High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Meralgia paraesthetica (UK spelling), or meralgia paresthetica (US spelling) (me-ral`-gee-a par-es-thet`-i-ka) — also called Bernhardt-Roth syndrome — is numbness or pain in the outer thigh not caused by injury to the thigh, but by injury to a nerve that extends from the thigh to the spinal column.