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Suggest Treatment For Severe Back Pain
Question: Hello Dr. Rynne,
Tuesday night I started my Fitness class (Crossfit)? It was intense. Went to bed at 1030pm and at 1230am I went to get up and I couldnt. I was feeling the most excruciating pain. I could not sit up or stand. Any movement I made was painful. my parents layed me on the floor and that is where I been since. Abt 2.5 years ago I had a similar situation happened. I was given a cortisone shot. Should I see a DR. or Orthopedic Surgeon .
Tuesday night I started my Fitness class (Crossfit)? It was intense. Went to bed at 1030pm and at 1230am I went to get up and I couldnt. I was feeling the most excruciating pain. I could not sit up or stand. Any movement I made was painful. my parents layed me on the floor and that is where I been since. Abt 2.5 years ago I had a similar situation happened. I was given a cortisone shot. Should I see a DR. or Orthopedic Surgeon .
Brief Answer:
Several points.
Detailed Answer:
Sorry, but to get a particular doctor you have to use the directed question option. But, several points: First, if a pain is repeated exactly, it is likely to be the same cause. If the shot worked before, getting the same shot from the same physician is likely to produce the same result.
Back pain can be due to many causes. The type of pain and its location is quite a cue to the cause. If it is sore to the touch, associated with spasmed muscles, any movement triggering the pain, it is likely due to pulled and bruised muscles and all sorts of anti-inflammatories (shots, over the counter naproxen, etc) are all likely to help and the pain likely to go away in few days to a week. Disk disease hits nerves. The pain is internal. runs out in the pathway of the nerve and is harder to get rid of.
Prevention is the key. Frankly, by far the most effective preventative, is exercise similar to that which triggered it. Trainers will have perfectly reasonable advise on how to modify the exercise regimen to not have repeats of the problem.
Several points.
Detailed Answer:
Sorry, but to get a particular doctor you have to use the directed question option. But, several points: First, if a pain is repeated exactly, it is likely to be the same cause. If the shot worked before, getting the same shot from the same physician is likely to produce the same result.
Back pain can be due to many causes. The type of pain and its location is quite a cue to the cause. If it is sore to the touch, associated with spasmed muscles, any movement triggering the pain, it is likely due to pulled and bruised muscles and all sorts of anti-inflammatories (shots, over the counter naproxen, etc) are all likely to help and the pain likely to go away in few days to a week. Disk disease hits nerves. The pain is internal. runs out in the pathway of the nerve and is harder to get rid of.
Prevention is the key. Frankly, by far the most effective preventative, is exercise similar to that which triggered it. Trainers will have perfectly reasonable advise on how to modify the exercise regimen to not have repeats of the problem.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Hi Dr. Wachsman, do you think I need a MRI. I am doing better now..but my question is If this happened 2.5 years ago and it happened again yesterday, do you think I need to see an Orthopedic surgeon or should I just continue on and let it happen again.
Brief Answer:
as far as we know MRI's are zero risk
Detailed Answer:
given the low/no risk of an MRI in most cases, and that they will definitely show if there is a problem, there doesn't seem to be a reason not to get one !
Mostly, it isn't going to change treatment right now. Surgery isn't a good idea unless there is evidence of nerve damage. Disk, no disk, mostly the pain goes away and stays away for long periods of time.
Disk, no disk, building up the surrounding muscles, working on flexibility, working on body awareness and balance.... yes, exactly what youve been doing, are the best treatments and preventatives.
So, MRI, will show exactly what's wrong. It just won't change any of the things you were planning to do with treatments and preventions.
as far as we know MRI's are zero risk
Detailed Answer:
given the low/no risk of an MRI in most cases, and that they will definitely show if there is a problem, there doesn't seem to be a reason not to get one !
Mostly, it isn't going to change treatment right now. Surgery isn't a good idea unless there is evidence of nerve damage. Disk, no disk, mostly the pain goes away and stays away for long periods of time.
Disk, no disk, building up the surrounding muscles, working on flexibility, working on body awareness and balance.... yes, exactly what youve been doing, are the best treatments and preventatives.
