[ChrisRobin]

Anyone ever have a herniated disc in their lower back?

-How was it finally diagnosed?
-What kind of pain or discomfort were you feeling?
-What was done in order to heal it?

Just curious. The doctor said I was fine and that my xrays were normal although I still think there's something wrong with my lower back.

 

[davep]

X-rays will not tell you anything about the soft tissues (disc).

The typical signal of a lumbar disc herniation is leg/butt pain. If the repture is large enough, it will pinch one of the nerves (sciatic) that lead to you leg and this will cause pain/weakness/numbness. (although a large % of the population have some sort of disc abnormality without any pain)

Your general practicioner will not know enough or do enough to be able to diagnose this issue propperly. Get a referal if needed and go see a physiatrist. They specialize in non-surgical rehab medicine and can help diagnose your issue and help you with your pain if need be. They will most likely want an MRI and possibly some other imaging work to propperly diagnose the problem.

Depending on what they find (unless something is very off) they will most likely get you into P.T. for lots of core strength and flexability work. This is the usual first couse of action and can be a significant help.

 

[BRIANBUELL]

This is creepy! Just yesterday I fell and bruised my hip/lower back area. The opposite side wasn't brutalized but a few hours after impact and when the pain medicine wore off, I realized there was something else going on. I was in pain and discomfort whenever I twisted or torqued around, even in the smallest ways. After icing and sleep the pain that bugged me was still there, just putting my sock on my foot was a chore. So, with work in the afternoon and a bruised and gimpy lower back/leg I gave in a went to the ER since it is Sunday and my regular doctor was not in office. After some waiting, X Rays and poking around this lovely doctor told me I might have slightly ruptured a disk and the pain that comes with that is a pinched nerve(sciatic). The pain should subside with regular doses of IB pro fen 800mg every 6-8 hours. Could take days or weeks. Exercise is not prohibited, neither is walking, standing or regular everyday activities. If your pain shoots down from your lower back through the middle of the butt check and into the leg there is a very good chance your sciatic nerve is pinched. If you don't have to don't go to the hospital unless it is something serious, or you will be slapped with a serious co-pay. Hopefully its nothing serious and you can be back on your bike in no time!

 

[dhbuilder]

i'll say this once.

CHIROPRACTOR !!!!!!

i had a major tree slam over four years ago.
four vertabrea were completely knocked outta whack.
i spent a year and a half getting treatment and now am, 90%pain free.
i've learned how to self adjust my spine and it works wonders.

if i had listened to the "doctor", i'd have probably gone under the knife needlessly.
and at a cost far greater than the full amount i paid to the chiro.
if left untreated, it would have led to permanent soft tissue damage (herniated discs)
and once they rupture, you're screwed.

nobody on this board has the credentials to diagnose.
don't mess around with your spine.

 

[Jim Mac]

i'll say this once.

CHIROPRACTOR !!!!!!

i had a major tree slam over four years ago.
four vertabrea were completely knocked outta whack.
i spent a year and a half getting treatment and now am, 90%pain free.
i've learned how to self adjust my spine and it works wonders.

if i had listened to the "doctor", i'd have probably gone under the knife needlessly.
and at a cost far greater than the full amount i paid to the chiro.
if left untreated, it would have led to permanent soft tissue damage (herniated discs)
and once they rupture, you're screwed.

nobody on this board has the credentials to diagnose.
don't mess around with your spine.

What he said! I had a herniated disc a few years ago (2002), and the best advice and treatment I got was with my chiropractor and not my dr. I had the classic radiating pain down my back through my butt, hamstring, calf right down to my toes - sciatic nerve pain.

Actually, he did use an x-ray to diagnose - he looked an the distance bewteen vertebrae (as the discs invetween don't show up on x ray) and you could see that the vertebrae were pinching in, potentially on aformentioned disc.

Treatment was icing my back 2X a day, slow stretching & adjustments when I could tolerate it, and ultrasound/cold lazer on my back. My chirporactor was also a sports dr. (worked with the Giants for a while) and is a marathon runner, so he knew the deal on balancing healing with my tendency to get back riding. He gave me some sound advice on how much exercise would be good and what migt be pushing it.

He freaked out on me when I proclaimed I was cured because I came up on a drop (this is about 6 after months of healing) too fast , jumped over the bars landing feet first with no pain! I remember him shaking his head saying, "That's pure spinal compression!"...

