Thread: Please some advice...I'm depressed as hell about my back

Okay so I've been having problems with my low back. Specifically, l5s1 is involved, and I'm getting sciatica down both legs. I mainly feel it in the heels on the left side but somtimes in the arch of the foot. The pain in the low back is this pinching feeling. I went and got an MRI and the doc couldn't see any gross herniation, so he put me on some meds. I'm going back to see him in a week or so for the follow up. I know somethings going on obviously because of the pain and numbess in my feet.

Right now there is some serious snow coming down in the Pacific Northwest. I have been out since December, when I hurt it. And to compound my feelings of despair, I'm worried about being able to ski. It's my religion and therapy in the winter(sounds cheesy I know)

Anyway. I guess I'm hoping to hear some success stories from people that have rehabbed themselves and been back skiing and doing better. I'm really feeling like Lately, and to top it off I was just divorced and am coming up on a 40th bday.

Go do this, be cured, post about it.

http://www.ortho-bionomy.org/findapractitioner.aspx

Search, i have posted many times about this. Stay off the meds, listent to splat, that stuff worked for him.
I am a big fan of PT. You can feel results with good pt that you can do at home in a couple of weeks. If you would like the pT workout i have done give me your email i will send it over.
We have all been there and back pain is really like no other. There is nothing like getting out of bed and having that pain slice through your body

Originally Posted by skideeppow

We have all been there and back pain is really like no other. There is nothing like getting out of bed and having that pain slice through your body

Amen.

Two years ago, I was as wracked with pain as can be. What finally got me back to mostly OK was taking 3-4 months off from all (discretionary) physical activity. I was in a cycle of letting the pain get down to a level where it was "good enough," then trigger it again by getting a little too frisky. Only by completely cutting out biking, skiing, golf, hiking, everything, was I able to reduce my baseline pain level to zero. It sucked, and truth be told it would have been borderline impossible without a separate injury that kept me sidelined- but so far, so good. So I recommend this route, as hard as it is- PT and massage/orthobionomy helped, but there's nothing like good ol' bed rest for an inflamed nerve.

I had to cut out jumping off stuff, which sucks, but frankly I'd rather have 3% less fun and look like a pussy than spend another six months on the living room floor, unable to move.

Originally Posted by Steven S. Dallas

Amen.

I'd rather have 3% less fun and look like a pussy than spend another six months on the living room floor, unable to move.

aint that the truth

in the absence of a bulging/herniated discs on MRI and with clean x-rays as well, maybe have someone take a look at your SI joints and your piriformis muscles.

Originally Posted by northbynorthwest

I'm really feeling like Lately, and to top it off I was just divorced and am coming up on a 40th bday.

Man, I feel ya about one thing after another. This winter more shit has gone wrong in less time than ever in my life, and latest is my knee (not nearly as bad as most of the tgr rock stars). Great thing is I am coming through it all staying positive. In fact, I have a better outlook on life than ever.

Stay positive. Make the best decisions you can. Don't be too hard on yourself. Talk to people, stay on Gimp Central for hours, reading what some mags have been through. Keep trying to have fun one way or another. Preachy preachy. Believe me, very often I'm just trying to fake it 'til I make it.

Thanks...these are great responses.

^^this. Enforced leisure, moderate exercise (bike riding, walkign, stretching) is really all you need. Read up on siome good strengthening/stretching exercises for your lower back, take it easy, don't lift anything heavier than 5 lbs, don't jump off anything, and don't sit too much (especially in a chair that hurts your back). Backcountry skiing (especially the skintrack) is great for all the conditioning you need, just be mellow on the down . . .

it worked for me, anyway.

^^ three weeks after my back surgery, i was skinning up the mtn, but downloading.
Dont be sedintary

I have a pretty similar issue. Lower back and SI joint go out regularly which causes sciatica down my left leg to the foot. It hasn't depressed me, but it has forced me to change some habits.

Routine trips to the crackopractor help a lot. Yoga, when I'm good about it, helps quite a bit. Biking consistently and stretching really keep the pain at bay.

I'll have to look into Splat's miracle remedy.

Originally Posted by ms ann thrope

^^this. Enforced leisure, moderate exercise (bike riding, walkign, stretching) is really all you need. Read up on siome good strengthening/stretching exercises for your lower back, take it easy, don't lift anything heavier than 5 lbs, don't jump off anything, and don't sit too much (especially in a chair that hurts your back). Backcountry skiing (especially the skintrack) is great for all the conditioning you need, just be mellow on the down . . .

it worked for me, anyway.

I'll second this. I've had back pain, more so in the winter for nearly 13 years. This is the first year it hasn't been an issue. I won't say it never hurt, but rarely. The biggest change I've made for skiing is staying away from anything resembling hardpack conditions. I can still jump off an occasional medium drop, or pin a straightline, but it always has to be good soft conditions. Soft skis have helped too- I've been on obSetheds for three winters now and the ease to turn them and absorb hits is a notable improvement.

This winter it has been BC only unless there is 6" or more at the resort. Even then, cautious treatment of exits and traverse tracks is helpful. I think I've done more damage lunging through compressions into a traverse than dropping 10'-15' drops in powder.

