My wife, Inna, is having back pain. At the bottom of this post are the results of her study.
(Sorry for asking you to read.)
Questions:
Any other information would be greatly appreciated, thank you. 
Weight is an issue. So if she is overweight she should go on a diet.
When I started a thread about injuring my shoulder, a couple Dopers recommended a YouTube channel hosted by physical therapists ‘Bob and Brad’. They seem to know their PT stuff.
It’s early days, but I’ve been doing some of the shoulder exercises, and I think they’re helping.
Of course, shoulders and backs are completely different, and I am no doc when it comes to recommending this stuff, yada yada…But those disclaimers out of the way, B&B have some back exercise videos:
If she likes to wear heels, she might want to cut down on that. My back problems got a lot better when I did.
I found various Yoga techniques helpful. I’ve never tried anything requiring balance or skill. They’ve all been simple and straight forward. I also just rediscovered a technique for my neck that may forestall getting some of the bones fused. I’ve been experimenting with it and it seems to take the pressure off the nerve. And I’ve been throwing drugs and ice packs at the problem.
One of the yoga techniques for the lower back is deceptively easy. While laying flat on a rug, lift your legs toward your head and grab your feet (socks work great for this). Then slowly roll back until you’re flat on the floor. Repeat a couple of times. You’re basically rolling and unrolling your spinal column to stretch it out. Supposedly you can regain your original height if you’ve been shrinking from spinal compression.
Something that feels really great is to have one person positioned on knees and elbows while the other person sits butt to butt and rolls back until head to head.
She’s got foraminal narrowing, which pinches the nerve as it exits the spine. Typically they prescribe gabapentin. I survived on it for a few years before I finally had to have surgery (the first of two so far) to widen the openings. You’ve probably fed the MRI report into AI, but if not, do it - it’ll give you very good info about what the diagnosis means and what types of exercises are called for. The advice about ditching the high heels is excellent. Arching the back often makes it worse. Bending forward often makes it better. Yoga is worth a try, but may not improve anything. Nerves being squeezed by narrow bone openings don’t necessarily get better by stretching and rubbing them against the bones.
Thanks for this! You have a link which shows this being done?
No heels, no weight issues, just FYI.
Something like this except wear long socks loosely so you can grab and hold your feet while SLOWLY rolling out your back. All the back roll videos seem to lack the slow roll back.
Also, there’s a simple one that basically aligns the back if it’s jacked out of shape. I would occasionally throw out my back. And I mean a drop to the ground level of pain. I would do the Bridge Pose which is the 3rd pose in the video. I found that this forces the muscles to pull or push the back into alignment. I’m not sure why it works but my guess is that it engages muscles on both sides of the spine at the same time.
I would also roll my back out by laying on a wheel made for that purpose and rolling back and forth. They have a grove in the middle to cradle the spine.
these are some of the things that work from me but I’m not a doctor. I suggest a general review of Yoga techniques that focus on the lower back.
I would add that I take Glucosamine Chondroitin daily. You can get this at Sam’s or Walmart pretty cheap. I noticed the arthritis in my hands improve in about 2 weeks and I haven’t had to fuss with my back for awhile so that’s something to research.
It seemed to help me, but the studies are inconclusive.
Long hot baths or showers will help on a temporary basis.
I am not a real doctor.
I didn’t link the Back Wheels properly.
As to Glucosamine Chondroitin. The improvement in my hand arthritis is pronounced. And since I went back on it a year ago my lower back problems are reduced to the point I don’t use any of the yoga stuff anymore. So I’m either lucky and haven’t pissed off my back or it helps.
I’m currently working on a neck issue that has me looking at a spinal fusion. I resurrected an old technique I haven’t used in 20 years and it was a massive improvement on the problem. I really don’t want to fuse any joints because it sounds like it comes with it’s own problems. I just want the pressure on the nerve released. It’s pretty simple. take one and grab the opposite side of the head just below and behind the ear. Take the other hand and grab the opposite side jaw along the chin and gently tug with both hands. I’m experimenting with it right now and am actively TRYING to piss off my neck. It seems to work. I’ve been throwing prescription pain killer at the problem along with icing my neck all day long. This technique has so far worked and takes seconds to perform at random intervals during the day.
