OT back pain

[Vanhusker]

So apparently I'm of the age where intermittent back pain has gone to constant nagging and occasionally debilitating. I'm not really surprised with motorcycle accident, construction background and general youthful stupidity/sports. Now we're looking at epidural injections. I'm curious about others experience. Apologies if this has come up before.

 

[huskerfan66]

I deal with pain as well but never considered injection. Just figured part of getting older or just the way it is and envied those that could/were doing what I wished I could and would like to do.

Best regards and am interested in the responses you get 👍

 

[SickOfPractice]

I'm no doctor but if anyone suggests surgery I'd explore any other options first... chiropractic... acupuncture, etc.

There's nothing much worse than going through a serious back surgery and how long that takes to recover from only to have the pain return in less than a year.

Chiropractic was a miracle healer for me but everyone's situation & experience is different.
Good luck with whatever you try to do!

 

[tro80]

If you haven’t done a chiropractor, think about it. I am personally a skeptic, but I know many who swear by it for managing their back issues. Just plan on budgeting a couple a hundred a month, because it seems that regular “adjustments” are required. I have never known anyone to be able to do one or two visits and be cured. Also, if you find one who also does dry needling, might also be worth a shot. I have a cousin who is a PT and does dry needling. He swears by it and I have known several of his patients who do as well. This is NOT and endorsement of either. I don’t go to chiropractors and have never done dry needling. My personal experience was a herniated disc in my early 40’s. I waited 4 months for surgery and did steroid shots because everyone told me you dont want surgery. Well after four months of often excruciating pain, I opted for surgery. Fixed the issue immediately, but by then damage had been done to my psiatic nerve, and 20 years later I have a weakened foot, with chronic (thankfully mild) pain and cramping in my toes. Do not be afraid of a surgical fix if recommended.

 

[Landomatic]

everyone's situation & experience is different

No truer words have ever been spoken, at least when it comes to back pain. I know way more than I wish I did about this topic. Having dealt with 3 family members who've been through various degrees of it. There is not a single suggestion here that will be a one size fits all answer.

Have one family member who uses ongoing monthly chiropractor/massage/injections/etc successfully to essentially maintain and live with it fairly comfortably

Have another family member who actually had their chiropractor herniate a disk during one of their monthly maintenance sessions. That required surgery. Then a completely different physical therapist during recovery from the first surgery re-herniated it requiring a second surgery. This person had 3 epidural injections prior to surgery with zero improvement. Pretty sure the insurance companies require this before surgery.

Have another family member who was lined up to get injections prior to what everyone thought would undoubtedly inevitably be surgery, and the first injection worked and they've had almost zero problems since.

Total crap shoot. And everyone's mileage will vary.

I will say this, if you end up needing surgery, there are huge differences in procedures. Minimally invasive is the only way to go. And some doctors call their procedure "minimally invasive" but there are still varying degrees of how invasive all of that is.

Good luck...wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

 

[c3o]

Find the root cause of your back troubles and address it. Medicine and pain killers are band aids. Your body is designed to heal. But you must not inflame the area further

 

[Charlie Marlow]

Stretching your hamstrings can help.
Also a beer or two always seemed to work out for me

 

[BigBL87]

I will echo others in trying a chiropractor. I was extremely skeptical for years. My wife finally talked me into it after I'd gone to physical therapy and they'd done adjustments (not the same as a chiropractor, more gradual pressure stuff, but similar enough). It was a game changer for me.

I haven't been back for awhile, I lost about 80 lbs which I'm guessing took some pressure off my back, but I still go in occasionally just for "maintenance."

 

[c3o]

I will echo others in trying a chiropractor. I was extremely skeptical for years. My wife finally talked me into it after I'd gone to physical therapy and they'd done adjustments (not the same as a chiropractor, more gradual pressure stuff, but similar enough). It was a game changer for me.

I haven't been back for awhile, I lost about 80 lbs which I'm guessing took some pressure off my back, but I still go in occasionally just for "maintenance."

Have you given consideration to changing your handle?

 

[9and4]

Decompression Therapy took me from bedridden to active again (as active as I can be at my age). No surgeries, no injections.

I had a severe herniation of L5,S1. Could not bend at the waist.

 

[Landomatic]

Decompression Therapy took me from bedridden to active again (as active as I can be at my age). No surgeries, no injections.

I had a severe herniation of L5,S1. Could not bend at the waist.

Interesting. How many treatments did you need?

 

[9and4]

Interesting. How many treatments did you need?

It took me four weeks:
First week was five days a week.
Second week was three days.
Third week was two days.
Fourth week was one day.

