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Steps For Getting Back Pain Diagnosed And Treated

Many people come to this WebMD Back Pain Community looking for help in getting a diagnosis of a cause and...

Blessings,

-Dave

Posted by davedsel57

Many people come to this WebMD Back Pain Community looking for help in getting a diagnosis of a cause and relief from their back pain. Most of us are not medical professionals that are members in this community, but we have personal experience in dealing with chronic pain due to multiple different spinal conditions.

I've decided to post this tip that lists the steps a back patient should be following for obtaining an accurate diagnosis and getting an effective treatment plan.

1. Talk to your primary doctor. Describe the symptoms you are experiencing in detail and how it is affecting your daily life — keeping you awake, preventing you from functioning normally, what your pain level is on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst, etc.

2. If required by your health insurance, have your primary doctor give you a referral to a local spine specialist such as an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon. When seeing the spine specialist, make sure to again provide all details of your symptoms.

3. The spine specialist should send you for (or do in the office if they have the equipment) a CT scan or an MRI of your spine. An x-ray will not show soft tissue such as discs and will not show all that could be causing your back pain.

4. The spine specialist should then review the results of the diagnostic testing with you. Make sure you understand everything and ask questions until you do understand.

5. The spine specialist should then provide a recommended treatment plan. This could involve seeing a pain management specialist, a physiatrist, or something simple like OTC medications and applying hot and/or cold to the area that is painful.

6. Some people benefit from physical therapy, hydrotherapy, chiropractic care, injections, exercises, or other traditional and/or non-traditional therapies. Surgery should always be a last resort but may be needed in some cases.
7. Don't do any treatment you are not comfortable with or causes you more pain.

8. Do your research on-line and be armed with knowledge about spinal conditions. Here is a link to a resource I created on this WebMD Back Pain Community that lists links to good spine sites: http://forums.webmd.com/3/back-pain-exchange/resource/10?@guest@

I hope this helps people to know how to go about getting help for their back pain.View Thread

Blessings,

-Dave

Posted by davedsel57

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32 Replies | ReplyReport This| Share this:Steps For Getting Back Pain Diagnosed And Treated Many people come to this WebMD Back Pain Community looking for help in getting a diagnosis of a cause and...

PRP and BMC treatment for pain healing

Bone marrow injection, as the name suggests, injecting a powerful concentrate of the patient's own bone...

Posted by bradcrowne

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1 Reply | ReplyReport This| Share this:PRP and BMC treatment for pain healing Bone marrow injection, as the name suggests, injecting a powerful concentrate of the patient's own bone...

self-treatment to a herniated disc and a lumbar di...

I feel so sorry that we have chosen incomprehensible language Has commissioned experts to translate Can be...

Posted by Kharma

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1 Reply | ReplyReport This| Share this:self-treatment to a herniated disc and a lumbar disc I feel so sorry that we have chosen incomprehensible language Has commissioned experts to translate Can be...

There is no need to go to the hospital Lumbar disc...

http://blog.naver.com/klesaha This is the only way in the world revolutionary[br>A method of people...

Posted by Kharma

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3 Replies | ReplyReport This| Share this:There is no need to go to the hospital Lumbar disc neck disc. Please treat yourself to http://blog.naver.com/klesaha This is the only way in the world revolutionary[br>A method of people...

There are ways to relieve back pain.

There are many organizations which provide you ways to relieve your back pains along with these there are...

Posted by bradcrowne

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6 Replies | ReplyReport This| Share this:There are ways to relieve back pain. There are many organizations which provide you ways to relieve your back pains along with these there are...

I Learned This Tip From A Physical Therapist

TRS 1960—Sorry to hear your pain level is up. Two weeks can feel like a lifetime, when pain rears its...

