Bad Chiropractor visit

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

Holy crap! yeah I got 7 years on you. Hope you keep getting better. I agree that no job is worth it. Have to see how recovering goes otherwise might be in for a change or something. Service manager or supervisor at a stealership or something but I hate the thought of that.

I'm 51 in a week. My back issues came from some assclown in an Explorer broadsiding me in my old Jetta - said the brakes didn't work right, so he thought he'd go out on a public road to test them...and this was a service manager at the local Lincoln/Mercury dealer. Shifted my ass along with the car seat, my torso had to play catch-up. Ripped the L5/S1 to shreds. That was in 98 or so. I'm a cripple most of the winter, and that's 6-months long around here.

Go get it checked by a COMPETENT ortho guy. You're too young to walk like I do - when I can.

 

[97fordrunner]

Ouch that had of been bad. When I hear the results of the MRI i'm gonna see about getting a referral to the Midwest Spine Institute over in Stillwater, MN. My Boss went over there when he crushed a disc.

 

[doorgunner]

Bad back here too.............stomach crunches/laying on my back--bending my legs--holding my knees close to my stomach to "stretch my spine" helps a lot .........

hope you get better.....

 

[Jason]

must not have took x-rays to see the real problem...but i've never had a bad experience with mine. been going once(or more) a week since the 11th grade when i hurt mine in football.

And you think he is actually helping? LMAO There is a reason real doctors laugh at chiropractic doctors. Once a week at least for years? Way to bleed the insurance companies.

 

[LIMA BEAN]

Stay drunk 24/7, you can fall flat on your back and it don't hurt a bit I know. But really I hope its not bad. I hurt mine years ago too and man it sucked bad, get to feeling better man.

 

[User Name missing]

the chiro should have taken an x-ray to see what exactly your problem is. My back is all jacked up, there are bout 5 most common things that makes your back wacky and I'm 5 for 5. Late last year, I was in baaad shape and repeated trips to chiro did nuttn. He finally put me on the decompression table. Now, when I got done, the pain was so damn bad that I was nearly crying in the office. Hours later it was still bad. The next day, not so much and over the span of a few days the pain went completely away and it has been months since I’ve had to go back. So, in short, goin to chiro is not an instant fix and sometimes its gonna hurt a lot worse until it gets better.

 

[JohnnyO]

Hard to say without an x-ray. Chiropractors are good for bone and joint alignment but if you have a bad muscle strain or a blown disc then there isn't much they can do.

I go about once a month for a tune-up. I blew out my shoulder a year and half ago on a big window cleaning job. It just never got better. Last fall I had the chiropractor work on it pretty intensely for a month and it got a little better but I finally ended up going to an orthopedic surgeon who diagnosed me with bursitis after an x-ray. He gave me a cortisone shot. S'all better now.

 

[Earl43P]

L5/S1 here too, 2 MRIs, 51 years old.
Neurosurgeon wanted to cut me the following week.
This was on my second visit to him, to evaluate the new MRI (8 months after the first one).

I walked out of that office and haven't been back since. I still take Aleve on a bad day, but I'm mostly drug free. I was up to 4-6 Aleve/day, then Lyrica performed its miracle. That relief (on that for 18 months or so) got me more flexible so I could actually exercize without agony. Now, if I DON'T stretch/crunch/hang/roll I'll get stiff and achey.

Follow the Egosque method, do yoga/stretches, etc. His 2 CD set is good, but the intermediate kicks my ass 10 minutes into it. Seems the more I move, the better life is.

I installed a pullup bar in my garage.
It is low enough that I can take the weight off by bending my knees.
That keeps me from arching my back into the pain range.

I do hanging crunches and modified pullups (use the momentum from a hanging crunch to pull my chin up over the bar in a smooth motion), then I lower myself as slow as comfortable and extend my legs back to feet on floor. A typical day I do 2 or 3 sets of 4-6 reps. Some days I do way more, some days I do none and suffer. I put it just inside the doorway so that I walk under it and do a few.

Occasionally, I'll hang from my knees (after a skin the cat) and do upside down crunch and holds. I cheat a little by holding my ankles, but that gives me more stretch control.

