Conservative and chiropractic treatment of meralgia paresthetica: review and case report

Meralgia paresthetica, a neuritis of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, appears to be usually a nerve entrapment syndrome but may also arise from other nerve insults or neuropathies. This paper reviews the anatomy of the affected nerve, differential diagnosis of the condition and the available treatments from conservative to surgical. The authors suggest that, because of failure to recognize it, the condition may be more prevalent than has been assumed, and they propose a role for chiropractic care in the sequence of management. This proposal is supported by a case report of a patient in which we describe our procedure for diagnosis of meralgia paresthetica and for monitoring progress; we then explain our course of conservative chiropractic treatment. That the symptoms of nine month's duration diminished progressively during six weeks of chiropractic treatment and have not returned in the six months post-treatment period offers no conclusive proof, but has encouraged us to investigate a larger sample of cases in our clinics.