 

[davep]

nobody on this board has the credentials to diagnose.
don't mess around with your spine.

you are correct in this.....BUT...there are people out there (me for one) who have had long and difficult battles with disc degeneration for many years. This is drastically different than a one time acute injury. Chiros have their place: but, in my case for example, an adjustment could very will have caused permanent nerve damage, loss of feeling and muscle atrophie in my leg (some of which I already have). In the end, there is lots of info to be gathered to make an informed decision. PT, masage, accupuncture, and chiro all have their place, and can help....just remember each practicioner will recomend THEIR practice as 'the solution'.


I am not saying that I would jump to something as drastic as surgery ( I have had a couple), and I fully agree that MOST physicians are near useless in this area..but as mentioned earlier, a physiatris can and will help diagnose your problem with the propper tools.

FYI an x-ray can tell you something about disc space (quite irrelevant), but it cannnot tell you anything about disc helath.


The best thing that I can tell anyone in this situation, is find someone YOU TRUST (doc, chiro, whatever). Ask LOTS of questions and press for answers. Do your own research..through the internet and/or college medical libraries. Get as much info form as many sources as possible to help you make the right decision for YOU!!

 

[CRoss]

A good chiropractor. One that does not say come in every week for the rest of your life. My chiropractor saw me said to come in next week then once a month for about three months and then hoped to never see me again.

My chiropractor that thought I might have a herniated disc a few years ago. After treating me a few times he discovered it was unbalanced muscles and one torn/strained muscle in my abdomen pulling on my hips and spine. After treating these muscles the pain went away and I had more range of motion. Every once in awhile symptoms return but I just stretch a few days and everything goes away.

 

[dhbuilder]

you are correct in this.....BUT...there are people out there (me for one) who have had long and difficult battles with disc degeneration for many years. This is drastically different than a one time acute injury. Chiros have their place: but, in my case for example, an adjustment could very will have caused permanent nerve damage, loss of feeling and muscle atrophie in my leg (some of which I already have). In the end, there is lots of info to be gathered to make an informed decision. PT, masage, accupuncture, and chiro all have their place, and can help....just remember each practicioner will recomend THEIR practice as 'the solution'.


I am not saying that I would jump to something as drastic as surgery ( I have had a couple), and I fully agree that MOST physicians are near useless in this area..but as mentioned earlier, a physiatris can and will help diagnose your problem with the propper tools.

FYI an x-ray can tell you something about disc space (quite irrelevant), but it cannnot tell you anything about disc helath.


The best thing that I can tell anyone in this situation, is find someone YOU TRUST (doc, chiro, whatever). Ask LOTS of questions and press for answers. Do your own research..through the internet and/or college medical libraries. Get as much info form as many sources as possible to help you make the right decision for YOU!!

gotcha man.
at the age of 50 and still d.h.ing hard, my chiro is now a good friend away from the office too.
he understands what i do for recreation.
and has helped me greatly deal with the nagging pains you get as you age and yet still deny it with what i/we do on our bikes.

even herniated discs can benefit from chiro treatment.
by getting your spine back in good alignment, you ease the pressure on said discs.


you spoke volumes when you said folks need to do some reasearch.
i was given many many different sources for info before anyone ever touched me.

 

[barclaybotch]

I herniated L4-L5 back in 1993 (when I was in my mid-twenties. I had severe sciatic pain and was bedridden for the entire summer. I was just about to go under the knife when I met and became close friends with a physician. He tracked down a meta-analysis (this is where they combine many studies and run analyses on them as a group to get a bigger picture/ hopefully more acurate picture) article from one of the med. journals. Turns out that, at that point in time, the outcomes for individuals with lower spine disc herniations at the end of a three-year period, were basically the same for those who underwent surgery, had lumbar injections (cortisone type injections), or who did physical therapy/nothing. Regardless of what treatment, in general patients ended up at basically the same place. I went the physical therapy route. Pain was gone at one year and today I am totally back to normal. Just my experience. Keep in mind, surgeons solve problems through surgery, etc....

 

[doc gravity]

Even for those of us who do have the credentials to make such a diagnosis (which cannot be done with the amount of information available), I've got to tell you just re-read the last 4 or 5 posts over and over while you give your back a little rest. Lots of people get back pain at some point in their lives. And while our choice of recreation does put at us increased risk for more significant injuries (such as disc herniation), most episodes of pain will settle down without need for more drastic interventions. Chiropractors, Physiatrists, Physical Therapists, and other alternative providers may all help speed this along. The point made by other people is the key to this. You have to find someone you can TRUST and work with. A good PT is better than a mediocre doc any day of the week (and vice versa). Surgery has a very narrow and well defined role, and is unlikely to be the first choice of therapies unless the injury is really significant (as demonstrated with MRI). If the pain persist, find someone to work WITH you. Heal up soon, the season is upon us. Scott

 

[dhbuilder]

what better advice than that given by someone named "doc gravity".