I had terrible back pain for several weeks and finally went to my regular doctor about it. He gave me a page of 6 back exercises and prescription for pain. (Forgotten the name of the narcotic). I could only do the first 2 exercises without pain for several days, then added the 3rd and 4th. Finally was able to do all 6 exercises and the pain is gone. Took about 2 weeks of exercises. The doctor told me to NOT LAY around in bed , just do the exercises slowly each day. I never dreamed the exercises would work for me. They did.
Prodisc
If nothing works, try the next generation of surgery, total disc replacement. Wife had very similar issues. Had microdisectomy, tried stretching, etc etc. Finally, about 5 years ago she was fortunate enough to participate in the cliincal trial for the new Prodisc (this is a complete disc replacement, not a fusion) and has never felt better. This is a relatively easy surgery (no surgery is totally risk free), where they go in from the front, with just a small incision. She was back on her feet within one week! She got her life back...
Best of luck!
If nothing works, try the next generation of surgery, total disc replacement. Wife had very similar issues. Had microdisectomy, tried stretching, etc etc. Finally, about 5 years ago she was fortunate enough to participate in the cliincal trial for the new Prodisc (this is a complete disc replacement, not a fusion) and has never felt better. This is a relatively easy surgery (no surgery is totally risk free), where they go in from the front, with just a small incision. She was back on her feet within one week! She got her life back...
Best of luck!
fyi...chiropractor put me on the surgery table
do as much physical therapy as possible until you just think u need surgery...
Steroid shots didnt help me...
basically what it will come down to....you are either going to be able to manage it with pt and or meds or you will end up on the table...
the surgery was a blessing for me.
do as much physical therapy as possible until you just think u need surgery...
Steroid shots didnt help me...
basically what it will come down to....you are either going to be able to manage it with pt and or meds or you will end up on the table...
the surgery was a blessing for me.
I tried p/t for a while....got lazy and tired of my $50 co pays 3 x per week...as I wasn't seeing an improvement. Did one injection....no help.
TKELLER, Glad to hear your wife is doing better....gives me some encouragement. My surgeon was involved in a clinical investigation on the artificial disc replacement. I'll have to read more about that.
TKELLER, Glad to hear your wife is doing better....gives me some encouragement. My surgeon was involved in a clinical investigation on the artificial disc replacement. I'll have to read more about that.
Let me first say that it is hard for me to completely address all of your questions because I was not part of the evaluation and management of your condition. Because treatment can vary, I can only tell you about some general recommendations.
I am not familiar with curves. You'd have to tell me a little more about that.
I would first recommend: 1. Avoiding all weights and resistive exercise more than your body weight at first and 2. Avoiding high-impact aerobic activity like jogging. Typically patients need to start out with low-impact aerobic activity like stationary bike or swimming (this is great if you have access to it) to get their bodies moving again.
Specific exercises for the back after back injury should begin as body weight only. For patients who can't do body weight exercises, relaxation and stretching such as Yoga can be beneficial until they can get to the point of moving their back again.
Some of the first exercises recommended in herniated disc once you can handle some walking, swimming, stationary biking, etc... are:
90/90 rest position
Posterior pelvic tilt
Elbow prop
Standing lumbar extension
Hamstring stretch
Trapeze (chinning bar) stretch
The abdominal curl
Once you can handle those, you can go to more strength-oriented exercises such as body-weight "Superman" back exercises. You can look any of these up and get pictures and instructions from Google. I do think that a single trip to an experienced personal trainer to help you put together a program may be beneficial.
I would also reiterate that you should not do back exercises that worsen your pain. No pain, no gain does not apply here. You want to start with what you can do most comfortably. Gradually get your back going and gradually you will see that motions and exercises that used to be horrendous are now doable. See Whoson's post on this as well... he's right on.
Yes, and yes. Putting 100lbs of strain on your spine can cause a herniation if you do not have the back muscle strength to control the force and motion of your vertebrae. When you have a strong back, these kinds of motions are sort of like taking a stack of 15 textbooks and laying them down gently on a table. When you have a weak back, it's more like dropping them all on the floor. There's a good chance you'll mess one of them up. Obviously, there aren't many people that can safely move 100lbs off a moving carousel in a crowded airport. Avoiding putting unnecessary strain on your back with poor lifting technique is a good place to start in the future. But there are many patients with low back weakness that herniate discs while showering or doing other non-weight related activity.
That is something that hopefully the nerve conduction studies can tell you more about. It sounds to me like that nerve root is still being compressed, but not destroyed. When nerves get destroyed, they don't come back. But here, it sounds like it is just being compressed. Sometimes you can't feel your foot, sometimes you can. My guess is that if you move or bend in a certain way, you get a shooting pain in your leg. That sounds like more of a "neuritis" or inflammation of the nerve than destruction. Probably when you first herniated your disc, it was the disc compressing the nerve. But there is a chance it could be soft tissue or something else compressing it now. An MRI would better be able to show that. But ultimately I think if you can correct the health of your spine and back, that your feeling will gradually come back to normal. Your physicians at the pain clinic can probably tell you a little bit more.
That brings me to another point on exercise. The discs in your back are not like most things in your body. They don't have their own blood supply. Instead, they get their nutrients from diffusion from nearby muscles and the blood flow dedicated to them. This means that in order to get the nutrients and blood flow needed to heal, the disc relies on healthy tissue and blood flow in the nearby back muscles (and really, body in general). This is why movement and exercise is crucial to the cure of these low back syndromes. People who head to bed after these injuries and never make an effort to get their back active again tend to see atrophy or shrinkage of their core back muscles and a decrease in blood flow to these areas, which makes them harder to heal. See Who's post. He's right, and his experience is typical.
