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Today marks the three week anniversary of my back injury. Back on Monday, I decided to schedule a visit to the doctor to get it checked out. I need to get back on a lifting routine–I really feel better about my body when I’m doing it. This week, I managed to go to the gym in the mornings, but I’m not able to do the 5X5 workouts. Instead, I’m sticking with some upper body exercises and about 50 minutes on the elliptical and treadmill (walking uphill).
The pain was bad all week. Sharp pain in the lower right back right above my butt. Sometimes, the pain travels down into my butt and across the front of my hip. It hurts to bend over at the waist, it hurts to get up off the floor, it hurts to lay on my back on a hard surface, and it hurts to rotate my hips when I’m laying on my back. But the pain isn’t terrible, it’s just there. I can function fine, but I can’t exercise as hard as I’m motivated to do at this point. I want it fixed so i can get back into the groove at the gym.
I knew going into it what the outcome of my appointment was going to be. I knew there was no way that I was leaving the office with a diagnosis. He was either going to say rest your back and don’t do ANY lifting or strenuous activity for another 2-4 weeks and your pain will go away. OR he was going to say that we can’t tell if you slipped a disk without an MRI and I don’t think you need one since you can basically function fine.
Well, if you change the word “OR” in the previous paragraph to the word “AND” you’ll have exactly what he said. So, no MRI for me, no diagnosis for me, just rest and it will go away. That sucks huh?
J.D.
17 responses so far ↓
1 Kym // Oct 17, 2008 at 11:04 am
Mac, I highly recommend getting a second or even third opinion from other doctors. 3 years ago I experienced what you are describing. Knowing that doctors would tell me to rest and it would go away, as they told you, I didn’t go see one. Finally eventually it got so bad that I literally woke up screaming in pain. I went to the ER. The doctor told me it was just a pulled muscle. I explained all my symptoms and how it had been a constant pain for 2 months now. Still he tells me muscle pull and gives me muscle relaxants. Surprise! That didn’t work. 2 days later I couldn’t bend enough to get out of bed - I had to roll onto the floor and have my roommate pick me up and take me back to the ER. I told them NO WAY this is a muscle pull or something that will just go away. This time I actually had a good doctor - he knew right away this was a more serious problem. He couldn’t be specific as he would need to run some tests, so he directed me to an orthopaedic specialist to investigate the discs in my back. An MRI later it was determined I had a very badly herniated disc, and that my other discs were bulging too and in danger of herniation. A heck of a lot more going on than a muscle pull!
I’m not sure what type of doctor you are seeing, and I’m not saying it’s gonna turn out that you also have herniated disc(s), but I do advise you to go to an orthopaedic specialist, or to at least go see some other doctors. You don’t want it to get to the point that I got to.
If you’re wondering, the specialist gave me pain killers and sent me to physical therapy and 2 months later my pain had lessened to almost nothing. Today the pain is completely gone, unless I stand for too long or bend too much - then it comes back minorly. I’ve only had one bad relapse, which was exactly 1 yr after the intial problem. It went away again a few weeks later, though, after I made sure to do the physical therapy exercises.
Make sure you take care of your back. I was 20 at the time and they told me I had the back of a 35 yr old. Not really so great.
2 Andrew is getting fit // Oct 17, 2008 at 11:45 am
It’s so hard for us to rest because we lose so much fitness during the rest. I always find it incredibly difficult to restart after a layoff.
Having said that you need to get that back sorted.
3 Nat // Oct 17, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I get lower back/hip pain. I went to see a sports therapist who did ART and it really helped. (All the symptoms.) I throw that out there as an option. (I’m also a big fan of therapeutic massage. Totally worth the money.)
Either way, rest maybe in order. So hard to do… speedy recovery.
4 Andrew // Oct 17, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Actually, I’ve heard resting makes it worse. The theory is resting makes your back stiff and reluctant to start moving again, which in turn makes the pain worse when you try to move after a few days resting.
I’ve read (I can’t remember the name of the book atm, but it was about back exercises) that the best thing you can do is take short resting periods throughout the day and mix it with walking and light stretching, so your back isn’t constantly stressed from moving, but also stays limber. And avoid sitting down at a 90 deg. angle, reclining works better.
I’ve thrown out my back before and it was pain enough I couldn’t sleep more than 15minutes at the time. Doing the trick above really helped me recover.
5 Andrew // Oct 17, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I should probably mention from my post above… The reason I call it a theory even though I feel it helped me is because I have no comparison to judge it against, so I don’t know if it really helped me get better faster or not. I just know that I was in less pain after a few minutes of walking around than I was after a few minutes of sitting or even lying down.
6 Kym // Oct 17, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I agree with Andrew about your back stiffening up when you rest for a long period of time. I’ve found that when my disks give me a problem, if I lay down for more than say an hour at a time, it’s even stiffer and worse than when I started. If I get up and walk a bit sometime in that hour though, it improves.
