Back care for a crushed disc...?!
Question: I have a crushed disc in my lower back. Because the disc is crushed it is ballooning out and pinching my nerve. Because of this I am in super pain in my entire lower right hand side. I just got my second epidural last Friday. The first one I had stopped the pain fast. This one still hurts, bad. Other then getting more pain pills from my dr I am looking for ways to care for this. I am starting physical therapy soon also. Please just send me some link to site where I can read up on this. Thanx!! I know the basics, heating pad, advil, they just do not work.
Answers: I have a crushed disc in my lower back. Because the disc is crushed it is ballooning out and pinching my nerve. Because of this I am in super pain in my entire lower right hand side. I just got my second epidural last Friday. The first one I had stopped the pain fast. This one still hurts, bad. Other then getting more pain pills from my dr I am looking for ways to care for this. I am starting physical therapy soon also. Please just send me some link to site where I can read up on this. Thanx!! I know the basics, heating pad, advil, they just do not work.
It is a shame that one of the posters had a bad experience with physical therapy...being given extension exercises that "made her/him worse" simply shouldn't happen. It's obvious that this person's therapist did not follow the guidelines established in mechanical diagnosis and therapy. Extension exercises are OFTEN the curative maneuver, but it must be assessed to determine if it was right for the person.
That being said, I recommend you see a PT who is CREDENTIALED in mechanical diagnosis and therapy. You can find such a PT at http://www.mckenziemdt.org The safe guards built into the method should prevent any worsening of the symptoms when the guidelines are followed. Many people try to "practice" mechanical diagnosis and therapy, but without the proper training. This is probably what happened to this unfortunate person above.
DO NOT go to surgery until you've been evaluated by a PT with the credentialing in MDT. Even if they cannot help you, those who are able to be classified as having an "irreducible derrangement" often have good outcomes with surgery. Therefore, there is an indication that they can either help you, or at least predict if you are a sugical candidate (which requires confirmation by a surgeon)
Good luck
Be VERY careful in physical therapy!! My doctor wrote an order and didn't mention for them NOT to do extension exercises and I came out of physical therapy worse than when I went in.
Also, be careful of the heating pad. Too much time on it can cause stiffness in your lower back.
Call your doctor and ask for some Lidoderm patches. They're not a narcotic. They have lidocaine in them and a chemical that makes it absorb through the skin. You wear them over where the pain is on your back. I have DJD and one of those patches enabled me to walk around Times Square when I otherwise wouldnt have been able to unless I had taken pain medication.
If they know for certain that you have nerve impingement, surgery is certainly an option. If it is only at one level, a discectomy should relieve the lower right symptoms, if not the back pain.
Ask your doctor about Gabapentin (Neurontin). It isn't technically a pain killer - it is meant to treat seizures, but has had great promise in lowering 'nerve' pain like you are having. It has no potential for addiction, and a mild side effect profile, so it rarely hurts to try it. It might help you long enough to gfet through PT. I've been through it, and PT when you are already in pain is torture.
try an inversion table.