Back Pain

[steely834]

About 2 years ago when i was walking around a field day i stepped over a piece of rope when it felt like a knife had gone in my lower back it was very sharp and painfull, the knife like pain occurred when i bent down or just about did anything... it had happened a few times before but the pain only lasted a few minutes but this time i knew something was wrong. About 6-12 months before this i was landed on playing football a bloke landed straight onto my back at the time i felt no back pain but about 2 weeks later i felt a weak pain in my back. After seeing a physio i had 6 weeks off football and returned with no pain untill i got the sharp pain when at this field day. After seeing the physio for a few months and doing exercises i got worse, i had x-rays and sore chiropractors and they seemed to make me worse. I finally saw a doctor in Melbourne who sayed the physios had been giving me the wrong exercises which had been making my back worse. My discs were bent the wrong way,i have been seeing an oesteopath, for the first year it was every 2 weeks and now its about every 6 weeks. She is great, she told me my 4 lower discs wern't working and my back muscles were really tight which is why i get the sharp pain. I am wondering if anyone else has the same problem my back still gets really tight for a while and if i leave it untreated i get the knife like pain again has anyone got any suggestions because i dont really want to pay for an oesteopath every 6 weeks for the next 10 years

[mcculloughfloss]

yes! I get back pain too. Mine started about 2 years ago, and started hurting after I saw a chiropractor. Since then, I have seen physio's, masseurs, chiro's, osteopaths, orthopeadic surgeons, doctors and no-one can tell me what is wrong. I have had xrays and mri's and its telling me i have a focal disc extrusion in my L5 and S1. who can explain what this means to me? I get the pain in my lower back and gets so bad, that I cant stand up straight. its not a stabbing pain, just an extremely bad ache. can anyone help

[Mischap123]

Mcculloughfloss,
I'll try to explain your situation. In between the vertebrae (spine bones) you have discs (like a shock absorber). Behind these is the spinal cord, protected in a bony canal. Many people talk of a disc bulge whereby the bulge pushes backward onto the spinal cord nerves and cause many different symptoms. An extrusion is when a piece becomes separated or fragmented from the main part of the disc and is often more troublesome. Sometimes they can resolve, other times they can calcify and make things worse.
The reason why you may feel more comfortable in a bent position is because during this movement the area where the problem is has been opened up, giving more space. Hence when you straighten up everything gets impinged or comprimised, creating pain.
If conservative care (medication, chiro, physio, osteo, massage) fails, you may want to consider a surgical opinion to remove the offending extrusion.

[mcculloughfloss]

thanks mischap, why cant all the doctors and professionals have told me that 2 years ago. that all made sense, thanks. i will get onto seeing someone :)

[Mischap123]

Floss, working in the health industy, I strongly recommend talking to people you know and trust to get a word of mouth referral in seeking help. I wish you all the best

[mcculloughfloss]

thanks, so what could be wrong with steely834 then? he has back problems too..im interested to find out

[Mischap123]

In the case of Steely834 it's difficult to assess from info given. More info would help but I assume they're young as they're playing full contact sport. From the description given there have been many smaller traumas that have been not attended to/ignored and these may have accumulated then manifested via a trivial incident. It's difficult to tell without an examination but it could be disc/joint/muscle or any combination of these probs. The osteo has found faulty disc mechanics creating muscle probs. A likely scenario. Hopefully Steely can give us a more detailed explanation of his/her condition.