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Hello, I Have Had Ongoing Back Issues. I Slept Wrong
Question: hello, I have had ongoing back issues. I slept wrong and my lower back went out. I have also been having upper abdominal pain. I went to er over my stomach. Did ct with contrast and it came back normal suggested follow up with my np. I went to my massage therapist on Thursday for my back. He said he would tell my spine has worsened from feeling of it and said I have rotation of my spine to go along with everything else. He pushed and pulled on me and I went home. Ever since he did what he did, I have a heart beat midway down my spine. I feel it when my back is against anything whether I’m sitting or laying flat. It’s only in one specific spot. I’m scheduled to see a neurosurgeon this coming Wednesday but this is starting to scare me. I’m less then three months out from three cardiac ablations. Everything hit at once and i can’t imagine it’s not all correlated.
Brief Answer:
Possible aorta aneurysm.
Detailed Answer:
Hello, Thank you for using "Ask a doctor" service.
I read your query and I understand your concern.
From your description one thing I can really think it is important to rule out is aortic aneurysm. The location where you feel the heartbeat makes me think that the aorta (big blood vessel in your belly and in front of the spine) may be enlarged. I do not think that the massage therapist has damaged it because it is an emergency and you would directly feel low blood pressure and a lot of pain. But maybe due to physical movement and spine manipulation maybe he kinda put it in closer contact with the spine. This is of course very difficult to happen, but not impossible.
Main thing though is to rule out if you have an aneurysm. Maybe something about the aorta is mentioned in the CTscan you did. If not, you can consider doing an abdominal ultrasound. If you do not have acute belly pain or low blood pressure, it can wait until the visit with the neurosurgeon.
Hope this is helpful. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Kind regards, Dr. Klarida Papaqako, General and Family physician.
Possible aorta aneurysm.
Detailed Answer:
Hello, Thank you for using "Ask a doctor" service.
I read your query and I understand your concern.
From your description one thing I can really think it is important to rule out is aortic aneurysm. The location where you feel the heartbeat makes me think that the aorta (big blood vessel in your belly and in front of the spine) may be enlarged. I do not think that the massage therapist has damaged it because it is an emergency and you would directly feel low blood pressure and a lot of pain. But maybe due to physical movement and spine manipulation maybe he kinda put it in closer contact with the spine. This is of course very difficult to happen, but not impossible.
Main thing though is to rule out if you have an aneurysm. Maybe something about the aorta is mentioned in the CTscan you did. If not, you can consider doing an abdominal ultrasound. If you do not have acute belly pain or low blood pressure, it can wait until the visit with the neurosurgeon.
Hope this is helpful. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Kind regards, Dr. Klarida Papaqako, General and Family physician.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Kampana
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