Shoofin

I've been getting this erratic pain in my lower back (lumbar) that comes and goes every couple of months. When it comes, it usually lasts a few days and goes away. Now, it came back again, and has been with me for almost a month. If I sit down for more than a few minutes, I can't stand straight, i'm slightly hunched forward and my upper body is tilting me to the right. When I raise my right leg (to put on my pants or shoes) it's excruciating pain. Went to get an X-ray, doc said that it might be a pinched nerve, gave me a cortizone shot, a prescription for physical therapy and sent me on my way. He saw me for all of 30 seconds. I wasn't happy with that experience being he didn't give me more than 30 seconds of his time to even ask him any questions, not to mention the shot did absolutely nothing for me.

I went in to see someone else for a second opinion. Did another X-ray, the doc came in and spoke to me for 15 minutes with the same prognosis but did not give me a cortizone shot in my back, he prescribed ibuprofin (600mg pills 3x a day), physical therapy and an MRI. The MRI came back and showed signs of wear and tear in my lower back, some arthritis and a few herniated discs. Said surgery is a possibility, but definately not something he would suggest anytime soon. He says if I can deal with the pain (i have a high tolerance for pain and usually ignore it during the day), continue with the ibuprofin and do physical therapy and see him again in a month.

I really hope this goes away, it's driving me crazy and is slowly wearing me down. If I walk for a while, by the end of the day I'm in tremendous pain. The 4 hours of walking at the NY Auto show didn't help me either. I got very busy at work in the last month and a half, had to stop working out because I didn't have time (in work at 8:30am, coming home after 10-11pm). Coincidence, 2 weeks after I stop working out my back starts acting up on me again.

Any advice to help a brother out?

Ed

txathlete

Do you have a herniated disk, a pinched sciatic nerve, or you need to take that fat wallet out of your back pocket.

Go see a chiropractor. They aren't quacks like most people think. My fiance had back surgery (and so did her brother and father) for back pain. They say their backs feel soooo much better after seeing a chiropractor than a spine MD.

Shoofin

First off, my wallet it a lot thinner than the one I used to use. Secondly, I barely leave it in my back pocket. As a matter of fact, I haven't carried my wallet for over a month!

Doc.Booty

Stick with the physical therapy, and go see a chiro to at least get his opinion.

txathlete

What Abreece said. Now chill out, mang. And go see the chiropractor.

Sarlacc

PT, stretching, and learn some strengthing excercises for the gym...PT should cover that.

leolebo28

I would definately go see a chiropractor....I go 3 times a week. Stacked on too much on squats and now I have 2 bulging discs (per MRI). Cant even begin to tell you how much going has helped. Like txathlete said most people are ignorrant about chiropractics. An MD is going to prescribe you some pills that will do nothing but block the pain, a chiro might actually heal it. I also get accupuncture and it works wonders.

Viking

http://www.spine-health.com/topics/c.../sciaex01.html

has some good info on stretching excercises but you should probably go see a PT to get their take on your situation.

Shoofin

Stretching puts me in more pain. I stretch all the time but stopped because it made everything worse.

JLatimer

Go see a registered massage therapist. In some cases they have a better understanding of soft tissue than a Dr. or Chiro. You are looking for a pressure point massage where they will spend at least 1hr treating you. We are not talking about a backrub. A massage should hurt... But it is much better afterwards.

leolebo28

Are u serious? Please explain to me how a massage ther has a better understanding of human anatomy and physiology than a MD/Chiro....that has got to be one of the most ignorrant comments I've heard

Andrea25

i was doped stupid with every kind of pill you can imagine and tried everything to manage my migraines...they didn't go away until i saw a massage therapist.



shoofin, does heat help manage the pain at all? whirlpool therapy was my favorite when i cracked my pelvis...

and what Jlatimer (?) said...massage can help big-time...a real one, not just someone running their hands over your back...they have to get in there and work for it..

leolebo28

a massage wont do much if the main issues are arthritis and herniated discs

Shoofin

Not really..The first doctor did want me to put heat on teh lower back, but I don't think it did much to help.

I did get a "Deep tissue massage" in January, it was a rough, painful massage because the dood went pretty deep, but I felt ok for the most part. The high pain tolerance helped keep me tolerant. I didn't have much pain in my back at that time though, my wife took me for a massage for my birthday, that's all that was for.

JLatimer

RMT's spend more time with Cadavers than *some* Dr.s. Dr's are trained and encouraged to cure without touching you - ie. pop pills. RMT's are trained to understand your physical makeup.

I guess my statement is a little generalized, but from personal experience... An orthopaedic surgeon was not able to dislocate or move my unstable shoulder. My RMT was able to do it immediately after describing my instability. Sorry if I offend.

leolebo28

no offense taken just a usual case of misunderstanding

gavriil

If it does not hurt, believe it or not, I would recommend dead lifts with low weight and 6-10 reps and 4-5 sets. Go as high in weight as at the point where it starts hurting slightly, but no more.

LuvMyTSX

I also have a herniated disk (L5) and one more on its way. It was from a sports injury in college that effectively ended my swimming career. I got e-stim at the trainer every day for I don't even remember how long, then had to do exercises to try to help, and was on a large dose of Naproxen. The pain subsided after a while, but it always comes back, and I really have to be careful and watch what I do.

Don't ever lift with your back, use your legs, don't stand or sit for too long, don't do any twisting motions, etc. It took a LONG time for me to adjust to doing things differently. My orthopedic doc told me I'd never swim again competitively, which was half true.... I joined a masters swim team at my gym 2 years ago and its done a lot of good for me. I can't do everything I used to do, but I'm exercising and meeting new people and having fun. I started competing again, too.

If you go see a doc about surgery, let me know what he/she says!! I'd like to do something about my back, but don't know what my options are. Guess I should just go to the doc myself .

gavriil

This above philosophy is completely wrong IMO.

Remember that when we lift weights, we are actually inducing recovery on the body parts that have participated during the lifting. Inflamation occurs when one trains and your body attacks inflamation like a virus, so your overall immune system is trained also.

The reason muslces feel pumped during lifting is because of fluids sent to that area as a natural body reaction. Fluids include blood but also other types of fluids that are sent to basically theraputically "treat" the trained area.

When you get injured those fluids do not rush to that area in the same way when you train that area!

Also, that's why ICE is used for proactive reasons. When you put ice over a body part, vessles that carry those fluids contract due to the lower temperature. When you take ice off of that area, fluids RUSH quicker than ever to that area and the theraputic effect is greater than before ice was applied.

In other words, in order to tell your body what to "HEAL", you have to induce training to that area. But you have to be careful not to harm that area, that why I wrote above "push it where it slightly starts to hurt" (if not just before that point). You have to find that point. Light stretching also will help. Again, light!

The school of thought "never do squats and deadlifts and free weights" was developed by people that got hurt from deadlifts or squats due to improper execution, overtraining, not enough warmup, no acclimation, etc, etc.

You can make weight lifting be your best friend and doctor, or your worst enemy.

So for someone that got injured, stopping giving "work" to the injured area is the exact opposite of what should happen, because your body forgets about that area and the result is that that area gets even weaker and it will either never heal or it will only get injured worse next time you try to use it.

Injuries happen because a certain part of your body was not able to withstand something you tried to do using it. Weight lifting and training in general makes you stronger, everyone agrees. So why dont the above two register with all in the field, is beyond my comprehension.