Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Cureus

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.

DOI

10.7759/cureus.116782

Publication Date

9-23-2026

Keywords

falcine meningioma, intracranial mass, lumbar radiculopathy mimic, meningioma craniotomy, neurologic localization, painless leg weakness, parasagittal meningioma, postpartum low back pain, upper motor neuron

ISSN

2168-8184

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