Lower Back Pain

Jez6345789

Hi
Having had my fair share and my partner recently bumping up against the wall of do absolutely nothing except say your getting older and prescribing Ibuprofen which seems to be the default position of many  local GP's. We took a punt and paid to see a consultant it cost us £300 quid but he arranged X rays there and then explained fully what was going on offered to bump the Mrs up his NHS waiting list as we said we could not afford his surgical skills, if she wanted the op doing sooner as the pain was very bad. 

It should not be the way but bypassing the GP throwing some money at the problem got us a very informative opinion that explained far better what was actually going on how best to treat it. It was a different world and after months of banging her head against the wall with the GP who after 8 weeks reluctantly prescribed physio. In the short term he recommended a good Osteo he had used himself and a pilates class to help made a world of difference to the Mrs and was money well spent. 

Its so much better she has postponed surgery for the last two years and the regime she follows now has made all the difference.

blobb

the only 'action' i got was the line "you don't have a brain tumour" followed by "i'll send you for a brain scan to reassure you." Guess what? Brain scan confirmed no brain tumour. Case closed. End of.

I never thought I had a brain tumour. They thought I was going deaf at one point. DEAF! That's the only reason I got to see a consultant, to get my ears examined. ffs.

I was never offered pain killers, of any sort. So I had to suffer. For 10+ years.

Placidcasual79

I've had lbp for nearly 14 years now.

I paid no attention to it in my early 20's and continued to do as I pleased. Ended up with nerve damage and permanent loss of sensation in my lower left leg and top of left foot.

Worse - I missed time with my kids and time off work - all of which where sh*t for my mental health.

Managed to get CAT scan and injections in the end that have, coupled with hard won experience, allowed me to be active again. Correct exercise and stretching is essential to me and I wish i'd done it from the start. I try to be proactive in managing my back these days and am truly glad I didn't take the operation to have my spine fused.

Also, and perhaps most importantly, MEDS... send me your spares! Opioids = good times and nerve meds like Add to dictionary - tripping.

Good times.

milamber

I've had ankylosing spondilitis for almost 40 years which causes pain all over the place, but lower back is one of the problem areas. Over the years I've tried everything. Exercise, coupled with weight control, is key, but you need to ensure you do the right exercises. No good suddenly trying sit ups or crunches if you don't know what the problem is.

Having been through the whole range of exercises the one that has consistently worked best is planking. I won't go into detail here as it's easy to look up on the internet, but it's easy to learn, non invasive and totally safe when done correctly. Also deceptively hard to maintain initially so you won't be doing it for much over a minute to begin with. Add 5 seconds a day and it will do wonders for strengthening your lower back muscles without causing any damage elsewhere. Just concentrate on doing it properly, 30 seconds doing it properly is better than 2 minutes doing it wrongly.

57Deluxe

a friend of mine was complaining about this when I last saw her on Christmas Day 2015 - I told her to change the position of her bed as she had just moved into a new gaff... she died of cancer of the spine 25th Nov...

redrighthand

Had it for 20 yrs - sciatica. Had one period where things got very bad. Went to the docs, went through months of physio, painkillers (including Tramadol, which made for an interesting day at work!), even Pilates. Finally they referred me for injections into my spine. Immediate pain relief, and allowed me to straighten up and get out of the vicious circle where you make things worse by adopting the least painful posture.

What I think really helped was sorting my office based work environment. I got a standing up desk, supportive chair, and made a point of moving around in the office as much as possible.

Good luck with it - I literally feel your pain.

TimmyO

Ouch. Sorry to hear that - suffered for years myself on and off so I know how debilitating it is.

Fixing it is a combination of being stronger, and more flexible (tightness elsewhere e.g. calves, buttocks, spasm in *upper* back etc can lead to putting too much strain on LB)

It's hard to find people who are able to treat *you* rather than just provide the service they are trained in - I was lucky and found someone who had initially been a trained physic but who branched out in to anderson technique, trigger point therapy etc and who treats the problem that provides a fixed treatment.

If you can find a good therapeutic physio they may be able to help and give you stretches and exercises that are appropriate for you. It takes time and likely won't totally go away forever but can be improved enormously.

I was at my worst when I was driving-commuting. Has been fine for res then I lifted a heavy case the other day...