Another interesting thing I've noticed is not to stretch aggresively when you're hurting. I agree that PT, core strengthening, and stretching are very useful for preventative maintenance, but only after you start to feel better. Ice, rest, walking, not sitting too long, mild stretching, and drugs if needed to relieve muscles spasms, are the route to getting to a lower level of pain, then ease into the preventative stuff.

mri's are not conclusive with regard to discs, or so i was told by my hmo neurosurgeon. but she cut me open cuz i was moving like a 60yo instead of a 34yo. And, lo, did she see a smushed jelly donut in my L4-L5...6mos later, i was completely active again. once the pain of the surgery itself was over (about 2 weeks, i think), the ability to move like a (surgery-recovering) 34yo had returned. It was pretty remarkable and pretty satisfying, considering all the time wasted on PT, cortisone shots & acupuncture (a year wasted in delay, IMO).

stretching for a long time after this incident is key (forever, really)

in addition to all of the above ... where muscles are concerned, I had really good results with electro stim therapy combined with the usual PT massage issues. I didn't have any herniations like you guys, but I did sprain like 4 ligaments and a few muscles in my back in a bad crash.

Think of the time off as investing in a payoff later. Like SSD said, getting too frisky will just set you back more. Find an excellent sports PT who understands the athlete's/outdoorsperson's mentality and not someone who is just trying to get you back to base functionality. You need someone who understands you want to climb some fucking Cascades and then tear down that shit on a bike - someone who will help you find the specific things holding you back and focus long term treatment on them.

edit: and you wanted to hear a success story ... 18 months post injury I finally felt without lingering issues, 2 years later and I have hucked a couple 15 to 20 footers this season. But like I said, no herniations so that's a little different.

Since you don't show signs of herniation, it is possible that you merely have inflammation caused by some minor bleeding. I had a triple discetomy because I had to. It was not elective. It was a bad fall and a compressed spinal cord, agony, loss of feeling in my foot....bad memories, in general.

Anyhow, five years ago I severely reinjured my back dragging my drift boat out of the river bottom and lifting it with poor form. It felt like a hernia and pretty much laid me up for four months. I had an MRI and an ortho saw hernia and advised physical therapy with surgery as a possible future option. I tried physical therapy for two months and it did not get any better. Not wanting surgery again, I consulted a spinal neurosurgeon for a second opinion. Looking at the same MRIs, the neuro saw no hernia and suggested that I had torn some of the micromuscles that surround and stabilze the spinal column. The bod responds to internal bleeding with inflammation and due to the immediate proximity of the injury to the sensitive trunk nerves in the spine, the pain is very, very disproportionate to the injury. He recommended rest and light walking to stay active. I quit physical therapy and watched a ton of TV at home for two months and got better much quicker. The whole mess took about six months til I was back to full activities again. But....I don't lift things over 75lbs, won't jump off anything over my own height and try to limit my rowing to two or three days a week.

Most back pain (absent an obvious injury or structural problem) will resolve itself in 4 to 6 months. Also, Vinman is right, tight piriformis and/or psoas muscles can turn a merely sore back into a vicious cycle of back spasms. The longer you are laid up, the tighter they get and the pain gets worse, making you tighter and more inactive. Learn the stretches and trigger points for these muscles.

I'm wondering if I have this problem. Last week, I almost fell while skiing. To avoid the fall, I jerked and twisted sideways. Kind of hurt for a minute, then was fine the rest of the day. 2 days later, woke up and my right leg hurt a lot. Kind of like a muscle cramp in my right glute all the way down to my quad. Hurts when I put weight on the leg, and gets progressively worse with more use. Stretching makes if feel better, but it doesn't go away. Ibuprofen helps, but doesn't make it go away. Rest also helps, but hasn't made it go away. Can't do my normal exercise routine (stairstepper, weights, etc.) because the muscles in my leg go crazy with cramps after a few minutes.

My back doesn't really hurt, but my leg does. Have been taking it easy, waiting for it to get better. A week later, it's still a problem. Wife thinks its sciatica. I don't know anything about sciatica, but it sounds bad so I hope she's wrong. Scheduling an appointment with a chiropractor to see what he thinks.

I've got a ski vacation scheduled in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping this will get better by then.

Back injuries suck. You gotta give them time to heal though. I'm about 5 years into an L5-S1 herniation. It bugs me from time to time, and I have to be careful. It is a manageable situation though. You just need to be realistic about your expectations, and realize that if you don't give the injury it's time to heal, you won't be doing yourself any favors - I know - I did the opposite of what I'm telling you, and continue to pay for it.

The best thing for me was lower body stretching. The dirty little secret about "core strengthening" - you have to be well enough to do it. I've never gotten to the point where I could ever focus on it. Be careful. If you have the chance to do PT - DO!! It works. I wish it had been offered to me.

My wife dealt with this for 10+ years and when it finally got bad enough she went in and had it fused,(Dr advised her it would happen in 10 years, it was 10yrs 4 months) On the table June 5th, hospital for 5 days, she had a few issues that kept her more than the 3 they said. She had bone from the hip placed on her back to fuse, then rodes and cages to hold it in place until the bone was done healing, home and walking in the next 2-3 days by Sept of that summer she passed the physical to go back to work, school bus driver. If she had to do it over she would not have waited and would have had the surgery done right away. They talk about how you lose flexibility after surgery, but with the pain you are all ready losing it, so when the pain was eliminated, she actually gained movement. Now, shes biking snowshoeing, cross racing...life is good.
Talk to friends, find a highly recommended orthopedic surgeon who specializes in neck/back, go to him and listen REAL good to him.

Good Luck