So, MRI, will show exactly what's wrong. It just won't change any of the things you were planning to do with treatments and preventions.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
do you recommend any books or articles I can read up on. I am just afraid this is going to happen down the road again and I want to prevent it. truthfully I wish there was a fix. the pain and feeling is horrible.
Brief Answer:
well... for starters....
Detailed Answer:
There is my aggregator site. Assume everything on it is a clickable link.
http://www.yyyyyyyyyy.net/back%20pain.html
That goes over the pathology of back pain and diagnosis better than anywhere, since it links to many of the major sites and puts everything into a framework.
But that isn't really what you want. I cannot diagnose, prescribe or treat without being there, but the general info is on BACK STRAIN and prevention.
http://www.yyyy.uk/news/2016/01yyyyyyy/yyyyyyy/Exercise-is-most-yyyyyyyy-method-of-yyyyyyyy-lower-back-yyyyyy.aspx
this just came out and re-affirmed the consensus in the medical community for at least the last decade.
What they don't mention is the physics. I can refer you to any beginning structural or mechanical engineering text, but I can summarize and spare the trouble.
passive load is the amount of force an area has to support all the time. It is the weight on it divided by the area of support. This comes down to mostly things that you cannot change (shape) and things that you can at most change by a mere 20% (body weight).
Active load is the amount of force put on an area from things happening to it. Bounce up and down on a non-digital scale and you can easily see that normal walking puts 20-40 pounds additional force on the back. Unbalanced stresses put weight on one edge of the back and lower the effective surface of holding the weight by half and that doubles the force on that particular area. sudden twisting and turning can do even more. This is somewhat helped by having more muscle mass around the back (ok, it can effectively DOUBLE the surface area and cushion and prevent sharp loads on small areas; effectively fixing the situation entirely). BUT, these are discrete rare events of back problems. This implies you did something really bad rarely to it. Body awareness and moving more gracefully will prevent these rare occurrences. Oddly enough martial arts are a good training on this (but also a risk of injury). Tai chi and yoga may also help BUT dance training such as ballroom or ballet are probably the best and this gets absolutely no attention in the literature.
http://nerdpyyyyyyyyse.net/ballroom.html as an intro. Googling ballroom and your location will show areas where you can get a variety of resources in ballroom training.
well... for starters....
Detailed Answer:
There is my aggregator site. Assume everything on it is a clickable link.
http://www.yyyyyyyyyy.net/back%20pain.html
That goes over the pathology of back pain and diagnosis better than anywhere, since it links to many of the major sites and puts everything into a framework.
But that isn't really what you want. I cannot diagnose, prescribe or treat without being there, but the general info is on BACK STRAIN and prevention.
http://www.yyyy.uk/news/2016/01yyyyyyy/yyyyyyy/Exercise-is-most-yyyyyyyy-method-of-yyyyyyyy-lower-back-yyyyyy.aspx
this just came out and re-affirmed the consensus in the medical community for at least the last decade.
What they don't mention is the physics. I can refer you to any beginning structural or mechanical engineering text, but I can summarize and spare the trouble.
passive load is the amount of force an area has to support all the time. It is the weight on it divided by the area of support. This comes down to mostly things that you cannot change (shape) and things that you can at most change by a mere 20% (body weight).
Active load is the amount of force put on an area from things happening to it. Bounce up and down on a non-digital scale and you can easily see that normal walking puts 20-40 pounds additional force on the back. Unbalanced stresses put weight on one edge of the back and lower the effective surface of holding the weight by half and that doubles the force on that particular area. sudden twisting and turning can do even more. This is somewhat helped by having more muscle mass around the back (ok, it can effectively DOUBLE the surface area and cushion and prevent sharp loads on small areas; effectively fixing the situation entirely). BUT, these are discrete rare events of back problems. This implies you did something really bad rarely to it. Body awareness and moving more gracefully will prevent these rare occurrences. Oddly enough martial arts are a good training on this (but also a risk of injury). Tai chi and yoga may also help BUT dance training such as ballroom or ballet are probably the best and this gets absolutely no attention in the literature.
http://nerdpyyyyyyyyse.net/ballroom.html as an intro. Googling ballroom and your location will show areas where you can get a variety of resources in ballroom training.
Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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