Across the street is a playground with a concrete picnic table. Its wide enough that my outstretched hands can grip the sides at mid-torso level. I do leg lifts and crunches on that, throwing in some twists to get the kinks out. Neighbors think I'm cukoo.

Last time I hurt myself, I carried an 18lb. bag of dogfood and a gallon of milk from the driveway into the house. Shouldn't have twisted as I lifted. Another time I invited agony for days by .....reaching forward, turning a doorknob and opening a door..... of all things.

I recently added one of these rollers to my regime: http://www.nefitco.com/foam_rollers.html

It gets knots out of muscles you didn't even know you had.

 

[Mark_88]

For the record, acupuncture has been proven to be nothing but a placebo effect. Dont waste your money.
Also, Ibuprofen is an anti-inflamatory, not a muscle relaxant. If you want an over-the-counter muscle relaxant, Robaxacet is probably the best option.

Well, not sure who proved it, but it always worked for me...even helped me quit smoking (Acupressure, actually) and my Doctor never charged me for it because he put it down as Chiropractic, which was covered at the time by OHIP...now, in Ontario, Chiropractic is not covered...or I would have used them again...but for the most part, I only feel the pain when I do something dumb like try to lift a head into the engine bay without proper support of my back...or just lifting things in general improperly...

Ibuprofen also works to relieve my back pain...it's an analgesic drug so it can help pain related to inflamation...and typically, when a muscle is strained, there is inflamation...

 

[Mark_88]

Last time I hurt myself, I carried an 18lb. bag of dogfood and a gallon of milk from the driveway into the house. Shouldn't have twisted as I lifted. Another time I invited agony for days by .....reaching forward, turning a doorknob and opening a door..... of all things.

Hmmm...sounds familiar...just shortly after my original injury (involving pulling a sheet of metal across a set of rollers by twisting my back and pulling...) I reinjured it...pulling on a pair of underwear...

I laugh at it now, but it scared the crap out of me that I could hurt myself by simply doing something I've done all my life without a problem...

 

[powerranger262]

I have two herniated discs in my lower back, along with numbing of my sciatic nerve--enough numbing that I would just fall over like a fainting goat sometimes. I'm a mason, and do roofing for side jobs, so there is no rest on my back. I started off with pain killers, muscle relaxers, etc. but found that they never worked. My options were surgery or finding a new line of work, niether of the two were going to happen. My doctor recommended a pain specialist, who then started giving me these shots in my spine. They put two shots into each of the discs, and it makes the disc kind of balloon up, taking the pressure off of my spine and nerves. You can only do them for 6 months, and then come back 6 months later. They did work very well, but 6 months to the day, the pain was back with a vengence. My insurance doesn't want to cover this procedure, so my out of pocket was around 2 grand. I stopped going because of the money. Now, I am on a prescription of Tramadol, which I take two when I get home, and it helps me through the night--but only to start the cycle all over again after work the next day. Whatever you do, DON'T go to physical therapy. It's a joke and does nothing.

 

[97fordrunner]

Sounds cheezy but before this I had been doing a bunch of exercises and yoga stuff on the wifes Wii and it did some good then I stopped doing stretches and it gold cold again and think the muscles are going nuts. Feel better today no sharp pains in the back but still sore as hell and hard to walk

 

[97fordrunner]

Got the results back today, bulged discs, moderate to severe nerve damage and lower lumbar damage and a bunch of other lingo with letters and #'s that I couldn't keep up with but I have an appointment with one of the best specialists in the country I guess. So hoping for the best. Only been sitting for two days and already bored out of my mind and itching to get back to work and my ranger. Anyone in the area that would wanna help with some minor stuff on my truck if this ends up with surgery?

 

[Mark_88]

Got the results back today, bulged discs, moderate to severe nerve damage and lower lumbar damage and a bunch of other lingo with letters and #'s that I couldn't keep up with but I have an appointment with one of the best specialists in the country I guess. So hoping for the best. Only been sitting for two days and already bored out of my mind and itching to get back to work and my ranger. Anyone in the area that would wanna help with some minor stuff on my truck if this ends up with surgery?

Ouch...bulged disks can hurt...pinched nerve and all that...

As for helping with the Ranger...you got beer? Have gas, will travel...

 

[97fordrunner]

LOL its Wisconsin man! We have plenty-o-beer!