Then PT after, but my pain had almost completely subsided by then.

I was living in Iowa City at the time, and the nearest doctor doing this was in Cedar Rapids. This was in 2020 in the middle of COVID.

The therapy was not covered by BCBS at the time.

 

[BigBL87]

Have you given consideration to changing your handle?

Ha. Nah, I'm still fairly tall so I think it still applies.

Plus, ModeratelySizedBL87 just doesn't have the same ring.

 

[Baxter48]

So apparently I'm of the age where intermittent back pain has gone to constant nagging and occasionally debilitating. I'm not really surprised with motorcycle accident, construction background and general youthful stupidity/sports. Now we're looking at epidural injections. I'm curious about others experience. Apologies if this has come up before.

Get a prescription of medical marijuana

 

[Landomatic]

It took me four weeks:
First week was five days a week.
Second week was three days.
Third week was two days.
Fourth week was one day.

Then PT after, but my pain had almost completely subsided by then.

I was living in Iowa City at the time, and the nearest doctor doing this was in Cedar Rapids. This was in 2020 in the middle of COVID.

The therapy was not covered by BCBS at the time.

Definitely seems like a great theory from what I just read on the link you posted. Did you get a little better between every treatment? Or how did that go? Reason I ask is I feel like there is no possible way the family member I had who needed the surgery (also L5,S1) could have made it through four weeks/11 treatments. They could hardly walk

And don't get me started on the insurance

 

[9and4]

Definitely seems like a great theory from what I just read on the link you posted. Did you get a little better between every treatment? Or how did that go? Reason I ask is I feel like there is no possible way the family member I had who needed the surgery (also L5,S1) could have made it through four weeks/11 treatments. They could hardly walk

And don't get me started on the insurance

The first week was slow going, but by the second week, the improvement was dramatic. I could walk slowly, painfully before the treatments, but it wasn't easy.

For the first two weeks, my wife drove me from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids while I was fully reclined in the passenger seat.

I drove myself after.

 

[LBremser]

Find the root cause of your back troubles and address it. Medicine and pain killers are band aids. Your body is designed to heal. But you must not inflame the area further

100%. Some of the suggested procedures above could make your back problems much worse depending upon what is causing your pain.

 

[61bigredfan]

I think it depends on the nature of the problem. If it’s solely a disc problem then unless you have certain complications from the disk like weakness, long-term outcomes are the same with or without surgery.. if you have certain bony issues like types of stenosis, then surgery gets you better outcomes then rehab alone.
At least that is my understanding. I had a lot of back pain/sciatica and didn’t understand that it was primary from lateral stenosis and put off surgery for a long time, and wish I would not have.

 

[st3f0]

I used to have back pain in my mid-back. Started routinely going to a chiropractor and it went away and haven't had any issues since. Just like any profession, there a good and bad chiropractors but definitely find a reputable one.

 

[BigRedBugeaters]

Stretching your hamstrings can help.
Also a beer or two always seemed to work out for me

If it’s your lower back it’s probably a very good chance your hammys are tight. Get them loose will never have low back pain again

 

[Vanhusker]

Interesting to hear endorsements of surgery. I've always been told to consider that a last resort. However , a coworker, 8 years younger has had 2 surgeries with good results. I do see a chiropractor every 3-4 weeks and that's helped. I have 2 bulging discs with arthritis. This year, I've missed work on 3 occasions when spasms got too strong.

 

[Muskyhunter16]

Dealt with a bad L4-L5 herniation for years. Tried everything under the sun (pills, epidurals, decompression therapy, inversion tables, diet changes), everything helped for a bit but it would always come back. Met with a surgeon and he said to do the microdiscectomy surgery. I did it and its been phenomenal. I wish I would’ve done it years earlier. Once in a while I’ll get a flare up but its 98% better. Sciatica and all pain totally gone. It depends what your back issue is though. If you just have stinosis or whatever, this is not the option for you

 

[king_kong_]

Dealt with a bad L4-L5 herniation for years. Tried everything under the sun (pills, epidurals, decompression therapy, inversion tables, diet changes), everything helped for a bit but it would always come back. Met with a surgeon and he said to do the microdiscectomy surgery. I did it and its been phenomenal. I wish I would’ve done it years earlier. Once in a while I’ll get a flare up but its 98% better. Sciatica and all pain totally gone. It depends what your back issue is though. If you just have stinosis or whatever, this is not the option for you

I don’t see yoga & core strength training listed here

 

[Muskyhunter16]

I don’t see yoga & core strength training listed here

Yoga was so hard and painful but yes, I did try yoga and plenty of core strengthening and PT sessions. This was not an issue of being out of shape at all, I’m 6’2 220 and in pretty darn good shape. Played a ton of sports plus golf and bowling through my years which obviously don’t help the back. The disc was just smashing the nerve and the only way to get it off was surgery

 

[LightningJack]

Talk to people you know very well before going to a Chiropractor. I had one really good one in my life out of about 6, that I tried. The last one screwed up my jaw, adjusting my neck. I didn't hardly talk for 2 weeks and had physical therapy for my jaw for 6 weeks.

