About a month and a half ago, I woke with great pain in my lower back, all through my pelvis and my hips. I wasn’t sure at the time if I ad simply slept in a bad position, injured myself in my sleep, or both. As time went on, the pain was sometimes better and sometimes worse. My ability to bend forward or backward was greatly reduced. My general range of motion was reduced. At times, the pain spread to my knees. Some instinct (which I’ve obeyed out of fear) lead me to stop sleeping on my back and to only sleep on my side. When I lie down to sleep, I get a constan pain from my left hip all the way down my left leg to the very tips of the toes.
This happened while I was busy with the move from my rat hole apartment to a much better place in University City. I made an appointment with my primary care doctor. As expected, he could not do anything about it. But, he did provide me a referral. I wasted no time calling orthopedics in University City. One said ‘Yes, we take your insurance. We are booked tl March of 2025.’ After calling many more offices, I got an appointment for October 7th.
My mother has, literally and without exaggeration of any kind, 7 different things wrong with her spine. The only ones I remember off the top of my head are scoliosis and spinal stenosis. I fear that I’ve inherited some of her back problems. I very much do not want prescription pain medicines. They generally make it impossible to function mentally. I need to be able to do my job and work from home. I am hoping the solution is some kind of laproscopic surgery- if it is outpatient surgery even better. My great fear is that they will examine me, run tests and find that there is nothing they can do and I just have to live like this.
Last nght, I stumbled while getting out of my office chair. This led to me taking a swift, hard and awkward step to keep from falling. When I did that, I felt something click back into place. There was an immediate reduction in pain.Today, I am still in pain and my range of motion is limited, but it is not as bad as it was before.
Wishing you the best with the doctor. There are so many different things it could be and I am relatively ignorant about them, and happy that I don’t have them, so I won’t offer anything but hope for a good outcome.
My father had a spinal stenosis, which caused him great nerve pain in his legs. He was over 80 when he had it operated on (not laparoscopically) and it relieved his pain immediately. He refused to do much in the way of physical therapy so he was never able to walk more than a few steps without a cane again, but he was happy enough to have gotten rid of the pain. He could stand up fine, so rather than use a wheelchair or seated scooter thing, he was a vision on his Segway going down the sidewalk and into the shops. He died about 15 years ago, age 87.
I had an occurrence of what I called sciatica a few years ago. Never saw a doctor, but it gradually improved and has stayed away. I found that stretching helped, even if it hurt while doing it.
My dad had episodes of severe back pain. When it acted up he’d slide a 4x8 sheet of plywood under the mattress. No clue why, but it helped him sleep.
One would think that if movement helped with the pain, there’s not anything that requires surgery right now. Try to get your doctor to prescribe physical therapy, go to a physical therapist’s office, and do the physical therapy they prescribe.
You’ll probably also need an x-ray before PT so everyone can be on the same page about any possible bone or disc issues.
If that doesn’t help they might move you on to pain shots.
If that doesn’t work, or if things get worse, you might need some sort of surgery. There will be a lot of x-rays and MRIs and CAT scans and stuff before that.
Whatever does end up happening with your spine down the road, strong core muscles will help you immensely. So definitely start with PT and get some strength.
My spinal stenosis causing sciatic nerve pain (sciatica) sounds very much like your pain. Basically, your vertebrae continue to grow more bone as you age (osteoarthritis, just like when knuckles get gnarled) and the nerves get pinched where they leave the spinal column. But your pain could have many causes, so your doc should be able to figure it out.
When you go in ask for gabapentin. It’s not a narcotic, but it seems to “quiet the nerves”, as my doctor said using air quotes. I I was able to manage the pain for several years on gabapentin before I finally gave in and had surgery back in 2018, which worked great. Now I’m likely ready for another one on my neck, but the prognosis is good.
Don’t wait to have your problem taken care of or you can lose function permanently.
Thanks (and thanls to everybody who replied to my OP). My Mother was recently put on gabapentin due to developing painful neuropathy in her feet. I’d ask her more about it. But, I have kept my back problems to myself not wanting to worry my family. I’ll just ask my betrothed to do some research. She’s always happy to help, and since she works in search engine optimization, her Google fu is very strong.
I second Gabapentin. It’s pretty freely prescribed, I think. My dad was on 1800mg a day.
Mom just had her third back surgery to correct pain in her legs, and the only thing that helped finish off that last bit of lingering pain aftewards was Gabapentin.
Have you tried sleeping with a dense cushion/ pillow between your knees? When I have hip/low back pain it’s remarkably effective. It takes a couple of nights to get used to it, but it’s drug free and you can do it anywhere anytime, for some relief.
Wishing you quick relief and fast recovery, good luck!
My Dr. recommended the McGill big three exercises. link
These exercises are designed to improve your core strength without stressing your spine the way many other exercises do. Good for people with back injuries.
Your symptoms sound a lot like mine. I had (have?) a couple of ruptured discs in my lumbar region. After twelve weeks of PT, there was only minor improvement. I was referred to an Orthopedist who ordered an MRI, which is how they found the ruptured discs. I received an epidural steroid shot a couple of weeks ago, which has gotten back to about 85%.
@DocCathode, I wish you the best and hope you find relief. Nerve and back pain is The Worst.
First, somebody took x-ray images of my spine. I was very pleased that I did not have to disrobe for this. I can still put on or take off my shirt easily, but getting my feet into underwear, jean shorts, and especially socks can be very difficult. All I had to do was empty my pockets and remove my belt.
They took an image. They asked me to turn sideways. Then, they asked me to bend forward from the waist. I explained that I could barely do that, and not without great pain. They said okay.
Later, the doctor showed me the x-rays. Even to my untrained eye, it was obvious that two of the lower vertebrae were a lot closer together than the rest. The doctor said that something was likely getting pinched and that I showed arthritis in my spine. I said I did not want narcotics. He said he did not want to prescribe any. He did give me a two week script for prescription strength naproxin. He also gave me a script for physical therapy. He said if I didn’t see significant improvement after physical therapy, we would discuss other options.
Now, I have to see if there is a closer or easier to get to place that accepts my insurance and will provide the physical therapy. My beloved said she will help me do that later tonight. My Google Fu is extremely weak. She, on the other hand, works in online marketing and is a wizard at search engines.
Thanks for typing that. I’ve had terrible sciatica for months, and the first two visits to a PT helped a little, but she was mystified by whether the problem was muscular, nerve, or bone/spine-related.
At the third visit, she said “Well, if I was wrong and it’s a pinched nerve, this stretch should help.” It was really simple, and she explained that it was just stretching the sciatic nerve and moving it back and forth in its channel.
Damn! It worked! I just got back from an outdoor dedication that had a lot of standing, and it was a six-hour drive there and back, all of which would’ve left me gritting my teeth in pain.
PT for the win! (Though, since it looks like a nerve thing, I might see a chiropractor as well)
As the father of a DPT married to a DPT (and yes, Doctor of Physical Therapy is degree inflation for likely no good reason), there really isn’t much of a difference, except the DPT isn’t likely to try and cure your cancer. A number of their instructors were chiropractors.
My PT suggested yoga for my lumbar discs. Specifically the following poses:
Cat and Cow
Locust
Cobra
Downward facing dog
Triangle
Camel
She told me not to do the following under any circumstances:
Child
Sage
Forward standing bend
Forward wide angle
Big Toe
Of course, you should discuss with your doctor or PT before starting. I am still trying to find a skilled instructor to show me how to do these correctly.
I am almost fully recovered. The orthopedist prescribed a course of methylprednisolone and one of prescription strength naproxen. That and physical therapy have really done the job
