Back trouble

cfelton · #1 12-30-2018, 05:38 AM

I know some of you guys have had back troubles so I'm asking your opinion. I woke up December 9th and couldn't get out of the bed, had terrible pain in my lower back, hip and left leg. I had broke my long handle ratchet pulling on some big bolts and fell on a motor about two weeks before. It hurt some but had gone away in a few days. Had to go to the emergency room and they xrayed me and said nothing was broken but saw some arthritis in my lower back. Went to my Dr. the next day and he thinks I have a bulging disk. I have an appointment with a specialist on the 8th. I'm taking pain pills and something for muscle spasams. Its been three weeks and it still hurts in my left hip and down my leg to my ankle. Something is pinching my sciatic nerve. I guess years of physical abuse working and birthdays have had a toll on my back. Have you fellas had anything similar?

mawshj · #2 12-30-2018, 10:38 AM

yea I had similar/same thing several doctors would not touch it. I found a doc who said I can fix that. I checked them out and the had it done. 1 inch cut cleaned out around nerve band aid on cut pain gone home same day. 3 years ago still good

charlie_the_tuna · #3 12-30-2018, 06:55 PM

went to a pain management guy. got shots in the lower spinal area. 3 or 4 treatments. helped. did not cure it. shots sometimes last a half a year if you're lucky. what you have there is a 2 year healing process. PT didn't help. slept on a rolled up towel and elevated my legs at night. just have to take it easy and give it plenty of time. tons of naproxen and a good back brace and just lots of time. if there was a secret i'd tell you but man oh man...... never went back to the doctor that told me it was a 2 year injury. should have but I needed an instant fix. time, time and more time. only thing that'll help. it got better over time but it took the full 2 years to get me to 100%. now i'm back in the gym and stronger than ever!! just take it easy and don't do anything to upset it. my wife had to put on and tie my boots every morning for over a year. drove her mad.

charlie_the_tuna · #4 12-30-2018, 06:59 PM

and let me ad, I don't know what I did to injure myself but I do know it took 3 or 4 days to get really bad. one morning I couldn't get out of bed and that phase lasted 2 weeks. sitting on the toilet was a new journey in pain. only one chair in the house I could sit in. did I mention time? just time.

cfelton · #5 12-30-2018, 07:09 PM

I hear ya! That's what the Doc told me... Time! I took a week off and it helped alittle. I'm back at work, not lifting anything heavy. My worst times are sitting or laying down. When I get up it feels like a knife in my back and shooting pains down my left leg. Walking seems to loosen it up. Pain meds help some but doesn't get rid of it completely. Thanks for the info, gonna see what the sports medicine doc says. They will probably do an MRI. Maybe it will show what is wrong.

oteps · #6 12-30-2018, 07:43 PM

I tried an inversion table and didn't like it. I put a bar up in garage to hang from(not around my neck!) but like u were doing a pull up. It helps and some times I just use the corner of kitchen counter to lift my upper body on, just use the weight of your legs to relieve the tension in lower back.

spareparts · #7 12-30-2018, 08:41 PM

welcome to the club, I've been dealing with it on and off for 15 years. I'm on my second surgery. Good PT will help, bad PT will hurt. Look up exercises for sciatic pain. I went thru over two years of PT, two years of shots, had an inversion table. Tried acupuncture and a chiropractor(***** tried to kill me). It still hurts. I find sleeping on the couch helps, keeps me from twisting too bad while sleeping. Bourbon works as good as anything. PM me if you have any questions

cfelton · #8 12-30-2018, 09:15 PM

Yeah I thought about an inversion table, wondered if it would help. I've been sleeping on the couch and in the recliner with the heating pad. Seems like the cold pack helps for a while. Been using Biofreeze and that helps for a little while. Cant get but a few hours sleep, pain wakes me up. Slept on the floor a few nights, woke up stiff as a board. Walking around helps. It feels like something in my hip joint more than my back. Ive had muscle spacams in my lower back muscles on and off for years, felt like knots in the muscles but always went away after a week or so. Working my last 12 hour night tonight, might try some George Dickel tomorrow! Maybe the Docs can figure it out. The specialist I'm going to on the 8th is supposed to be the best anywhere around. Thanks guys!

spareparts · #9 12-30-2018, 09:32 PM

as good as the heat feels now, cold is better, youve got to get the swelling down. ibuprofen helps.

scook · #10 12-30-2018, 11:58 PM

I was just down for 3 weeks - pain was so bad I was on the brink of throwing up, couldn’t eat much, so the Ibuprofen really made my stomach worse to where I couldn’t take it any more. Be sure to take it with food.

If you can find a good Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Specialist, an MD, you may be able to get a shot of Cortisone directly into the problem area. That is a way to calm the swelling with the smallest dose of steroid.

My PT suggested using ice, which helped a fair amount and alternating cold and heat - cold to reduce swelling and heat to stimulate circulation and healing. The heat caused pain, so I didn’t do it but sometimes it can help.

Spare is definitely right, you need to find a PT (and doctor) who know what they’re doing.