As you work your way through this over the years and deal with the insurance company. Play the game and start with the physical therapy and see this stuff through (sorry sounds preachy) that's how insurance has paid for this stuff through the years for me. I know people at work, with similar problems as me and can't get insurance to cover some things. I spent 22 weeks in physical therapy this year alone, not fun but it was all paid for and I'm 80% better for it. I just had my 2nd Ablation on my right side L3-L5 Facets. It has lasted longer than the steroid injections I've had before.

 

[93sker]

My father had the injections for lower back pain and it was temporary relief. Over time, the injections were less and less effective and more frequent.

We pushed him into physical therapy, strength and flexibility-and that program/routine did more for him than anything. He had surgery earlier too - but the game changer was physical therapy.

Agree with all of the commentary around stretching hams (and calves).

Best of luck - back pain really sucks

 

[LightningJack]

Interesting to hear endorsements of surgery. I've always been told to consider that a last resort. However , a coworker, 8 years younger has had 2 surgeries with good results. I do see a chiropractor every 3-4 weeks and that's helped. I have 2 bulging discs with arthritis. This year, I've missed work on 3 occasions when spasms got too strong.

People don't always get or understand back spasms. I had several days at work, with 20-30 back or neck spasms in a 8 hour shift. Ugggghhh, that sucks!

With back surgery, look at long term results. How are they doing 5-10 years out from a surgery?

 

[BigRedBugeaters]

I don’t see yoga & core strength training listed here

I do yoga almost daily. Has eliminated almost all body aches. Turned 49 yesterday. Have beat the tar out of my body and continue to do so. Yoga works

 

[dinglefritz]

100%. Some of the suggested procedures above could make your back problems much worse depending upon what is causing your pain.

I’ve got two words for most of the responses. Quack quack. 😉

 

[dinglefritz]

I do yoga almost daily. Has eliminated almost all body aches. Turned 49 yesterday. Have beat the tar out of my body and continue to do so. Yoga works

Stretching and regular exercise are great if you don’t have protruding discs in your spine. IF you have a protruded disc the best option is still usually micro discectomy. Stretching and exercise may help an arthritic spine but spinal fusion of specific disc spaces can help dramatically. I have multiple cervical and lumbar vertebrae that may need to be fused some day but I have a pretty high pain tolerance and don’t have any peripheral nerve deficits from the spondylosis . Gotta get a knee replaced before I do anything else.

 

[countrybob]

Stretching and regular exercise are great if you don’t have protruding discs in your spine. IF you have a protruded disc the best option is still usually micro discectomy. Stretching and exercise may help an arthritic spine but spinal fusion of specific disc spaces can help dramatically. I have multiple cervical and lumbar vertebrae that may need to be fused some day but I have a pretty high pain tolerance and don’t have any peripheral nerve deficits from the spondylosis . Gotta get a knee replaced before I do anything else.

I feel your pain, not a joke but fits. I am now 71 and had my first back surgery when I was 48. Called it a 360, opened me up front and back 7 and a half surgery. 2 different fusions, scoliosis, rods plate screws. I put it off 5 years from the time I found out I needed it. I've had 4 surgeries and need another one now. Had them done in Omaha at the Spine Center. I'm sure we could have an interesting conversation. I went to the Dr in March thinking I needed another surgery and the MRI indicated I needed a kidney removed with cancer. Went to Omaha and told me I could have surgery when I wanted, so for now grinning and putting on a good front. I think it's funny (interesting) hearing different sayings when we was younger. " If you don't have your health" etc. I'd like to think I'm pretty tough, the surgeon who did the last two surgeries told me I was like a vintage car, my engine (brain) says yes but the body is saying NO. I said when I have stuff to do I go until I can't stand up straight any more. So all of you with backpain, I feel your pain, but can't say what is right for anyone. Best wishes too all.

 

[schuele]

If it’s your lower back it’s probably a very good chance your hammys are tight. Get them loose will never have low back pain again

Laying on the floor with your butt against the wall and your legs straight up the wall is a great way to stretch your hamstrings and your back. It’s amazing how your back will gradually stretch and flatten to the floor in just a few minutes.