7 pfctdayelise // Oct 17, 2008 at 6:31 pm
that sucks. “just rest” is the most frustrating advice ever.
have you seen or considered seeing a physio? I had a knee injury a couple of years ago and the GP’s advice was to “just rest”. of course as soon as I started playing sports again it came back. I went to a physio and they were actually useful — gave me exercises to strengthen my hips and I was able to keep playing sports after that.
8 Charles // Oct 17, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I don’t know who you’re seeing but I recommend a doctor specializing in Sports Medicine. They always were the best doctors I consulted.
You shouldn’t have to live with pain in order to work out and become healthier. Good luck.
9 Cameron // Oct 18, 2008 at 1:49 am
Try this (it can only make the problem better, not worse) - it’s been studied, it’s called the [name] method (can’t remember the pioneer’s name):
Lie on a hard floor. Place a thick, hardcover book under your head, ideally a dictionary or a few editions of an encyclopedia. Bend your legs at the knee, so that your feet are flat on the floor, and your knees are in the air. Ensure your back is flat on the floor (i.e. no arch). If you can feel an arch in your back, “roll” your back, vertebra by vertebra onto the floor, starting at the top, until there is no arch.
Do this initially for half an hour a day. It should be fixed in a day or two. Even once you feel better, continue to do it (tapering the time down) for a few days).
This has been my failsafe remedy for back problems of all kinds for more than a decade.
10 brooklynchick // Oct 18, 2008 at 8:10 am
What a bummer! I’m so sorry, that stinks. Do you know if he considers yoga or pilates too strenuous? My dad took up Pilates in his 50’s and found it really improved his chronic back problems. If you are in too much pain, a low-key yoga routine might at least help with stretching. Intense yoga or pilates are definitely muscle-builders!!!
11 Mamaw // Oct 18, 2008 at 11:07 am
Get another opinion. Ask Pam to get a referral for a sports medicine doc from one of her peers. No diagnosis is ridiculous!!!
12 Kirsten // Oct 18, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I’ll throw in a good word for chiropractors. When I had back trouble 10 years ago, all my doctor did was give me muscle relaxants. A year ago I started with a chiropractor (covered by my benefits at work), and I’m almost back to normal now.
I’d almost forgotten what normal felt like!
13 Rick // Oct 20, 2008 at 5:30 am
1. Ice your back. Get an ice pack, wrap it in a towel (so it doesn’t get too cold on your skin), and ice for 20 minutes. Then get up and walk around and do your normal routine. Rinse and repeat. Ice is your friend.
2. Walk. A lot. This is also known as ‘active rest’. You must get those vertebrae moving and pumping fluids into the discs.
3. Go see a chiropractor. I swear by them (find a good one!) and go regularly as a preventative measure.
14 Jeff // Oct 20, 2008 at 6:30 am
It may not be popular or kool, but I agree with Rick… Ice your back, and see a Chiro… Some will want to rack up visit points for you, but there are some that will help treat your back so that your body can finish healing itself.
Good luck,
Jeff
15 Jeff // Oct 20, 2008 at 6:54 am
There’s a number of different causes for the Sciatica pain that you’re experiencing. My wife had a really bad episode of it earlier in the year. It got to the point where she was unable to sit down or walk without intense pain. The doctors prescribed an anti-inflammatory and told her to rest, but to keep as active as she was able, and to see a physiotherapist if she wanted.
I’d highly reccomend seeing a physiotherapist. They were able to determine that what was causing my wife’s pain wasn’t even anything to do with the spine or discs. Instead it was likely an irritated joint swelling up and putting pressure on the sciatic nerve, which she likely irritated by stretching too far over her head reaching for something. They prescribed an exercise regime along with some massage and stretching to help relieve the swelling. There was immediate improvement, both in mobility and relief of the pain.
I’d go to a physiotherapist over a chiropractor. Any sort of spinal manipulation at this stage is just going to result in more swelling, and more pain, and a longer recovery period.
As far as hot and cold goes, go with whichever one reduces your pain more. My wife found that hot showers significantly reduced pain and stiffness, whereas ice did nothing.
Hope you get on the mend soon!
16 DP // Oct 20, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I definitely feel your frustration, but as a doctor, I am at least as frustrated seeing people with back pain every day. The honest truth is that medical science just doesn’t have any good evidence for any of the treatments, and more and more data seems to come back saying that treating the pain aggressively early on (like the first 2 months) tends to make things worse. Luckily, 95% get better in about 2 months. For those that don’t, yeah, go back and ask for further workup then. The science is a little better for treatment if your pain is chronic for over 2 months. A little better. It’s not science is not strong, around the same level as alternative medicine like acupuncture (which is actually quite decent).
17 GeneralDisarray // Oct 21, 2008 at 10:32 am
Chiropractor. I’m proud to say my Dad is one of the good ones and he’s helped out hundreds of people with mysterious back pain.
For what it’s worth, he went to Palmer Chiropractic College in Iowa, though I guess there’s a few of them throughout the states now.
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