Have you ever been grocery shopping—and your legs hurt and felt weak—but the symptoms go away when leaning over the cart? This is a common symptom referred to as the “shopping cart sign.”
There are many reasons you might feel leg pain, numbness and weakness. One of the most common is lumbar spinal stenosis. This is compression of the nerve sac in your lower back related to degenerative changes such as arthritis, disc degeneration and thickened ligaments. When the nerve sac is compressed significantly, patients can develop symptoms called neurogenic claudication. Claudication can include pain, numbness, tingling, cramping and weakness in the low back, buttocks, or hips.
When standing up straight, the nerve canal gets smaller or more compressed, then opens up when leaning forward. This can be related to compression of nerves (neurogenic) or to blockage or reduction of blood flow to the muscles of the leg. Read the full article here.