My L5 is messed up from being rear ended on the highway by a girl playing with her phone. I have intermittent right leg numbness and alternating pain in my lower back which shoots down the leg (sciatica). I went to PT right after the accident and one of the things that helped was an “anti gravity treadmill”. They weigh you and put you in a harness and have you walk slowly. Then they take weight off by lifting you in the harness. I also given flexoril. PT also focused on stretching my hamstrings because I was told if they are tight it can cause your hips to shift and exasperate the sciatica. This was 3 years ago and I still have bad days, but I go to the gym every day and make sure I stretch and it is manageable.

Don't wait too long to see a doctor. If there is nerve damage happening you don't want it to get worse.

I injured L3/4 and L4/5 discs in 2007, had surgery on the L3/4 in 2017. In between there were many terrible days of back pain plus hip/thigh/foot burning and tingling. Many rounds of PT, several injections, various meds, and nerve conduction tests. The surgery was 100% successful. I did not have a fusion, just cleaning out all the crap around the nerve.

Just because something shows on an MRI or other image does not mean it is the cause of your pain. Everyone over about age 40 will have degeneration of some sort. The best diagnosis I had was from a PT and from the surgeon. It was hands on, manipulating me to see when the symptoms could be provoked. The nerve conduction tests also were diagnostic. In combination they confirmed what the MRIs showed and helped guide the surgeon. The diagnosis should be based on several factors, not just an image or where your pain is.

Pain in the buttocks could be the piriformis muscle or the sciatic nerve, or related to the discs. The first two are not uncommon in people who sit a lot.

PT cannot cure a bad disc. Each therapist has their own style, and I found most did nothing productive for my pain. Most were oriented towards joint injury/replacement. Basic core strengthening is good, as is stretching, but unless they are experienced with disc issues they will put you through exercises but then give up when your pain isn't cured. It takes specific exercises to strengthen the lattice muscles of the lower back, not just "core strengthening".

To repeat what someone else posted, any bathroom issue (unable to void your bladder, or loss of bladder or bowel control) is a true medical emergency right now.

Stretching, walking, soaking in a hot tub, or whatever else you can do that doesn't aggravate it is probably worth doing. Activity is good. If you just need to lie on the floor for the day, do that.

Call your doc in the morning if it isn't getting any better. The risk of permanent nerve damage isn't worth waiting it out.

After suffering severe sciatica pain for several months, I finally spent the $150 for an inversion table. My pain included the lower back, shooting pain down my right leg that at times felt on fire, numbness on the right side of my right foot, and the feeling of walking with a rock stuck to the bottom of my right foot. After two weeks of 5 minutes a day at 45 degree tilt, all of the symptoms have been eliminated.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
Thanks for the responses. Sounds like I might need to revisit PT, but I can’t even imagine any form of a stretch. If I lean forward or backwards that caused pain even before this ungodly experience I am having right now. Just blows my mind it got so worse so suddenly right after a steroid injection. I was able to sleep okay last night but I am again having to lay here in bed to have the most relief possible. My right leg is still numb and a walk to the bathroom hurts like hell.

All I do is sit all day for work either at a desk or in a vehicle so I am sure a loss of core strength has a lot to do with it. At least you guys have given me things to discuss with my doctor.

A good PT is worth their weight in gold for those of us who have had excruciating lower back pain.

Shop around if you can and find a good one.

My results with PT, while not quick, were fairly definitive in the long run.

Hope things improve for you! I'm getting my second steroid epidural tomorrow. The first gave me 40-60% relief with some worse days. Hoping the second improves things so I don't need a third. If the third doesn't work then back surgery it is. I'm also doing therapy with a chiropractor for the past two months and planning on doing that at least a year.

It is hard to function when it feels like somebody is stabbing you in the ass and leg with an ice pick. The other option is pain meds and those get old after a couple days.

I had severe LBP, then sciatica for 7 years. The sciatica was worse than when I broke my back in a mtn. bike accident.

Eventually I went to chiropractic school, and was saved by the NUCCA chiropractic system. Despite several major injuries, I became a long distance trail runner for three years, doing 20-35 miles a week. Now I am a nucca chiropractor, saving people from a lifetime of pain.

^^^ WRT the injections, I felt great relief after the first shot. It took about five days. When I got the second one , I too was thinking maybe I’ll be able to skip the third….DONT. My second shot did little to my neck (so I thought)…I mean I wasn’t on fire anymore and could sleep. but the third one finally reduced the inflammation so much that I was able to move around and sleep again. They give them in a series of three for a reason….do all of them.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
^^^ WRT the injections, I felt great relief after the first shot. It took about five days. When I got the second one , I too was thinking maybe I’ll be able to skip the third….DONT. My second shot did little to my neck (so I thought)…I mean I wasn’t on fire anymore and could sleep. but the third one finally reduced the inflammation so much that I was able to move around and sleep again. They give them in a series of three for a reason….do all of them.

I'm considering the third regardless. I'm ready to do anything they suggest short of surgery so I might as well get the full treatment they are offering.

It has been over a month now since my last injection and the horrible pain I had. The actual pain in my buttocks, which is why I got the injection, has improved since the injection. My whole right leg was numb for many weeks and still today on my right leg from the calf down I am still numb with burning pain. I had an MRI a few days ago and it shows things have gotten worse since my last MRI a year ago. I have an appointment the week after next with a neurosurgeon to see what he says.

