Quote:
Originally Posted by hcoles
Today some minor start of pain down left butt and leg. Bowel OK. Sneezing, coughing hurts. Sharp like knife stabbing then followed by soreness and probably only goes away if I lay down. Sitting doesn't help. Slow walking around seems to be okay. I'm telling my wife washing the dishes hurts - but I've milked that about as far as possible. Now down to two 20mg tabs per day of Prednisone. Then they have me going to 1 per day and then zero.
|
This is mostly good. What the docs look for is impingement on the nerve. If the disc herniates or if there is an arthritic degeneration of the bony structures, they can presses on the nerve. This is what causes pain that radiates into the legs, buttocks, or hand and arms for upper back. Any irritation of the organs also is an indication of nerve root impingement. Operations can be useful in removing the impinging object. Operations are not indicated if you simply have musculoskeletal strains and sprains, even though musculoskeletal pain can be as bad as nerve root impingement. You can have positive MRIs with huge floating objects that look like they are sitting right on top of a nerve, but if they aren't causing radiating pain, you're probably not a candidate for surgery. And that's a good thing because research shows that on a statistical basis, it's hard to prove that back surgery on humans has any benefit.
So, you do have some limited radiating pain and you do have the sharp stabbing pain in the muscles, which could be nerve root impingement or it could be musculoskeletal. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the doc says you do have a positive MRI but that he wants you to do a round of PT before he starts thinking about surgery. If you go that route, make sure you get into a PT program that incorporates deep tissue massage into the exercise regimen. When the muscles in your back are on fire and tied up in knots like you are now, exercise will only go so far so fast. You need someone to put their hands into the muscles and stretch them and loosen them up. Once they settle down and the pain goes away, you can really get into the healing exercises.