Wtb: A New Back!

[aircougar1]

I swear, just when things start getting better... BAM! :banghead:

I have missed a few days of work this past week because Dawn ended up in the hospital Tuesday night for about 6 hours to receive medical attention for a kidney stone that was a bit too unbearable to deal with... It has passed through the kidney, but isn't out of the bladder yet, so she still has pain, just not as much as Monday-Tuesday!!! ...

Anyway, I am all ready to work July 4th, get called in 4 hours early, too, and I'm like: "Yes 4 hours overtime pay, plus double time for 8 hours Holiday pay, SWEET!" and it would help make up for the few days I missed... Great, right?

Until I am at work, about 3:30pm (an hour and a half into the overtime), I am taking a strap off of a trailer, so i lean down to unhook the tension, pull part of the strap back, and I start to stand up straight......... Yeah, that wasn't happening!!! :( I kept pacing around hunched over, trying to stretch it out and see if I could "walk it off"... didn't work! So I climb back up onto my fork-lift, drive around for a while and continue to do work that wouldn't need me to get up and down from the lift... 6pm now, break time, and I am DONE! Just can't walk comfortably at all, can't stand straight and having a rough time breathing deep...

So, I see a few members of our ERT team, who suggest that I go home and rest, supervisors agree, and I end up having to fill out paperwork for on-the-job-injury (been there a few times before! :rolleyes:), and my friend drives me home in my car...

I am so SICK of my back hurting me! I have been using all kinds of stretches, light work outs, all doctor recommended stuff, and just can't catch a break! My knee is finally getting better, and then the back goes out!

If Dawn isn't in pain, I AM! Just so frustrated at this situation... I am hoping a days rest and some stretching will get me through work tomorrow, and then I can be back to normal by Monday...

I have a 3L swap I HAVE to do, cause i could use the cash... plus next week I have quite a few jobs lined up as well.... and All I want to do is work my 40 hours a week at USPS, so i can finally see a full paycheck for once!!!


Sorry for that, but I know most of you know what is going on with my back, and I REALLY needed to vent!!! ;)

[Honzo]

are you a hefty man?
I used to be about 5'8" and 255 lbs and I had some back problems myself (and i'm only 18) and I picked up surfing, lost about 60 pounds and haven't had a problem with it since then! I think you just need to find something that really moves your spine around, those simple little stretches the doctor gave me never did anything for me either :(

[KUGAKRAZY]

I can sell you my back, apparently I'm not using my back bone because my manager to 'show a little back bone' when a customer got upset with me.

[SVT Loki]

Have you seen a Chiropractor?

[Comando489]

I can sell you my back, apparently I'm not using my back bone because my manager to 'show a little back bone' when a customer got upset with me.

prolly cus you were a little ***** for the customer and the manager lost money on it. :tongue:

sorry about your back, they are the worst injuries :(

[doogo99]

Sorry to hear about your back. I have a back condition called kyphosis that can be really painful for me sometimes, but mostly when I don't do anything, the only thing that seems to relieve the pain are strengthening exercises.

I can sell you my back, apparently I'm not using my back bone because my manager to 'show a little back bone' when a customer got upset with me.

I never take anything from the customers unless they have a legitimate reason, but then again I don't work in customer service anymore.

[MOMO]

Sorry to hear about your back. I have a back condition called kyphosis that can be really painful for me sometimes, but mostly when I don't do anything, the only thing that seems to relieve the pain are strengthening exercises.
.

kyphosis is just a description of one of the curves we have in our spine, and its not a condition. :)
you probably have whats called an excess kyphosis, (too much curve) which could affect you.

Aircougar, Im terribly sorry to hear about your back problem...
And since im pretty sure i could be considered an expert on the subject:biggrin: I would recommend you go see a good chiropractor. Since you already said that you filled out an on the job injury form, i would check and see if your company will cover chiropractic care for your injury. Sometimes you may be able to see the chiropractor of your choice, get all the bills and your company may pay for it as long the the clinic provide you with proper paperwork.

This is where it gets tricky... some company will let you only see certain chiropractors or not at all, which severely limits your choices... And im first to tell you that not all chiropractors are the same.
Avoid places like "accident and injury clinic". They are only there to drain your insurance money. Small clinic with minimum advertising could be an indicator of a good clinic.

And as far as your back goes, it sounds like you have a bit of a disc problem.

1. when you go to the bathroom, is it painful?
2. when you cough, is it painful?
3. put your thumb in your mouth and blow hard against it without letting the air out... when you do this, is it painful?

if you answered yes to all three, you probably have a disc problem.

If you go see a chiropractor now, you should be back to almost normal within 2 weeks. With continued care, you shouldnt be so acute in the future.

