“When you bear down to poop, you raise the pressure in your spinal column, technically called the intrathecal pressure. Sometimes that rise in pressure will cause the discs in your spine to move against the nerves where they exit the spine and cause numbness, weakness, and a generally weird feeling down the legs.
It's possible that your vagus nerve is causing this sensation and triggering your body's vasovagal reflex, or vasovagal response. Straining during a bowel movement and the sight of blood are common triggers.
The vegus nerve is part of that rest-and-digest system, and runs all the way from the brain stem to the rectum. "When that is stimulated, it can cause sweats, it can cause chills, it can drop your blood pressure and your heart rate as well," he says.
Some people realise that they cannot feel when they wipe themselves after defecating (pooing). This is an aspect of a symptom often described as 'saddle anaesthesia' which is a red flag symptom of cauda equina syndrome.
Any back or leg pain resulting from constipation is caused by the backup of stool in your body, and properly accounting for the constipation you are experiencing will help relieve your other symptoms, too.
It can also cause numbness in the leg. There is many different causes of sciatica. An unlikely cause can be constipation. If the bowels are distended due to constipation, this can put pressure on the sciatic nerve, causing sciatica.
Key points about neurogenic bowel
Nerve damage may be due to an injury or a health condition such as multiple sclerosis. Symptoms include trouble having a bowel movement, belly pain, leaking stool, and frequent bowel movement accidents.
Spending too much time on the toilet causes pressure on your rectum and anus. Because the seat is cut out, your rectum is lower than the rest of your backside. Gravity takes over, and blood starts to pool and clot in those veins. Add in any straining or pushing, and you may have a recipe for hemorrhoids.
Leg pain on its own isn't usually caused by constipation. However, you may experience constipation with leg pain if your leg pain is also accompanied by back pain. For example, you may have constipation if you have sciatica, which affects the sciatic nerves.
Proper pooping technique:
You don't want to sit on the toilet with your feet flat because this doesn't let the pelvic floor muscles easily relax, which is what's needed for an easy bowel movement. Instead, you want to raise your knees up, but in a passive way, not by pressing onto your tippy toes.
Long-term numbness or a tingling feeling in the legs and feet may be due to conditions such as multiple sclerosis(MS), diabetes, peripheral artery disease, or fibromyalgia. The sensation may be felt in the whole leg, below the knee, or in different areas of the foot.
When you notice feet turning blue, it typically indicates that there is not enough oxygen and blood flowing through your lower extremities. Blood is responsible for carrying oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body to promote healthy cell as well as tissue growth.
If you sit or have your legs crossed for too long, the pressure can briefly compress nerves in your leg. That prevents your brain and the nerves in your leg from "talking" to each other like they should. The term for this is paresthesia, but most people say their leg (or other body part) has "fallen asleep."
It is estimated that one of every seven people with Crohn's disease experiences neurological symptoms. They may be mild to moderate and include a headache, depression, or a tingling or numb sensation in the hands and feet (neuropathy).
nervous colon syndrome. (Science: syndrome) A common gastrointestinal disorder characterised by abdominal pain, bloating, mucous in stools, and irregular bowel habits with alternating diarrhoea and constipation, symptoms that tend to be chronic and wax and wane over the years.
These may include headache, sleep disturbances, post-traumatic stress disorder, temporomandibular joint disorder, sicca syndrome, back/pelvic pain, myalgias, back pain, and chronic pelvic pain (Figure 8). Fibromyalgia and interstitial cystitis are also frequently encountered in patients with IBS.
There are many conditions that may cause pressure in your rectum, including constipation, diarrhea, anal fissure, and hemorrhoids as well as some less common causes like diverticulitis and rectal prolapse. Pressure in the rectum often feels like stool (poop) is stuck in the anus and rectum.
See your doctor if your limb is numb for a long time, if it's not caused by your posture, and if you have any other symptoms, including: dizziness. muscle spasms. a rash.
The sciatic nerve travels from the lower back through the hips and buttocks and down each leg. Sciatica most often occurs when a herniated disk or an overgrowth of bone puts pressure on part of the nerve. This causes inflammation, pain and often some numbness in the affected leg.
Does constipation typically cause leg pain? Although leg pain is not normally associated with constipation, constipation can cause back pain, which can lead to pain or discomfort in other areas of the body.