Painless Leg Weakness Revealing a Falcine Meningioma in the Postpartum Period.
- 1Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kansas City University, Kansas City, USA.
- 2Biomedical Sciences, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, USA.
- 3Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, Royal Oak, USA.
Abstract
Low back pain is among the leading causes of disability worldwide and is common in pregnancy, which can lead a clinician to a musculoskeletal diagnosis. We describe a 41-year-old postpartum woman who presented to an outpatient office with mechanical low back pain and painless weakness of the left lower extremity that had caused three falls. A thorough history established that the weakness was non-radicular and unaccompanied by sensory loss, and the neurologic examination localized the deficit to the upper motor neuron rather than to a lumbar root or peripheral nerve. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed a large extra-axial falcine mass consistent with a meningioma, exerting a mass effect on both frontal lobes, greater on the right, which accounted for the contralateral left foot weakness. The patient underwent urgent right frontal craniotomy with resection, and her weakness resolved completely. This case emphasizes that a disciplined history and physical examination, grounded in neuroanatomy, can distinguish upper from lower motor neuron pathology and can uncover a life-threatening intracranial lesion in a patient whose presentation initially suggests a benign postpartum musculoskeletal cause.
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BibTeX
@article{spiteri2026painless,
title = {{Painless Leg Weakness Revealing a Falcine Meningioma in the Postpartum Period.}},
author = {Brent A Spiteri and John Capodilupo and David Spiteri},
journal = {Cureus},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.7759/cureus.116782},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42921276},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Painless Leg Weakness Revealing a Falcine Meningioma in the Postpartum Period.
AU - Brent A Spiteri
AU - John Capodilupo
AU - David Spiteri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
JO - Cureus
DO - 10.7759/cureus.116782
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42921276
AB - Low back pain is among the leading causes of disability worldwide and is common in pregnancy, which can lead a clinician to a musculoskeletal diagnosis. We describe a 41-year-old postpartum woman who presented to an outpatient office with mechanical low back pain and painless weakness of the left lower extremity that had caused three falls. A thorough history established that the weakness was non-radicular and unaccompanied by sensory loss, and the neurologic examination localized the deficit to the upper motor neuron rather than to a lumbar root or peripheral nerve. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed a large extra-axial falcine mass consistent with a meningioma, exerting a mass effect on both frontal lobes, greater on the right, which accounted for the contralateral left foot weakness. The patient underwent urgent right frontal craniotomy with resection, and her weakness resolved completely. This case emphasizes that a disciplined history and physical examination, grounded in neuroanatomy, can distinguish upper from lower motor neuron pathology and can uncover a life-threatening intracranial lesion in a patient whose presentation initially suggests a benign postpartum musculoskeletal cause.
SN - 2168-8184
ER -