Restless leg and spinal pathology

Material and methods : From the database of 239 876 health examinations collected between 2004 and 2022 in the health examination centers of the CPAM in the Gironde, we looked for the links that may exist between sleep complaints, drowsiness, existence of a spinal pathology (neck pain, back pain, low back pain) and restless legs. The data was analyzed using the Chi2 method.
Results : A significant association (p<0.0001) was found between the presence of restless legs and sleep complaints. Surprisingly there is no association between sleep complaint and neck pain (p<0.60 )but, there is an association between sleep complaint and back pain (p<0.0001), low back pain (p<0001). restless legs being associated with a complaint of neck pain (p<0001) and unrelated to complaints concerning the dorsal (p=0.94) or lumbar (p=0.25) spine. The observed prevalence of the neck pain-restless legs association is 4.5 times higher than expected.
Discussion : restless legs, the prevalence of which is between 2 and 10% of the general population, is usually considered either as symptomatic (inflammatory syndrome, iron deficiency, etc.) or idiopathic. The results observed point in the direction of a central subcortical or high medullary origin as mentioned by Kaplan(1) or Kumru(2).
A previous report was performed in 2017 with less records. Most of the results found in 2022 confirm those already identified in 2017.
Conclusion : The association cervicalgia with restless legs is in favor of a high medullary origin
Bibliography : Kaplan Y1, Oksuz E. Association between restless legs syndrome and Chiari type 1 malformation. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2008 Apr ;110(4):408-10. doi : 10.1016/j.clineuro.2007.12.023. Epub 2008 Feb 20. Kumru & al. Restless leg syndrome in patients with spinal cord injury, Parkinsonism and Related Disorders (2015), doi : 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2015.10.007.