Any advice on back pain? m

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

My poor husband blows out his back every couple of years. He's never doing anything too strenuous--this time he sneezed when he was leaning over! That was it, flat on his back for five days and only able to get moving again with serious painkillers. This is much worse than previous incidents.

He had an MRI last week and the doctor says he's got multiple bulging disks. I googled that and I see what the doctor is talking about, but the doctor has no ideas on treatment other than some exercises to strengthen the back (which DH has done off and on in the past) and "don't go to a chiropractor, they're all a bunch of quacks." He also will not prescribe physical therapy for him, says the exercises should do it.

I just called the doctor and left a message with the receptionist asking the doctor to please think about DH a bit more. I asked about something like a corset that would give him more support, seeing an orthopedist, massage...forgot to ask about memory foam mattress toppers, but I've heard both that they can be great for backs AND that they can be hell on backs.

Has anyone got any advice that might help him? How about chiropractors, any ideas on choosing a good one? Poor DH is 6' 4" and not overweight, we have a firm mattress, he doesn't do any lifting, and he's depressed. To top it off, he's having root canal today and he's never had it before, so he feels like he's falling apart.

Thanks for listening and for any suggestions!

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I would suggest trying to find an osteopath. Ours has been a life saver, and my bulging disk is under control most of the time...

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

What does your osteopath do that helps? Long ago, I think we had a doctor who was an osteopath--is it a D.O. rather than an M.D.? He was just like a regular doctor for us. That was before DH's back started to wear out.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

What does your osteopath do that helps? Long ago, I think we had a doctor who was an osteopath--is it a D.O. rather than an M.D.? He was just like a regular doctor for us. That was before DH's back started to wear out.

Yes he is a D.O., but he does a lot of 'hand on' manipulation/adjustment/stretching. I don't want to put chiropractors down, but he has worked far better for us than any chiropractor ever has. And yes, we use him as a regular doctor, too. Ours is also a homeopath, which comes in handy, though we tend to 'pick and choose' whether we will see him or a regular MD, depending on the problem. All orthopedic stuff goes to him first, though.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Okay, let me look on our insurance and see who's there. I guess we would have to switch to the osteopath as our primary-care physician. That's more than okay with me because I can't STAND our doctor--but in general he's been good with DH.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely look into it. I wonder if I could just find somebody good and take DH there off insurance for a look-see. Your osteopath doesn't know anyone good in northern NJ, does he?

Thank you again. DH is really at the end of his rope.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Okay, let me look on our insurance and see who's there. I guess we would have to switch to the osteopath as our primary-care physician. That's more than okay with me because I can't STAND our doctor--but in general he's been good with DH.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely look into it. I wonder if I could just find somebody good and take DH there off insurance for a look-see. Your osteopath doesn't know anyone good in northern NJ, does he?

Thank you again. DH is really at the end of his rope.

Give me some towns to ask about and I will call the office. He will probably tell me that people from Northern NJ come to him (yes he is a bit of an egomaniac, but he's entitled imho), but I will try anyway.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

My poor husband blows out his back every couple of years. He's never doing anything too strenuous--this time he sneezed when he was leaning over! That was it, flat on his back for five days and only able to get moving again with serious painkillers. This is much worse than previous incidents.

He had an MRI last week and the doctor says he's got multiple bulging disks. I googled that and I see what the doctor is talking about, but the doctor has no ideas on treatment other than some exercises to strengthen the back (which DH has done off and on in the past) and "don't go to a chiropractor, they're all a bunch of quacks." He also will not prescribe physical therapy for him, says the exercises should do it.

This same thing happened to me some 20 years back. A sneeze put me on the floor in pain. I had bulging disks that I went to both a Doctor and a Chiropractor. I was doing good for a many years after but it caught up to me. some 15 years later I had surgery for Herniated disks. My pain was so extreme that I was totally unmovable. I had the L5 and S1 affected. The S1 root is the nerve that goes to the groin area. So if I moved it felt like someone was squeezing the family jewels. I have had 1 major operation and 3 procedures requiring Needles and 1 with a hot needle. After the operation the doctor said that had to be the largest herniated disk that he had seen. If I did not get the operation when I did I could have been paralyzed. I also have something called Osteophytes. That is bone spurs that grow on the spine and pull the nerve. I had that scraped once but it grows back.

