom.
Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which
include a symptom of Leg weakness or choose View All.
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