I’m not an alternative medicine kind of person but I think physical problems with pinched nerves can be addressed with techniques that take the load off the area of the nerve. And with the internet you can address these issues with how-to videos. You can’t beat the price.
The issue is that backs are complex, and what helps one person can hurt another person. She needs to see a good physical therapist to do tests to see what can be done to help.
Eventually she may need a foraminotomy to open the spaces where the nerves exit the spinal cord.
As someone who deals with this, one thing I’m watching somewhat closely is advances in disc repair. There are efforts to inject platelet-rich plasma (PRP) into spinal discs to help them grow a bit. There is a form of PRP called Intradiscal leukocyte rich platelet-rich plasma that may be more effective. Theres also research on injecting stem cells into discs.
Disc decompression therapy done professionally with someone like the DRX-9000 can help pump nutrients into the disc and hopefully help it grow.
One thing I am hoping passes FDA testing are things like hydrafil. its an injection into the disc that adds size back to it, and its stable enough that it can withstand the pressures of the spine. There are currently multiple FDA trials on various injections that can be injected into the spinal disc to restore height that has been lost with age. Things like this will make the foramen larger and put less compression on the nerves. A big part of the reason her foramen in her back are narrow is that the discs have been worn down with age.
On another note there is a lot of conservative therapy she can try. Coccyx cushions when sitting can be very helpful. A good PT can really help to build the muscles that protect the spine. Therapies like an infrared heating pad, or a PEMF pad can also be useful.
Helped my hands or seemed to, did nada for my knees.
I had never heard of “lumbarization of S1” but upon looking it up, I had heard of transitional vertebrae, and this happens in about 2% of the population and rarely causes problems.
The Bob & Brad YouTube channel is great! Sadly, Bob died within the past year, but Brad is still doing videos.
Wesley_Clark’s advise is obviously the direction this thread should take. I found physical therapists most helpful.
I’ve been interested in the new stuff coming out designed to fill in the space in discs. I hope there are solutions available soon for older people that Medicare will pay for.
My only advice is to be very careful who you take tips from. Arthropathy can mean a few different things, at least one of which of which can make chiropathy (chiropractic?) fatal. Obviously, IANAD. But likewise, stenosis makes most of the exercises usually recommended for bulging discs highly unadvisable.
This is a complicated case, and requires qualified and experienced medical professionals who have thoroughly reviewed the chart and the images.
I have bulging discs and arthritis in my lower back, and Bob and Brad have been a godsend for me. But I would never recommend that to someone with stenosis.
I have found that celecoxib (NSAID) and tylenol together work better than any of the narcotics they tried to give me. Occasionally when I have done something to irritate it I also ask the Dr. for a round of steroids, which helps immensely.
She has my deepest sympathies. Bless her, the pain must be extreme. I hope she gets the help she needs.
After lumbar fusion surgery (3 months ago) I’m doing fine, but every case is different. I just came in here to mention re “new stuff coming out designed to fill in the space” that I now have a 3-d printed titanium disc thingy, along with allografts, between two lumbar vertebrae.
I’ve been wondering about this for years. 3D printing seems tailor-made for this problem.
QFT. If you look at what’s going on in foraminal narrowing, which pinches the nerve as it exits the spine, you may want to re-evaluate exercises which attempt to move/realign the spine. You’re just as likely to pinch the nerve even more. That’s why taking exercise advice from someone with a completely different etiology is a really bad idea. I have the same condition, and can confirm that any time I do yard work/bending/twisting that pinch the nerve even a bit, it can take weeks for the pain to go back to normal, because nerves take seemingly forever to settle back down once they’re irritated. Ask around for a good PT, and she can get a Dr’s referral.