One thing that does help with pain is to lay flat on the floor. Then lift and rest your legs on a chair or a bed. Another good thing to do is to lay down and try to lift a knee to your chest one at a time.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

I can't keep it straight who's in Rockland and who's in LI. DH could indeed go to Rockland. Long Island, not so much.

I'll PM you!

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I can't keep it straight who's in Rockland and who's in LI. DH could indeed go to Rockland. Long Island, not so much.

I'll PM you!

I am on Wrong Island

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

An osteopath is the way to go. Rick saw an osteopath for a while after he injured his back at the firehouse. The guy was great and provided him so much relief.

Rick now also has two bulging disks and does several things to relieve the pain, including one of those inversion tables that he uses twice a day for taking the stress off his back. He also does exercises that help, always before getting out of bed in the morning. He starts out the day with less pain when he can do them.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

This same thing happened to me some 20 years back. A sneeze put me on the floor in pain. I had bulging disks that I went to both a Doctor and a Chiropractor. I was doing good for a many years after but it caught up to me. some 15 years later I had surgery for Herniated disks. My pain was so extreme that I was totally unmovable. I had the L5 and S1 affected. The S1 root is the nerve that goes to the groin area. So if I moved it felt like someone was squeezing the family jewels. I have had 1 major operation and 3 procedures requiring Needles and 1 with a hot needle. After the operation the doctor said that had to be the largest herniated disk that he had seen. If I did not get the operation when I did I could have been paralyzed. I also have something called Osteophytes. That is bone spurs that grow on the spine and pull the nerve. I had that scraped once but it grows back.

One thing that does help with pain is to lay flat on the floor. Then lift and rest your legs on a chair or a bed. Another good thing to do is to lay down and try to lift a knee to your chest one at a time.

Oh, Frank! I'm sorry you had to go through this. The exercises that the doctor wants are like you're describing. DH was flat on the floor with his legs on a chair and a moist heating pad under him for most of day 2 and day 3 with this go-round. But getting back UP from the floor was really bad and I was afraid he would really twist things.

I have a friend who had back surgery and she says that you have the surgery when the pain is so bad you don't care if you live through the surgery or not.

This is really an area where doctors should be doing more research and offering more ideas. It is terrible that the attitude is, "You're in pain now, and eventually you will be in a lot more pain and you will need surgery that might or might not work, but we're not going to help you in the meantime!"

[Icc5 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Icc5]

Streching

I've gone through back pain several times over the years and been told that I have a bulging disk and operations were talked about. Each time long slow streches have solved the problem for long lengths of time. Don't ask why but streching my calves seems to help my back most of all.
Bart

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

The nurse called back and said the doctor says no corsets, he will just get dependent on them. (DH was relieved, not into the whole corset thing, says that's a specialty market. ) Dr. says back exercises will fix his back. This seems optimistic to me. It might hold things off for a while but then he always blows it out again and each time it's worse than the last. I worry.

The nurse is sending a copy of the MRI report.

Icc5, what kind of stretching do you do?

Thanks to everybody for their ideas. DH is being weird about the osteopath. Either that, or it's the root canal drugs talking. Hard to tell.

[Icc5 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Icc5]

Core strengthening exercises

Go on the computer and look up the title of this post. That is what one of my pages says on it. The chiropractor also worked with setting me up with his exercise theropist to learn different streches but my best was from my foot doctor who is an ex runner and his are the simplist.
1) with a hand on the wall and feet back about a foot and a half I strech one calf and then the other.
2) find a step (garage works great for this and put toes forward so heel is over the edge and raise, hold, lower, over and over for a minute or two.
I know it seems weird but the leg muscles have so much to do with the back as do the core (stomach) mucles and that is why it gets us when we get older. I know, I just turned 56 and always played sports up to about 44 years old. Learned old school streching which was short and many when now a days it is long and slow.
Good luck, and let me know outcome.
Bart

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

My DH swears by stretching exercises. When he has tennis elbow, he exercises his elbow and it goes away. When he has a sore back, he does back stretching exercises and it goes away. Not immediately of course. He turned me into a believer. I used to laugh at him because no matter what hurt he would always say to do stretching exercises. I don't laugh any more because it really seems to work.