Pinched Nerve

[koolmoecraig]

I have a pinched nerve in my lower back.  It's killing me and there doesn't seem to be anything that I can do for it.

I've been to a chiropractor, thai massage to no avail.

Mr regular doctor said to use a heating pad for 20 min and then ice for 20 min.  I've been doing that all weekend and it doesn't feel any better at all.

Anyone have any home remedies I should try?  This is the worst pain that I have even experienced in my life.

[protokatie]

Stretching may help (I mean stretching of the spine). "orbital" stretching (like what many do with their necks when they have a headache) could also help (IE  stand with your legs apart and bend forward, then rotate your bend to your right, then backward, then to your left, then back to home). Do that several times, then repeat but in the opposite direction. This can help stretch muscles in your abdomen, and release some pressure on that pinched nerve you have. I've heard of people who hang themselves upside down to relieve back problems, that might work as well. If it becomes a major problem, your doc may not have the tools to see what is really wrong. You may end up needing surgery.

[HaRuMaN]

I had some back pain a while back... there are some yoga exercises that you can do that help somewhat.

Start with this one: Sphinx Pose

Then maybe try:
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog)
Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

*disclaimer*
I am not a doctor!  This is just something that worked for me, try at your own risk, blah blah blah...

[ChadTower]

Yoga will always help with something like that if you are physically capable as you are and if you start at the very beginning.  Don't just jump into poses.  They are sequential and the warmups/stretches build on themselves.  Try a beginner Yoga class at the Y or get a beginner DVD.  If you're in too much pain right now or don't have the range of motion you're going to have to start with some really remedial stretching work first.

Core flexibility and strength are almost always the answer for minor back problems.

[Ginsu Victim]

Then maybe try:
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog)
Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

If these don't do it, there's a little book out there called the Kama Sutra. Similar poses, different results.

[Malenko]

Yoga will always help with something like that if you are physically capable as you are and if you start at the very beginning.  Don't just jump into poses.  They are sequential and the warmups/stretches build on themselves.  Try a beginner Yoga class at the Y or get a beginner DVD.  If you're in too much pain right now or don't have the range of motion you're going to have to start with some really remedial stretching work first.

Core flexibility and strength are almost always the answer for minor back problems.

sign up for the class so that in 6 months to a year it wont hurt anymore.
That Sphinx pose looks super advanced

[grantspain]

i did my back in lifting a very large pool table,it got so bad that i could not walk
i had to take co-codamol and ibrufen tabs(heavy dose) just to dull the pain and then i had to go a special clinic where they fired electric shocks into my back and put me on a
stretching machine
it took 3 weeks for the pain to decrease and 2 years for my back to recover fully
even now i get the odd twinge and that's after 5 years

[ark_ader]

I love it when the other half walks on my back, especially when the jumping up and down starts.

There must be some truth about being walked on or walked over when you have a bad back.

This works for me.

[Namco]

I have this back injury from playing high school football that has followed me for 15 years. Whenever I feel stress or have something on my mind, my lower back area tenses up. If I'm not thinking and make a sudden movement in this condition, it'll tear my lower back muscle and I'll be out of comission for a few days until it heals.

This was a regular occurrence until 2006 when it happened last, I tore it REALLY bad. I was down for a week. Ever since, I've found that if I stand for more than an hour, my lower back gets extremely stiff and achy. If I don't sit properly, or sit in a car for more than two hours, I will get aches and pains.

Radial or twisting stretching aggravates the condition. To keep the pain away I workout every other day with plenty of sit ups, leg stretches, lower back extensions, upper back presses, and the lower back stretches where you pull your knees up into your chest. I never could touch my toes before, but I can now. Stretching feels great overall and relieves a lot of the stress that causes the lower back tightness.

If I lie flat on my stomach and press my hands to my lower back and push it down toward my heels, I can feel a small pop that relieves some pressure and feels good. The best relief is when I lie flat on my back with my arms outstretched for awhile. Those sphinx/cobra/upward dog poses don't feel good to me, but I figure it's because my lower back problems are muscle related and not spine related, but I'll never know because the ---smurfin---' doctor won't refer me to the spine clinic. The bastard.



Good luck with your pain. I don't know your physical condition, but good exercise and stretching (to an extent) never hurt.

I haven't had an episode where it'll "go out" on me since '06 but if I slack off on exercise, I can feel it getting worse.

[SavannahLion]

I don't really subscribe to acupuncture therapy, but many of my friends swear by it. Whether it or the therapy regime works, I have no idea. The most dramatic is when the muscles in my friends face "collapsed" from Bells Palsy. The treatment/therapy apparently wasn't working until my friend tried acupuncture. I have another who does acupuncture on the horse, which also apparently works.  You should see the needles for that.

