View Full Version : My back hurts - advice please.
I have had a bad back for 3 years now and have been backwards forwards to the hospital with no resolution throughout this time.
However in the last 3 weeks it has been significantly worse than previously and is now causing a loss of power and movement in one of my legs.
Over the past 3 years I have had the following:
MRI Scan
Bone Scan
Physio x 2
I have even tried Pilates, accupuncture, osteopathy but none of them have helped. Running normally helps to take the edge off of it but even that isn't touching it.
My most recent visit was to the pain clinic where I was hoping for an injection, but instead got sent to a TENS clinic, another waste of time. Now I am stuck and don't know which way to turn.
It is making me grumpy, tired and very short tempered........should I go back to the doctors and try to get re-referred? Which may take up to 6 months again.
do you know what the cause of your back pain? I did mine playing paintball. I went to a chiropracter which made me feel better didnt cure it straight away. They mentioned weakness in the muscles on my right side and gave me extra exercises. Occsionally it gets tight down from my backside to my thigh. I think a combination of strengthening exercises, getting abit more active + chiropracter and ensuring I am warmed up before exercises has kept it at bay so far. Hope you get sorted out soon
No everything so far has been 'in-conclusive' which doesn't really help too much.
Motolorax
02-01-09, 09:20 AM
I'll second that. Last few months I've had a crazy lifestyle, so not been running, cycling, going to gym or practicing kendo as I usually do and guess what, my back has crapped out as it does every time I'm not keeping fit and strong. Old age sucks, but it can be largely beaten by exercise and good diet, but it's easier said than done. But sounds like your already doing the exercise thing with running. When things got really bad last time I was having pysio twice a week, exercising daily and kendo three times a week and it was amonth or so before things got better.
maviczap
02-01-09, 09:27 AM
H'mmm. I would have thought that all these would have picked something up. As one who suffers from cronic pain, I can sympathise with you (mines facial) and know how bloody frustrating it can be.
I've been through major surgery, which didn't cure my problem, and now I would always advise trying anything else first. Trouble is I live miles away from any good centres of treatment.
I'm sure my problems are result of bad posture, as some of my symptoms have been helped by visits to the Osteopath. But obviously it hasn't helped you.
Where you live you could try this Egoscue method. Its not alternative therapy, but something like a combination of physio & osteopathy.
http://www.samafitness.co.uk/html/egoscue_.html
It got a good write up in my cycling magazine and seems to make sense. Read up what it says on the site about the method.
What have you got to loose? Just a few quid for the consultation.
It might be worth it
Remember surgery is the last option, but they won't do anything if they can't find anything wrong.
shonadoll
02-01-09, 10:16 AM
That's annoying they have done all that and found nothing - go back asap and get re-referred, before doing anything else first. Then get on the net and see if you can find anything similar-it may be you need a CAT scan, whats happening sounds like something pressuring a nerve, and a CAT would help show that better than an MRI maybe.
I had a disc protrusion on my sciatic nerve for a year thanks to the NHS and have been left with permanent nerve damage because they treated me for a pulled muscle, so I have zero faith in them.
I urge you to make a nuisance of yourself on this one-I didn't and wish I had.
CoolGirl
02-01-09, 11:09 AM
get thee to a good osteopath. they'll be able to diagnose and cure it.
Just made another appointment at the doctors for a re-referral.
MiniMatt
02-01-09, 11:14 AM
I suspect your problems are a little more serious than this, but - try a new mattress?
had thought of that actually, but the back issues started before the matress was bought.
How are you doing fella?
MiniMatt
02-01-09, 11:48 AM
Oooh not bad, yer know, feckin cold, beginning to wish SVs had heated seats, a roof, windscreen wipers, and perhaps four wheels for better stability in the ice :D
Actually, thinking about it - erm, you're not gonna want to hear this... but I doubt a CBR RRRRRRrrrrRRR is doing your back any favours? Guessing the SV has a slightly less bent riding position - swapsies? :D
I know what you mean, but then I see people stuck in traffic and the cold just dissappears! Having said that I am feeling the cold more than ever - must be getting old eh!
You'd be suprised, the opposite is actually true. The SV seemed a lot longer to a short ar$e like me with the bars further away and therefore I was bent over and constantly reaching forward. The RR is shorter and I feel more in control of the bike as I am less stretched, it is also lighter and therefore much more manoeverable in slow moving traffic for me anyway.
When I got on the first one I tested I immediately felt comfortable, so all thoughts of GSXR's went out the window.
Swapsies - erm no thanks........although I still love SV's.
Cycling helps too, but interferes with my running........
