70 year old woman with numbness in thigh and leg?

Earth Angel, this post is 4 years old, and there's probably a good likelihood the OP won't be returning to check messages.

But I want to thank you for offering the alternative stretching technique, which I've also seen used occasionally by therapists. And that's good advice as to the core weakness.

I went to physical therapy when I developed a sciatic. my mother had sciatica since she was very young because she had spinal stenosis from a hip injury, she had numbness in her feet. Drs gave her Lyrica she fell asleep and wrecked her car. This medication is very dangerous.
As a result of my physical therapy my doctor recommended alternative stretching; opposite leg and arm, backwards walking which is like dancing to strengthen the muscles & opposite muscle strengthening suggests, if your lower back hurts your core is weak. if your upper back hurts work your chest. These have been the only things that help me, with a reoccurring problem any other suggestions would be helpful

Blannie I too have spinal stenosis and when the pain becomes bad I either have to sit down or lean forward on something to take the pressure off.
I also have developed neuropathy in both feet.. The podiatrist advised me to take very good care of my feet. When I told her I did not have diabetes. She smiled and said "Not yet" fortunately I am not overweight and eat well.
Faika You certainly could have Rheumatoid arthritis but that can be checked with X-rays. Not knowing what medications you are taking it is difficult to make any suggestions for you to talk to your Dr about. As your disease belongs to the auto immune family there are medications such as Humara which can suppress the symptoms. This is very expensive and may be out of reach depending on where in the World you live.
The only really helpful suggestion I can give is to suggest you use a cane, walker or rollator which will give you some relief and support and help prevent falls. keep in touch and let us know how you get on.

Could be vascular too (peripheral arterial disease, or PAD that you might have heard of) so definitely find a doctor who would check for that instead of just being lazy and blaming it on your arthritis.

Sounds like a pinched nerve in the lower back, very common as the spine compresses with age. Walking will only aggravate it, get into a hot tub or swimming pool for weightless range of motion exercises. Try some massage therapy. If the MD will write a script, see about Physical Therapy. An adjustable bed may help, we got one for mom and heard no more complaints about sciata pain from then on.

Another possibility is spinal stenosis. I have it and when I walk, my leg(s) go numb. If you sit down and lean forward, it opens the spinal canal up and the numbness should go away. Do you have pain too, or just numbness? When I've had sciatica in the past, I've had pain - literally a pain in the butt or running down the back of the leg. Really good stretches can help sciatica - you can go to youtubedotcom and google sciatica stretches. To find out more about how diet changes can help your RA, check out nutritionfactsdotorg. Do a search on their website for rheumatoid arthritis and a bunch of videos will come up about the latest research about how changing your diet can have positive effects on your RA. With that many medications, I'd also be sure to have a good pharmacist look at all of them to make sure they're not working against each other and causing some of your issues.

do you know what kind of treatment i should get? how can the doctor describe it as Arthritis - or could it be Arthritis? what kind of medicine are you taking for the sciatica?

I am not a doctor, but it sounds to me like you may have some sciatica. Depending on which nerve branches are affected and how badly they are being impinged on, you can get leg symptoms that include numbness, tingling, and pain. I have recurring sciatica that, unfortunately, is the bone-searing painful type. I know how terrible it can be.