So uh, maybe speak to an acupuncture therapist or whatever they're called. Maybe they can offer something to help?

[shardian]

Go to a different Chiropractor. They may be naturalistic cooks most of the time, but this is one thing they can actually fix.

Been there, done that.

[ChadTower]

That depends on the cause.  If he has an acute injury the chiro won't be able to help him until that is remediated.  My chiro does have the ability to send people for stuff like MRIs, though.  He got me one to evaluate my lower back before the last season of football we played.  So if the regular doctor is too cheap to have that done the chiro may not be.  The catch is that the insurance company will come down hard on you if you have a chiro refer an expensive test and they don't find anything.

[Ummon]

As Chad said, core strength and all. But to address an injury, relaxation of the area is required. I recommend the acupuncture, but just on your own, instead of backward stretching, a la the yoga poses referenced above, try laying face down over a ball or something large and curved to get some natural traction across the area.

[ChadTower]

...laying face... across balls... too many jokes... head asplode.   

[Kevin Mullins]

Anyone have any home remedies I should try?  This is the worst pain that I have even experienced in my life.

Rattlesnake venom .... take two shots of that and let us know how your back is feeling.








Just messing with ya.
I wouldn't wish that upon even my worst enemy.
(trust me... I know) 

[mountain]

I am with you koolmoecraig! I hope you find relief soon.

Ironically enough, I had an MRI on my lower back this morning. I ruptured a disc 3 years ago and slowly got to a point where it was manageable. I never lifted anything too heavy and basically took it easy.

Recently the tops of my thighs started feeling weird. They will go numb, and I mean NUMB. Then they get a burning sensation and are extremely sensitive to touch. So much so that I cannot wear jeans. I also get the sensation that is best described as someone standing on my legs with sharpened steel cleats, minus the pressure, just the pain. But the worst thing and the most troubling is with my left leg. When I stand up after sitting or laying, I have a nerve that must be getting pinched when I straighten my back. The pain is horrendous and has dropped me to my knees several times in the past 10 days. Imagine having someone stab you in the leg, just above the kneecap, everytime you stand up. I meet with the doctor in the morning to go over the results.

[koolmoecraig]

Going to the doctor for an Xray on Thursday.

[Kevin Mullins]

Hopefully they will actually be able to see what's going on.
It's when they "can't find anything wrong" that drives me crazy.
(cuz you know damn well you can feel it)

Good luck to ya.

[danny_galaga]

back pain is about the worst thing. ive been lucky enough not to have any severe pains myself, but its enough to see my dad completely out of action due to bad back pain. its one of the few injuries we can do to ourselves that wont fully recover (brain damage is another).

prevention is the key. i did a course some years ago, using a method called 'manutention'. it was developed for the french national weightlifting team i believe and is most used now in the nursing industry. its a real eye opener, and im still wary of how i move things around now because of that course. doesnt seem to be much on the net about it, so i dont know how well it took off internationally, but heres an aussie link:

http://www.manutention.org.au/About.htm

and a french one (manutention means 'manual handling' in french i believe)

http://www.sifam.tm.fr/?page=stages&idstage=55


get well soon craig 

[Ed_McCarron]

Go to a different Chiropractor. They may be naturalistic cooks most of the time, but this is one thing they can actually fix.

Been there, done that.

Yup.  Mine doesn't claim to be able to cure colds and constipation like some of those wackjobs do, but once a year when I throw my back out he's able to correct it in a few visits.  Costs me $60 and I don't see him for another year.

[ChadTower]

When I got out of college I was getting nasty migraines a couple times a week.  The rest of the week my neck hurt so bad I would come home from work and just watch TV.  Doctor didn't see anything wrong, Xrays were normal, he told me "people just live with pain like this."  He subtly accused me of seeking painkillers even though I was telling him I didn't even want them - I wanted the cause gone and not just the pain.  I wasn't going to live like that at 23 years old.  Eventually I ended up at a local chiropractor with a good rep.  He took his own Xrays (he was also a licensed radiologist and had the equipment on site).  He told me he saw the exact problem and could fix it.  My doctor had told me chiropractors are crackpot con artists (his exact words) so I was skeptical but I was in so much pain it was worth a shot.  Within three visits I was feeling somewhat better.  It took a lot of visits at first but after 3 months I was in substantially less pain.  After 4 months it was gone.  Apparently I developed some major alignment problems from spending 14 hour days in college computer labs with crappy wood chairs and wobbly monitors.  What the doctor couldn't find, ignored, and dismissed as made up the chiropractor spotted right away and was able to fix.  I still go once every three weeks or so just to keep things in line since I've found over the years that since I still sit at a PC all day I start to develop the same issue after a few months without maintenance.

I agree there are some crackpot chiros out there that are selling crap like "chiropractic can make you smarter / taller / less constipated / help you stop smoking".  There are definitely some really good ones out there too, though, that aren't selling snake oil and do excellent work.

[shmokes]

It's worth noting that even the crackpot chiros I've been to did really good work and made me feel much better.   

[rovingmind]

I just went to the chiropractor today.  I moved snow saturday with a snow pusher.  It hit a rock and sent the handle slamming into my hip a couple of times.  sunday afternoon, i had the pain shooting down the leg to the knee joint and the stabbing sensations.  Its from pressure on the sciatic nerve.  He took xrays and it was quite plain that the vertebrae just above the sacrum was shifted sideways, he also said it was rotated a little bit.  The disc gets inflammed and puts pressure on the sciatic nerve and walla, more pain than ibuprofen can take care of. 

I'm going to get an incline board to lay on once he gets the main alignment problem out of the way.  I figure i'll make one out of laminate shelf board from menards with some pipe fittings screwed together to form a great big T on it for a foot brace.  I was going to buy one but most of the sights that talk about inversion therapy that AREN't trying to sell you a table mention that relief is often found from as little as 10 to 30 degrees of incline. 

I figure i'll make a board to prop on the couch, that can hide behind it when not in use.  I was exercising almost regularly for a couple months before thanksgiving.  Oh the feasting.   

[shardian]

All the good Chiropractors I know went to Palmer College of Chiropractic, and are among the smartest, most normal people I know.

[ChadTower]

The guy I go to went to UMass the same time my wife and I did. 

[koolmoecraig]

Just when I'm about to go in to the doctor for this, I book a commercial job that shoots Thursday where I have to lean over for the entire shoot.

Tried some vicoden last night to quell the pain but it didnt work.  I'm blessed to be working but it's gonna kill me.

[hypernova]

Sounds bad...worse than my necrotic nerve in my tooth that I have to get root canaled here soon.  Usually no pain...but this one day, I couldn't go to sleep it was so extremely intense.

So if a kidney stone lasted as long as a pinched nerve, which would be worse?

[rovingmind]

pinched nerve

[shardian]

Just when I'm about to go in to the doctor for this, I book a commercial job that shoots Thursday where I have to lean over for the entire shoot.

Tried some vicoden last night to quell the pain but it didnt work.  I'm blessed to be working but it's gonna kill me.

Heh, reminds me of that Friends Episode where Joey has to work with a hernia so he can get medical coverage.

[shmokes]

It's bad enough to watch Friends.  But good lord, don't talk about it in public.

[Ed_McCarron]

So if a kidney stone lasted as long as a pinched nerve, which would be worse?

I've had 'em both.  Gonna say it depends on the size of the stone.

[shardian]

So if a kidney stone lasted as long as a pinched nerve, which would be worse?

I've had 'em both.  Gonna say it depends on the size of the stone.

Since you can treat a pinched nerve most of the time, I will have to go with kidney stones.

[Kevin Mullins]

You can treat kidney stones as well.... just have to make them smaller so that they pass easier.

[Ed_McCarron]

All they do is put you in a bathtub and zap you with sound waves to treat kidney stones.

Fail.

Only if they're huge does lithotripsy (sp?) get involved.  Docs'll go right after 'em with a catheter if they are too small for that procedure but too big to pass naturally.

Guess which path they take?

Surgery is still commonplace for stones.

Luckily, mine seem to be small enough to pass.  Its a grueling (3-8 hours) depending on the size of the stone.  Puts me in bed on percocet for the duration.

[shardian]

Our secretary has had lithotripsy multiple times. She has had chronic massive kidney stones thru her whole life.

[Ummon]

Not enough water....or maybe too much beer. Probably both.

[Ed_McCarron]

Not enough water....or maybe too much beer. Probably both.

Beer = good.  Flushes the kidneys.  Less buildup.  Still gotta drink water with it, tho, to prevent dehydration (and hangovers.)

So sayeth the urologist I see.  I like him.

Depends on the stone type.  Mine are oxalate.  I'm supposed to avoid tea and dark green veggies.

I can live with no brussels sprouts, but its a tough cross to bear.

[shmokes]

I'm supposed to avoid tea and dark green veggies.

I would be devastated by instruction to cut either of those from my diet.

[Ummon]

As beer has sulfites in it, I would think it might contribute to stones. Also, any kind of buzz equals some form of dehydration. That's why I tend to only drink one in a session...well, and because I drink it for flavor, so's one is all I need. Of course, I do have the added advantage of a session occuring maybe once or twice a month. Tea I can't remember that last time I had - and obviously it wasn't Long Island Ice Tea.