In the meantime, you can ice the area where you have the problem 20 minutes on, hour off, and then 20 minutes, up to 3 times per day. You should also do 800 mg of ibuprofen (400 in the morning and 400 in the evening) to keep the inflammation down. Any kind of back exercises at this point will be detrimental to your current condition so dont try to "walk it out".

If you have any questions i would be happy to help.

[frenchblueC2]

If they won't allow him to see a chiropracter, I think they would at least let him get some physical therapy. Some PCP's and health insurances are against chiropractic, but a lot of them are coming around these days.

I wouldn't say Greg is a hefty man, but he is tall and has a pretty long torso.

Good luck Greg. Definitely get some kind of help for that back.
Sorry to hear about Dawn too. Tell that woman to lay off the tea, dang! lol

[COOGAH]

Greg is like a 7" shorter version of Kevin Garnett but white.

he's ahd this problem for a while and just like with everythign he does, he is very educated on the subject. personally i don't know what he's done by way of chiropractors (i remember talking to him about it, but not what he said)


BTW, Rich, when i do number 3 my fist gets bigger

also, rich (MOMO) is a chiropractor, for those of you who don't know. he's so kickass he went over to craotia and is da man over there for back problems

[zorrex]

Damn Greg I'm sorry to hear that. Ugh and to think it had been starting to feel better :banghead:. If you need any help with any of the car work just let me know. I know I suck but I'd be willing to help out any time lol!

[aircougar1]

Thanks for the sympathies and the advice...

Unfortunately, for those who don't know, I have had 2 herniated discs in the L4 and L5 sections of the spine for nearly 5 years now... I have seen quite a few doctors, and all have said, "stay away from a chiropractor!"... My friend has a similar condition, but one of his discs are in the upper section of the back and affects his neck, so seeing a chiropractor only helps that part of his back, not the lower...

I had tried PT for a while... never worked. I don't plan on going back either, unless i know for sure that its something I NEED. It was a waste of time.

My back doctor says he can't do much for me anymore, unless it gets much worse, or if i want medication (which I DO NOT)... Pain Management says no luck either (had 2 cortizone shots last year, did nothing to relieve pain), and every doctor says surgery isn't an option for a variety of reasons, which they all make perfect sense to me when they explained them...

So, basically I am stuck dealing with it, and I will get through it... and just know that the pain will come back again, and again, until its so bad, that surgery has to be done... Oh well, I guess...

As far as my size, I am 6'3" 215 lbs.. about 4 years ago, before we had 2 kids, I was the same height, but 175 lbs... Everyone says I "look" better because I am not so skinny anymore, but I know that a lot of that weight is putting pressure on those herniated discs... I can feel the weight pulling me forward a bit sometimes, as a lot of my extra weight is in my mid-section (stomach, lower back, waist, small "love handles" :disgust:)

I was trying to lose a little weight, or at least fat, and it was working for the last 2 months i had been working on it (about 2 times a week)... I probably lost 5-10 lbs of fat, but gained that weight back in muscle...

Well, like I said, hoping this goes away quickly, and I can continue to push forward with my goals... I am feeling a bit better today, and will attempt to go to work for my full 8 hour shift. Crossing my fingers that i make it the whole night! :)

[gring0]

let me know if you need help on the 3l swap i might be able to swing over

[Rhino]

I'm sure MOMO would be the best person to get advise from on here.....but one of my best friends is a Chiropractor and I am 100% positive that he has helped a ton of people who had a Doctor tell them "stay away from a chiropractor!"

There are so many new techniques that Chiropractors are useing these days that do help, and again MOMO would know better but from what my friend has told me most Doctors he has come into contact with don't believe in what he does......but it can and does work, it's not a quick fix but it does work.

My friend helped an Ex-girlfriend of mine that had a lower back problem also(she also had a herniated disc in her lower back)....to me it seems like if your back doctor says he can't do anything other than give you meds to mask the problem and they advise against surgery....what do you have to lose by going to talk to a Chiropractor....again this is just my 2 cents and going off what I have seen my friend do with his customers.

[MOMO]

Thanks for the sympathies and the advice...

Unfortunately, for those who don't know, I have had 2 herniated discs in the L4 and L5 sections of the spine for nearly 5 years now... I have seen quite a few doctors, and all have said, "stay away from a chiropractor!"...

:rofl::rofl:

Im sorry Greg, but most medical doctors will tell you to stay away from chiropractors for variety of reasons. Unfortunately in the U.S, chiropractors are direct competition to M.Ds when it comes to low back pain management and believe it or not, are better at getting people better.

Im not here to bash M.Ds because i have several doctor friends who are patients and they refer me patients... But sometimes these M.Ds can tell you some wrong information.

Let me give you some more info and hopefully you can make a better informed decision.