I hurt my back a long long time ago........one thing that was said to me was, once you've got a bad back, you will always have a bad back. :(
Oooh not bad, yer know, feckin cold, beginning to wish SVs had heated seats, a roof, windscreen wipers, and perhaps four wheels for better stability in the ice :D
Actually, thinking about it - erm, you're not gonna want to hear this... but I doubt a CBR RRRRRRrrrrRRR is doing your back any favours? Guessing the SV has a slightly less bent riding position - swapsies? :D
I find my cbr alot more comfy than my SVS, short journeys or long journeys lol
Sorry to hear that you're suffering Kev.
If you can afford it - ask your GP to refer you to an orthopaedic specialist privately. Takes the waiting out of things, whatever treatment s/he prescribes will almost certainly be available on the NHS, so all you're doing is getting rid of the wait and the pain to see the consultant in the first place. In fact pick up the phone to the local Nuffield Hospital now and ask them (a) do they have anyone who you can see and (b) what sort of waiting list is there and (c) how much would an initial consultation cost.
MiniMatt
02-01-09, 12:39 PM
I found that sleeping interferes with my running. And drinking interferes with my cycling...
Education on the RR, something to bear in mind, kinda thinking about new bikes again although CBRs look too pretty to abuse through the mud and salt of winter for my liking. Correction, with my approach to cleaning (once a year is about it), a CBR is too pretty to abuse through winter :D
I found that sleeping interferes with my running. And drinking interferes with my cycling...
Education on the RR, something to bear in mind, kinda thinking about new bikes again although CBRs look too pretty to abuse through the mud and salt of winter for my liking. Correction, with my approach to cleaning (once a year is about it), a CBR is too pretty to abuse through winter :D
That is apparently what ACF50 was invented for........not many other bikes on the roads during winter especially sports bikes.
On that site now ED having a look.
The problem is with the NHS you don't really know what is available and what isn't, what your rights are or anything else.....I find it really frustrating.
timwilky
02-01-09, 01:08 PM
I have had a back for 25+ years and sympathise with fellow sufferers, most of the time I get on with it. Twice I have had a ride in an ambulance when the nice men have picked me up off the floor and pumped morphine into my arm saying you will be sent home in a couple of hours and they have been right.
When I first presented to my GP with the problem they got me X rayed (pre scanners) and basically said I had worn discs that allowed my lower vertebrae to occasionally rub. and I thought I had just had a painfully bad landing when I fell down a WWII slit trench on an air field from 2,500 ft.
Surprising it was to find when I took out life insurance that my back was excluded from any claim. I therefore had to get them to provide a letter to the effect that the exclusion was purely skeletal and any other disease that may effect my back was covered.
oh, and riding a sports bike can really help, When I conciously decide to arc my back the other way, as in to present a concave rather than traditional convex profile (as in bend my lower back and push my shoulders/upper back back
So apart from the occasional physio after a bad spell, it is Tramadol as and when the back and/or legs (Sciatica) demand. Daft when I need help. I have to wait weeks to get any. It would be better if I could simply phone and say my back is returning, can I start a treatment regime instead of it getting to the point when my GP has to refer me.
joshmac
02-01-09, 03:40 PM
May be a silly suggestion, but have you tried wearing a back support
http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:0Au-mYKOMc_c0M:http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/ProductImages/300/2008_Fox_Racing_180_Kidney_Belt_Black.jpg (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/ProductImages/300/2008_Fox_Racing_180_Kidney_Belt_Black.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/6/10/9592/ITEM/Fox-Racing-180-Kidney-Belt.aspx&usg=__tV5WO2q_S6hhlEKLSH-EszzoxwY=&h=300&w=300&sz=9&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=0Au-mYKOMc_c0M:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkidney%2Bbelt%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa fe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GFRC_enGB203GB203%26sa%3DN)
OK it's a motocross kidney belt, but I lend it to my dad when he has a bad back and he says that it makes it feel a lot better.
shonadoll
02-01-09, 05:17 PM
On that site now ED having a look.
The problem is with the NHS you don't really know what is available and what isn't, what your rights are or anything else.....I find it really frustrating.
I got a Tempur mattress 4 years ago, and that has really helped too. I notice it if I stay anywhere else and can't walk as well in the morning.
Please be careful about who you see- my husband saw an osteopath and felt it made his back worse, until you know what's wrong with yours I'd be very wary..
Going privately will certainly speed things up but that's to no avail if you can't stay private all the way through- you will still wait for a cat scan or whatever they decide you need.
maviczap
02-01-09, 05:41 PM
I got a Tempur mattress 4 years ago, and that has really helped too. I notice it if I stay anywhere else and can't walk as well in the morning.
Please be careful about who you see- my husband saw an osteopath and felt it made his back worse, until you know what's wrong with yours I'd be very wary..
Going privately will certainly speed things up but that's to no avail if you can't stay private all the way through- you will still wait for a cat scan or whatever they decide you need.
+1 I've been treated by 2 different Osteopaths and the treatment by each was different for the same problem. Plus don't forget they are human, so you're going to get good and maybe not so good.
Both my osteo's are good, just different approaches
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