Exercise and activity is crucial to the healing of the vertebral disc. Of course, exercise and activity will also help patients to lose weight, which also universally improves joint heath and helps to prevent joint injuries of all types. The truth is, it is very difficult to fix knee, hip, ankle, back, pain in a patient who is carrying too much weight around. If your frame is designed to carry 175 pounds and you're putting 250 on it, you're going to be putting stress on those joints that they are not designed to handle. Along with that, patients who are overweight and obese tend to be much less active, have poor posture, and have much weaker musculature, further putting themselves at risk for injury (especially back and lower limb injury). You can go in and replace all the joints you want but that's not always addressing the primary issue.
Like I said, though, this may or may not be an issue for you and many thin people develop herniated discs. Weight is only a risk factor, but it seems to pop up pretty regularly in patients with back pain, and it's something that the patient can usually fix to improve their condition.
I am not familiar with curves. You'd have to tell me a little more about that.
I would first recommend: 1. Avoiding all weights and resistive exercise more than your body weight at first and 2. Avoiding high-impact aerobic activity like jogging. Typically patients need to start out with low-impact aerobic activity like stationary bike or swimming (this is great if you have access to it) to get their bodies moving again.
Specific exercises for the back after back injury should begin as body weight only. For patients who can't do body weight exercises, relaxation and stretching such as Yoga can be beneficial until they can get to the point of moving their back again.
Some of the first exercises recommended in herniated disc once you can handle some walking, swimming, stationary biking, etc... are:
90/90 rest position
Posterior pelvic tilt
Elbow prop
Standing lumbar extension
Hamstring stretch
Trapeze (chinning bar) stretch
The abdominal curl
Once you can handle those, you can go to more strength-oriented exercises such as body-weight "Superman" back exercises. You can look any of these up and get pictures and instructions from Google. I do think that a single trip to an experienced personal trainer to help you put together a program may be beneficial.
I would also reiterate that you should not do back exercises that worsen your pain. No pain, no gain does not apply here. You want to start with what you can do most comfortably. Gradually get your back going and gradually you will see that motions and exercises that used to be horrendous are now doable. See Whoson's post on this as well... he's right on.
Yes, and yes. Putting 100lbs of strain on your spine can cause a herniation if you do not have the back muscle strength to control the force and motion of your vertebrae. When you have a strong back, these kinds of motions are sort of like taking a stack of 15 textbooks and laying them down gently on a table. When you have a weak back, it's more like dropping them all on the floor. There's a good chance you'll mess one of them up. Obviously, there aren't many people that can safely move 100lbs off a moving carousel in a crowded airport. Avoiding putting unnecessary strain on your back with poor lifting technique is a good place to start in the future. But there are many patients with low back weakness that herniate discs while showering or doing other non-weight related activity.
That is something that hopefully the nerve conduction studies can tell you more about. It sounds to me like that nerve root is still being compressed, but not destroyed. When nerves get destroyed, they don't come back. But here, it sounds like it is just being compressed. Sometimes you can't feel your foot, sometimes you can. My guess is that if you move or bend in a certain way, you get a shooting pain in your leg. That sounds like more of a "neuritis" or inflammation of the nerve than destruction. Probably when you first herniated your disc, it was the disc compressing the nerve. But there is a chance it could be soft tissue or something else compressing it now. An MRI would better be able to show that. But ultimately I think if you can correct the health of your spine and back, that your feeling will gradually come back to normal. Your physicians at the pain clinic can probably tell you a little bit more.
That brings me to another point on exercise. The discs in your back are not like most things in your body. They don't have their own blood supply. Instead, they get their nutrients from diffusion from nearby muscles and the blood flow dedicated to them. This means that in order to get the nutrients and blood flow needed to heal, the disc relies on healthy tissue and blood flow in the nearby back muscles (and really, body in general). This is why movement and exercise is crucial to the cure of these low back syndromes. People who head to bed after these injuries and never make an effort to get their back active again tend to see atrophy or shrinkage of their core back muscles and a decrease in blood flow to these areas, which makes them harder to heal. See Who's post. He's right, and his experience is typical.
Exercise and activity is crucial to the healing of the vertebral disc. Of course, exercise and activity will also help patients to lose weight, which also universally improves joint heath and helps to prevent joint injuries of all types. The truth is, it is very difficult to fix knee, hip, ankle, back, pain in a patient who is carrying too much weight around. If your frame is designed to carry 175 pounds and you're putting 250 on it, you're going to be putting stress on those joints that they are not designed to handle. Along with that, patients who are overweight and obese tend to be much less active, have poor posture, and have much weaker musculature, further putting themselves at risk for injury (especially back and lower limb injury). You can go in and replace all the joints you want but that's not always addressing the primary issue.
Like I said, though, this may or may not be an issue for you and many thin people develop herniated discs. Weight is only a risk factor, but it seems to pop up pretty regularly in patients with back pain, and it's something that the patient can usually fix to improve their condition.
Wow GOA... I appreciate you taking the time to post all that. It's very helpful. My foot and leg are always numb... I just notice it more when I shave my legs or when I'm walking..like my foot's asleep or something...I have had several repeat MRIs to make sure there was no compression or reherniation. They all show clear, that's why the ongoing lack of feeling is still a mystery. I am hoping you are right and the EMG/nerve conduction study give me more answers. Again, I really appreciate your taking the time to help me out. Best of luck to you in your med school journey.
IAG
IAG
