Anyone have a recommended Dr/Hospital for back issues?

[Snowman78]

Any updates OP?

[legaleagle]

Backs are a pain. I fell on ice in march and hit low back on concrete corner of step. Lots of pain and sciatic pain with numbness. Spent 4 months on my stomach for work and 6 months with several specialists to figure it out. Recommendations from Nothing is wrong to You need a three vertebrae fusion. Problem was no obvious structural damage to vertebrae or discs to explain symptoms. Finally got hooked up with GATC physical therapy. I had muscle knots from my knees to mid back. The real culprit was the hip flexers (Sosa) as they attach at top and front of thigh and go through pelvis onto L2-3-4. The muscles were so knotted they could not relax and were compressing and twisting my spine and interfering with nerve roots mimicking disc impingement. Sitting made it worse and no amount of stretching helped. We dry needled it for 4 weeks chasing knots. Now back to 100% plus with no surgery.

Not sure of your problem but I heard the same guesses. My pt guy really knew muscle structure and function. We ruled out structural issues through multiple MRI's while searching for answers. Not saying you have same issue, but thinking about it differently made a difference and no doctor could figure it out.

Hope me you can figure it out.

[fitz19d]

Went to the PA who prescribed tizanidine or something. muscle relaxer. Doesnt seem to do much but make me slightly sleepy. 6 day basically prednisone therapy pack. Made me feel good the first day or two followed by during the taper down phase back to the same pain.

Xray showed some C going on in my low back. Basically scoliosis almost looking. Unsure if I've always had or caused by my bad lifting. MRI was wednesday. Tech on the fly said he could see some of where my left side sciatic is getting pinched.

Monday morning visit with doc to see results + plan of action. I'm hoping for cortisone shot or something other than doing just PT. From the way it feels to me, and the recent worsening I had a hard time imagining that doing the trick.

[fportmen45]

Went to the PA who prescribed tizanidine or something. muscle relaxer. Doesnt seem to do much but make me slightly sleepy. 6 day basically prednisone therapy pack. Made me feel good the first day or two followed by during the taper down phase back to the same pain.

Xray showed some C going on in my low back. Basically scoliosis almost looking. Unsure if I've always had or caused by my bad lifting. MRI was wednesday. Tech on the fly said he could see some of where my left side sciatic is getting pinched.

Monday morning visit with doc to see results + plan of action. I'm hoping for cortisone shot or something other than doing just PT. From the way it feels to me, and the recent worsening I had a hard time imagining that doing the trick.

Sounds like we're in similar boats - I'm on day 5 of Medrol. It's done very little for the pain in my shoulder and numbness/tingling in my left arm. The doc says it's likely a neck issue, but need an MRI to confirm (currently trying to schedule one - how much did it set you back?). Hope it's able to be fixed; it would be nice to be able to sleep again.

[fitz19d]

Ok, got back from office. Herniated disc as well as disc degenerative disease or otherwise just erosion of one of the discs.

Going to get the cortisone shot in a week or two. If that isn't working out for me, I forget the fancy name, but it's surgery albeit not a big one. Basically 1 inch cut, go in and remove the bit of basically detached herniation pushing on the nerve.

@portman
On my insurance, I believe I was 90% covered and I owed ~500 day of the MRI.

[newracer]

Ok, got back from office. Herniated disc as well as disc degenerative disease or otherwise just erosion of one of the discs.

Going to get the cortisone shot in a week or two. If that isn't working out for me, I forget the fancy name, but it's surgery albeit not a big one. Basically 1 inch cut, go in and remove the bit of basically detached herniation pushing on the nerve.

@portman
On my insurance, I believe I was 90% covered and I owed ~500 day of the MRI.

That is the exact surgery I had a few months ago.

[fportmen45]

That is the exact surgery I had a few months ago.

How did it pan?

[newracer]

Got rid of more than 99% of my pain. I occasionally have some pain but it is no where near as sever and it goes away quickly by just stretching my back. My back muscles are still very weak so they get tired and cramp after standing or walking for a while but that is getting better too.

[fportmen45]

Giving me hope - thanks!

[Snowman78]

That is the exact surgery I had a few months ago.

Same as my wife, took away 99% of her pain as well. Sometimes her back will hurt after a long day, but other then that she is good to go. We also got a different bed (firm) and we both do yoga (she does a lot more yoga then I do).