I injured my back about a year ago in a dance class. My right leg was extended behind me at about a 90 degree angle when what felt like an explosion on the left side of my lower back occurred. Immediately following the injury, I was unable to bend forward, back, walk, sit, move… This lasted for about a week and mobility slowly increased. I continued dancing as best I could for the remainder of the year and took the summer off. September rolls around and I’m sill in significant pain, especially when dancing (which is my major in school.) Pain is increased when bending forward and backward. Feels like my back is on fire and occasionally runs down my left leg. I had an x-ray and bone scan in September. Bone scan showed nothing and the x-ray showed some narrowing disc space. After fall quarter, I had an MRI done at home. The doctor said that I had a severe disc herniation and put on prednisone for a couple of weeks along with some physical therapy. I’m back at school now and have been referred to another sports medicine doctor here. He says the MRI is pretty standard. Minor bulge, but everyone has it. The pain seems to only get worse. It is definitely affecting how I dance…its hard when you can’t bend over. I’m not quite sure what I can do…or what I should do. Any suggestions? Please help.
#1 by heogog on February 24, 2010 - 1:08 pm
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Have any of your docs offered an epidural injection in the area of pain? Have you been given any information about finding a pain management doc? You may not need surgery, and if it were me, I’d rather pursue all the non surgical treatments before even thinking about surgery.
A good pain management doc or a rhuematologist can offer you a lot of different treatment options to consider and will work with you to help you learn how to reduce and manage your pain. Make sure that your chosen doc gets copies of all your previous tests, so he/she can evaluate the results. There are a lot of different methods of attacking your pain; PT, acupuncture, biofeedback, relaxation therapy, pain medication and other adjunct medications- and probably more than I mentioned.
Back pain is hard to treat and has to be looked at from as many perspectives as possible.