This is what the latest MRI report says:

IMPRESSION:
Large disc extrusion at L5-S1 severely narrows the right lateral recess in the
region of the descending S1 nerve root. Findings are new since the prior study.

Sometimes simple things are major triggers. Early in the Rona I had similar but far milder symptoms. It was due to spending too much time in a computer chair that needed replacing. New chair ended it.

quote:

Originally posted by wreckdiver:
When I was having problems with my back in the mid 2000's, I went to who was considered the best back guy in town. After a number of tests it was determined I needed my hips relaced even though they never bothered me.

Got them replaced and the back has been pretty good since.

That's my lower problem.
Got run around for a long time before going in to a Chiropractor.
It pops out and takes the whole area with it to the point I can't walk without a cane or a chair as a walker.
He's been working on my neck for a bit and have been getting put in the frame stretcher, that seems to be helping.
Of course I don't go in when whatever goes out and after a month or so the muscles kinda stay that way for a bit.
I was so torqued up when I went in this time that he thought I had scoliosis the way the muscles in my back were twisting it all up.

You can try asking about this procedure.. https://www.treatingpain.com/t...ents/mild-procedure/

I have a long history going back to teen years. I’m 73. 3 surgeries, L3,4,5,.

“Ablation” procedure has helped me be relatively pain free. Electronic needle emitting microwave like energy to burn sheaths off of the nerves is how it was described to me. Performed by an anesthesiologist/ pain specialist.

Only problem is damn insurance company which requires I endure two useless steroid injections prior to approving ablation.

Procedure usually lasts about 1-3 years. I’m told the signal carrying sheaths grow back. I’ve had 3 over the past 10 years.

It works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
For me, my lower back pain was resolved with stretching which focused on my lower posterior chain--specifically my hamstrings and piriformis.


Lots of stretching, enough to naturally change my posture was what ultimately helped me.

I would "back" this advice. When the OP said pain in the buttocks, that's exactly what I felt with my sciatica nerve years ago. I could feel where the pain was with my fingers pressing in just above the round part of my butt cheeks.

I got some immediate relief by going to a chiropractor who manipulated; you can go to an osteopath if you don't care for chiropractors. But she said, if you want to stop coming in here, you need to stretch your muscles. She proved her point by having me cross my right leg across my left knee and see how far I can get my nose to the knee of the crossed leg. With one leg, I could get within a hand breadth. With the other, I could only bend 2 inches down.

One stretch that helped was lying in bed, crossing one leg across the other knee, and then slowing pulling the crossed knee toward your head until you can feel it stretched and tugging where the pain is in your butt. Don't bounce. There was also another exercise by standing on one foot on a stair step with the heel overhanging and then going up and down on the ball of the foot. It helped to stretch and strengthen something.

Mrs. Flash was going through this around 5 years ago.

Went to a spine Doc and it turns out she had problems with L3, L4 and L5 and also C2 and C3.

She got some pins and rods and plates put in in two separate operations and has been pain free ever since.

A good spine Doctor is everything. The guy she used was pretty widely considered the best around here.

If you’re going to use a heating pad, buy a Thermotex IR pad. They are expensive but are supposed to be able to get heat as deep as two inches. L5 Pars Defect/Spondyliosis here.

quote:

Don't wait too long to see a doctor. If there is nerve damage happening you don't want it to get worse.

Don't come to the internet for a medical diagnosis, and don't assume what "the doctors" can or can't do.

If you're still in such pain, call an ambulance, get to an ED where they can do an MRI.

Jesus wept.

"Normin" - listen to SJTILL. It is very important that this is treated asap as nerves that are "pinched" die. Some will regenerate in time but others will not. And you don't want to risk having numb limbs for the rest of your life. Again, "SJ" is right; what the doctors should (my opinion) do is send you for an MRI ASAP. PT may help; injections may help; other things may help. But while you are trying them you MAY have a pinched nerve that is dying a little more each day - and may NOT "come back". BTW, this advice is worth EXACTLY what you paid for it. Good luck, Bud. Get it fixed as soon as you can........FredT

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:

quote:

Don't wait too long to see a doctor. If there is nerve damage happening you don't want it to get worse.

Don't come to the internet for a medical diagnosis, and don't assume what "the doctors" can or can't do.

If you're still in such pain, call an ambulance, get to an ED where they can do an MRI.

Jesus wept.

Most ER’s do NOT do emergent MRI for back pain unless you have symptoms of cauda equine syndrome ( loss of control of bowel or bladder) so that would be a wasted trip.

Proper physical therapy is critical and as said not all therapists are created equal.

Surgery should always be a last resort, but an option nonetheless

I also reiterate another poster mentioned weight loss which if applicable to you, will help a lot.
And I can’t emphasize this enough 90% of weight loss happens in the kitchen not the gym

As I posted earlier, I had an MRI a little over a year ago and just got another one last week. I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon next week, he was on a two month wait list. I will see what he says and recommends after he examines me and compares my two MRIs. I don’t want surgery but I do want this neurosurgeon’s opinion on what is going on and what can be done. I have been told he is a guy not quick to suggest surgery unless needed.