DEAR DR. GOTT: Your column has helped me with my leg cramps. I am writing because I have a concern. For many years, I have had intermittent burning sensations on my inner thighs and buttocks, sometimes with the feeling of pins and needles. I have seen a dermatologist, but because she could not see anything on my skin, she said she couldn’t help. I am at my wits’ end.
DEAR READER: Burning, stinging, pain, pins and needles, and other abnormal sensations of the buttocks and thighs are often the result of a spinal problem, most commonly sciatica. This condition is caused by impingement of the sciatic nerve in the lower back, usually caused by a slipped, ripped, torn or otherwise displaced disc. [Read more...]