Posted by aprilrose9

TRS 1960—Sorry to hear your pain level is up. Two weeks can feel like a lifetime, when pain rears its ugly head. Hopefully, the office staff at your physician's office can squeeze you in or call you if there is a cancellation.
Apologize for all of the errors I have made in my communication. Had a very minor surgery yesterday to have the battery changed on my spinal cord stimulator. The thing was put in before the earth's crust cooled. So, was feeling a bit foggy this A.M. But, truth be told, I make embarrassing mistakes quite frequently. At least I give people a laugh.
Hope you feel better.
AprilRose9

I learned this from a Physical Therapist
After reading your symptoms, I believe one of the other responses correctly identified that your muscle is indeed impinging on the nerve and needs to be released in order for you to obtain some relief. There are two approaches:
1. Take ankle weights, the strap on style, and place one or two on the affected side. Of course, if both sides hurt, you need to do the left and then the right.
Stand on the bottom step. Stand facing the banister, hold onto the rail for balance and allow the leg with the weights attached to hang freely. You need to stand with your leg hanging down for at least a few minutes. This should release the muscle.
2. This second approach is more complicated to explain and I hope I can explain it correctly. You will need help with this one. Lay on a bed on your back. Move so your feet JUST so your feet are over the edge. Your ankles will be touching the edge of the mattress. Consider laying on the bed with your feet and legs together to be considered midline. Now move the affected leg 45 degrees from midline. If your arms were outstretched, move your leg half way between midline and your outstretched arm. Have your helper pick up your foot just a couple of inches off of the mattress. With their hand grasping the top of your foot, up near but not on your ankle, then placing their second hand behind your ankle above your heel.
You want your helper to do a slow, but steady pull on your foot and leg to release the muscle from your sciatic nerve. Do NOT have them pull so hard, that they are pulling you off the bed. You are after a slow and steady pull lasting at least 30 seconds to a couple of minutes.
I have a similar problem. Some will refer to it as sacroiliac pain. I hope this helps. Just takes a little practice.
Good luck to you. You never appreciate the beauty of a good night sleep until it is gone. AprilRose9
View Thread

Posted by aprilrose9

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT @NSAID'S

Eat this info with a grain of salt. Of course I am not a physician, but this is secondhand info from a...

Posted by aprilrose9

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3 Replies | ReplyReport This| Share this:FOOD FOR THOUGHT @NSAID'S Eat this info with a grain of salt. Of course I am not a physician, but this is secondhand info from a...

I have resolved my tailbone / coccyx pain (coccydy...

About two years ago I started experiencing pain in my tailbone while sitting. If I sat for more than a...

Posted by murrdpirate

About two years ago I started experiencing pain in my tailbone while sitting. If I sat for more than a couple minutes, the pain would start without fail. It was especially sharp for a second when I went from sitting to standing.

I never had any injury near my tailbone; the pain seemed to come out of nowhere. No injuries were found in the x-rays I had taken. The doctor recommended I use a coccyx pillow for about a month. It provided very little immediate relief, and zero long-term relief. I did not have insurance at the time, so I didn't want to explore the issue with doctors after neither the x-rays nor pillow resolved the issue. I was also in grad school at the time, so thankfully I could do a lot of work on my laptop while lying in bed

Onto the resolution: I like to keep myself pretty clean. While taking a shower, I would set the shower head to the narrow, high-pressure stream and spray down my...butt crack. Pretty much the entire way along the crack. I didn't want to use my hands to clean the area, so that was my solution. The pressure was never extremely high and it never caused me any pain.

But I didn't always do this. Recently, I realized that this cleaning activity started roughly 2 years ago, i.e. around the time I started experiencing pain while sitting. It was sort of hard for me to believe that the shower head was causing the pain since it never hurt at all while doing it, but of course I couldn't discount the timing.

So about two weeks ago I stopped the shower head cleaning. I don't think I've experienced any pain since the day I stopped. I cannot tell you how great it is to finally be able to sit down without pain.

I was never sure where exactly the pain was coming from, I just knew it was near the tailbone. But I suspect that it was associated with a ligament or muscle near the tailbone rather than the bone itself.

I'm writing this in the hopes that this will help other people experiencing this pain. I know there are many ways for pain to start in the tailbone, but I also know that the pain is often not associated with any traumatic injury. For those people, I strongly suggest thinking about any activities that might impact the tailbone area, however slight they may seem.View Thread

Posted by murrdpirate

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0 Replies | ReplyReport This| Share this:I have resolved my tailbone / coccyx pain (coccydynia) About two years ago I started experiencing pain in my tailbone while sitting. If I sat for more than a...

Snake Venom for Pain

By Jon Bardin October 3, 2012, 12:52 p.m. Nobody wants to be bitten by a black mamba. One of the most...

Posted by backbreaking

By Jon Bardin
October 3, 2012, 12:52 p.m.
Nobody wants to be bitten by a black mamba. One of the most dangerous snakes in the world, its venom can kill a person in less than half an hour. But a new study reports that there is something besides deadly toxin hidden inside the snake: a powerful painkiller that works as well as morphine but without the side effects.

In the report, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers from France described two previously unknown pain-killing peptides extracted from the mamba toxin. They named the peptides mambalgins, in honor of the snake.

The scientists were studying the relationship between snake venom and pain because previous research had shown that some types of venom bind directly to proteins embedded in nerve cells that cause pain when activated. These proteins, called ASICs, are commonly believed to play a central role in one of our pain pathways by causing certain groups of neurons to fire in response to a painful stimulus.

While the previous studies had focused on snake venoms that activated ASICs, the authors of the new study found that the mambalgins actually inhibit the activity of the ASICs in mice -- meaning they shut down the pathway responsible for registering pain.

The team also wanted to know if this pain-sensing pathway overlapped with the pathway stimulated by opiates. So they looked to see whether naloxone -- a drug used to combat opiate overdoses -- would reduce the effects of mambalgins. If it did, that would mean that mambalgins also utilize the same pathways as opiates, potentially leading to many of the same dangerous side-effects, such as addiction and a lowered breathing rate.

But naloxone did nothing, suggesting that the side-effects of morphine and other opiates would not be a factor with mambalgins.

The researchers also tested whether mice would develop tolerance to mambalgins. In other words, as time passes, is more of the protein needed to achieve the same pain-relieving effect, as is the case with opiates? While the mice developed some tolerance to the mambalgins, it was far less than they saw when they treated mice with opiates.

Mambalgins also did not depress the animals' respiratory rates.

While the researchers point out that much work remains to be done before mambalgins are ready to replace morphine, the preliminary results are promising. Mambalgins provide "promising new targets for therapeutic interventions against pain, and they are themselves powerful, naturally occurring, analgesic peptides of potential therapeutic value," they write.View Thread

Posted by backbreaking

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side effects from cortisone/steroid shots

my mother has back problems.she has recently had 2 cortisone with steroid shots in her lower back.the first...

Posted by sccherub

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Pain Pump

I just received a pain pump after 2 years of terrible back and sciatic pain. It makes all the difference in...

Posted by litttlemac

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halo

had a halo for 11 weeks after fracturing my neck.....pain in a pin site can indicate it is coming loose...

Posted by davepeak25

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topical creams

I have tried many different topicals for back pain: Lidocaine patches voltarin gel ketamine topical ketamine...

Posted by marieh9

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Pain Management and Sciatica Info

Pain Management and Sciatica Sciatica is a common type of pain affecting the sciatic nerve ,...

Chrissy~ WebMD Staff

Confucius Say;
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Posted by Chris_WebMD_Staff

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Medications for Lower Back Pain

I wanted to post some helpful tips for you. Medications for Lower Back Pain When your lower...

Chrissy~ WebMD Staff

Confucius Say;
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Posted by Chris_WebMD_Staff

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marybear53

I have had relief from facet injections in my lower back. My pain management doctor told me that surgery is...

Posted by marybear53

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Back Pain Relief with TENS

A TENS unit is quite effective in self-treatment. These small electric shock pulsers can "fool" the brain...

Posted by DesertRose43

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1 Reply | ReplyReport This| Share this:Back Pain Relief with TENS A TENS unit is quite effective in self-treatment. These small electric shock pulsers can "fool" the brain...

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