WEIRD SCIENCE The toothpick that caused leg pain

A MAN had to have surgery two months after accidentally swallowing a toothpick.

The 67-year-old, who lived in Japan, was eventually admitted to hospital after suffering severe back and leg pain.

Doctors initially suspected stenosis – a condition where the space around the spinal cord narrows and pinches the surrounding nerves.

But scans revealed it was the toothpick, which had lodged in the man’s back passage.

Experts believe that the toothpick perforated the bowel during digestion and travelled to the spinal cord, where it got stuck in a cluster of nerves.

Following the operation, the man made a full recovery.