Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewD55
I'm not a doctor, but I've defended enough bodily injury/workers' comp cases to have read enough medical records and deposed enough doctors to put this out there: a big component of it is psychological. Here's the thing: you bulge a disc, or especially if you herniate one, that condition can't be repaired. Surgery can alleviate the problem by taking the pressure of the spinal column off of the cord, but there's always a lingering pain. I've seen plenty of cases where folks have had everything done to them that could be done and didn't respond but where their caretakers suspected them of malingering, because there's really no way that treatment (unless your doctor's a quack) should ever make your condition worse. The attitude that you approach it has a lot to do with how your body will react.
That being said, because a bulge or a herniation is irreversible, the best means of treatment is to do what you can to counteract your body's response to the condition. If you have a bulging disc, it doesn't hep to have weak muscles supporting your midsection because it will only put more pressure on the part of your body that's actually hurting itself. When physical therapists prescribe stretching and the like after a back or neck injury, it's not really treating the injury itself; it's improving the injury's surroundings, so to speak, to improve the body's ability to counteract the pain. Drugs is an iffy proposition, and if you can, stick to over-the-counter non-steroidal-anti-inflammatories, like Aleve or prescription Naproxen or Flexeril. You start getting into opioid derivatives like Oxy or the like, and you're just asking for trouble.
Surgery, I don't see as a miracle cure-all and should always be considered as a last resort. Just as a tip from me for minor back pain, the Icy Hot shit that Shaq pitches? Works pretty damn well. Yes, it's stuck in the dark ages and still smells like Ben-Gay, when even Ben-Gay doesn't actually smell like that anymore, but it does the job, as far as a topical painkiller.
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Nailed our profession pretty much on the head with low back pain
For the record, a few quick, fast facts about low back pain
-The majority of LBP is not discopathic, rather, it is muscular related. Very common misunderstanding.
-When it is a disc problem, the progression of symptoms are; pain, the second is numbness/tingling, and the last is weakness. So the more severe the problem is, the further along that progression your symptoms will be
-DO NOT get an MRI unless you're willing/looking into get surgery. A good rule of thumb; your age gives you the percent chance of having a positive MRI for a disc that may be unsymptomatic. If the disc shifts anterior, there will be little to no pain. Many of us probably do have positive MRIs and we'll never know it.
-There is no "for sure, do this and you'll be all better!!" cure. It's a combination of things based on your current symptoms and how you respond to different shit.
-Know that when you do apply heat to an area (any, not just low back), you are not heating the muscles. It does not go much deeper than the skin layer. The main purpose of heat is just as a pain relief technique. So if somebody tells you "do not heat that area!" (unless you have an open wound), repeat this. If heat makes you feel better, use heat. If ice makes you feel better, use ice. It really doesn't matter. Ice does penetrate a little (relative word) deeper into the tissue, however.
Hopefully this helped a little bit. Yankees, that sucks dude. That severe of a herniation sucks, hopefully that shot helps knock down the swelling and gives you some relief