Why physical therapy WONT work for your condition: When you start physical therapy, doctor assumes that whatever physical problems you have had have been alleviated... for example, if you had an ACL surgery on your knee, you would start physical therapy after a reasonable amount of time to strengthen the knee back to its normal condition... you wouldnt start physical therapy while your ACL was still torn, would you?

In your case, you have herniated disc (whatever that means) at L4/5 and L5/S1 disc. Mind you, these discs are still injured... which means that if you were to do physical therapy on these area, you will make the symptoms worse because the original cause of your disc problems have not been addressed. (this is where chiropractor comes in your back pain management... We look for the cause of your disc problem... its usually biomechanical in nature and we "adjust" the spine to put the spine in its normal biomechanical movement) Once the spine is in its normal biomechanical position, then and only then can physical therapy help.

I emphasized my distaste for the term "herniated disc" because its a bad term to use for describing disc problems. Did you know that if i were to take 10 people off the street with no back problems whatsoever and take their MRI, 6 out of 10 will have a "herniated disc" show up on thier MRI? Remember that these people will show none of the symptoms you are suffering from Greg, but they have "herniated disc" on their MRI... Hmm... interesting, dont you think? The fact is, "herniated disc" doesnt mean anything unless there is a direction involved. You can have a disc protrusion and that is a lot better term to use because it describes what is happening to your disc. Back part of your disc is the weakest area and over time (and sometimes with injuries such as a fall from a high place, heavy squat(my case) area will get weaker. the gel like material inside the disc will then push against these weak area (protrusion) and cause you problems because all the nerve structures are in the back. These protrusion can go either left, right or straight posterior. If it goes to the left, you will have a nerve problem on the left side, or if it goes right, then right side. if it goes straight back, you will have problems with both legs.

So, now you know why physical therapy will never work while the problem is still there and you know what kind of disc problem you have... You are asking, what can a chiropractor do?

Assuming you find a good chiropractor in your area, he or she will:

Give you a complete physical to include orthopedic and neurological testing,

Give you some physical therapy modalities to lessen your pain (this usually will be ice or TENS unit)

Once the pain level and inflammation has lessened, he or she will give you a specific vector thrust (an adjustment) to put the offending vertabrae in its proper position so that your lower spine is working normally.

Since muscle memories are hard to reset, you will get this "adjustments" 2 to 3 times a week until your conditions are much improved. (usually 2 weeks)

After this acute phase of treatments, your chiropractor will now set you up with some kind of physical therapy that will keep you from getting this way again.

I just want you to know that there is no "snake oil" or voodoo involved with chiropractic.

I also want you to know something else... your problem is physical in nature... with your disc! popping pills aint gonna make it better. You mentioned youve been to several doctors over the years and none of them has helped you... in fact, they all told you to stay away from chiropractors... hmm... dont you think its worth giving one a chance? what have you got to lose? Hell, i will give you money to go see one so you wont be out of any expenses.

Yesterday i had one German tourist come in with acute "disc" problem. He was lifting his dive gear and something snapped in his lower back and couldnt even sit down in my office. After 30 minutes of treatment, he was able to sit and breathe properly for the first time in 4 days! (i got a nice kiss on the cheek from his wife.:biggrin:)

give it a try. aint got nothin to lose.

[BackSeatOfaContour]

Hope all works out for ya i find a warm bath and steady diet of aleve helps lol but being 6'5 and over 250 doesn t help me out either...

[brapple]

Greg as Jess and I said via pm we are sorry to hear about this and hope that you get better, and are glad to hear that you are doing better tonight.

Have you thought about a back brace? not sure if it would help here or not. My mother has been using one since she hurt her back. I don't recall right now specifically what happened but I believe it had to do with lifting and turning at the same time. But anyway she was fitted for a back brace, not a generic one but one specifically for her and it has made a big difference. She also makes sure to have the proper lumbar support while sitting now. This means using a pillow in the car and chairs to support her back.

[aircougar1]

I appreciate all the advice. I just don't know what to do right now.

I still have to go see a doctor sometime within the next week, based on whatever happens with the paperwork I filled out the other day at work...
That will determine whether i pay for services or they do. They should be paying for it, but I have to get the union involved to cover my a$$.

My insurance covers about 15-20 visits to a chiropractor, if I choose to go to one. My friend's chiropractor is very good, and he said he could get me in there if need be, so maybe I can talk to him about it this weekend.

I am in limbo right now, because My workplace has to go over the filed incident report, verify the info, and whatever happens after that...

I felt a little better today. I could walk easier, worked 9 hours tonight, and I am starting to get very sore right now, but I expected that after being at work for that long, standing on my feet for at least 4 of those hours...

I will update this as things progress... again, thanks for the advice and sympathies :)

[zorrex]

I'm just gonna do the ole Homer Simpson and push you over a metal trash can :rofl:. Magically fixed!

[s3fight4freedom]

hell use my back its only got 18 years of use on it. and were about the same height so it may work

[aircougar1]

I'm just gonna do the ole Homer Simpson and push you over a metal trash can :rofl:. Magically fixed!

HEHEHE... patent pending! :rofl:

That's a great episode!

[zorrex]

HEHEHE... patent pending! :rofl:

That's a great episode!

Yup :). I always think a good laugh is the best way to deal with things like this. The night manager at my Big Y was in a horrible accident on his motorcycle and nearly lost his leg from half of his shin down. It's all torn up and now he has a bit of a limp, but he always laughs about it and cracks jokes about it.

However, maybe a chiropractor wouldn't be such a bad idea. After reading what MOMO said, well...:shrug:

[aircougar1]

Well, you guys know me, I laugh all the time...

I was sitting in the conference room in So much pain, but still cracking jokes with my friend while we filled out paperwork with the supervisor and ERT team members... they couldn't believe I was laughing and smiling...

I'd be a wreck if i couldn't laugh or find humor in most of the things that have happened to me in the last 10 years or so... to be cliche, it really is the best medicine! ;)

[MOMO]

Well, you guys know me, I laugh all the time...

I was sitting in the conference room in So much pain, but still cracking jokes with my friend while we filled out paperwork with the supervisor and ERT team members... they couldn't believe I was laughing and smiling...

I'd be a wreck if i couldn't laugh or find humor in most of the things that have happened to me in the last 10 years or so... to be cliche, it really is the best medicine! ;)

I try not to make the one whos really hurting laugh too hard because it hurts them when they laugh! :rofl:

[UserSN001]

Sorry to hear about your back Greg... maybe I shouldn't have let you take that weightbench off my hands lol. :tongue:

You know.. not to hijack this or anything.. but lately my back has been in some serious pain too, and I'm only a few weeks shy of 20.. so I'm fairly concerned. One symptom which has haunted me for a long time is:


2. when you cough, is it painful?


..and its a sharp pain in my lower back (which at first I assumed was the black lung from all these damn cigarettes :smoke-t:). The back pain had been really acting up in the past few days, at one point making any movement painful.. but its seemed to calm down lately.

I just found it really amusing that I got more useful information from this handy dandy thread on a CAR FORUM, rather than from my searching through Google.

So MOMO, I really appreciate all the expert advice you are throwing out here, and Greg please keep us all posted, because I especially will be keeping up to see how it all works out, and what ends up helping you the most... because I want some!

[MOMO]

Sorry to hear about your back Greg... maybe I shouldn't have let you take that weightbench off my hands lol. :tongue:

You know.. not to hijack this or anything.. but lately my back has been in some serious pain too, and I'm only a few weeks shy of 20.. so I'm fairly concerned. One symptom which has haunted me for a long time is:



..and its a sharp pain in my lower back (which at first I assumed was the black lung from all these damn cigarettes :smoke-t:). The back pain had been really acting up in the past few days, at one point making any movement painful.. but its seemed to calm down lately.

I just found it really amusing that I got more useful information from this handy dandy thread on a CAR FORUM, rather than from my searching through Google.

So MOMO, I really appreciate all the expert advice you are throwing out here, and Greg please keep us all posted, because I especially will be keeping up to see how it all works out, and what ends up helping you the most... because I want some!

It is not so atypical to find yourself with a back problem at 20, especially if you have been active through your younger years. (football,baseball, basketball). However, younger you are, more likely that your body can handle such injuries... as you get bit older, these problem comes and stays.

I hear lots of "you know, when i was younger, i had the same problem but it went away after a few days.... but now, its not going away!" In your case, you have a disc problem and you should also seek help. The thing is, earlier you take care of this problem with proper chiropractic care, less likely you will have problems later.

Good luck whatever you decide to do. :)

[BackSeatOfaContour]

funny thing is alot of lower back problems are results of people simply keeping there wallet in there back pocket while sitting driving ect. my lower back hurts pretty much daily some worse than others i def feel gregs pain "literally" when i go down its pretty much 50/50 if i get up lol i try to do some excersizes like this haha:wiggle:

[frenchblueC2]

when i go down its pretty much 50/50 if i get up


haha taken out of context, that sounds funny.

[zorrex]

haha taken out of context, that sounds funny.

Kim, your mind is ALWAYS in the gutter. :rofl: :bowdown:

[frenchblueC2]

Yeah, it's pretty pathetic, but it keeps me young.

[rouar]

yikes that's rough. Don't take my back, I inherited a bad one too (screwed it up badly last week with a few situps).

I hate to say it, but you might want to look toward a more strenuous job. You'll thank yourself when you hit 50. Between your job, mechanical work and the engine swaps you're doing a lot of odd bending all day long.

And you're not fat by any stretch of the imagination. :tongue: