11 months ago after over 15 years of running and triathlons including ironman, with nothing more than the normal overuse injuries, I “pulled” something in the lower back. I rested 4 days but was motivated for an upcoming event, and though I still had pain in the back, I “rode” 2 hrs on my stationary trainer.
During the ride I noted odd feelings in the legs, and stiffness setting in, in the lower back, but ignored.
After the ride the lower back locked up pretty tight for days and I experienced numbness and tingling in my legs and feet. All competition has ceased, and very little training since.
Since that time I’ve found I can ride the bike, even hard with little negative effect. I can not run more than a mile without the numbness and tingling and tight back (not severe) being present for a day or two after. Swimming also seems to irritate it. I can however play tennis and have hiked (extremely hard terrain) for up to 2 hours without issue.
question: since I don’t like AMA doctors, has anyone had any succes with this type of injury from a holistic approach, i.e. accupunture, chiropratic… etc?
Why? It’s not exactly what I see as the best aproach to lump a HUGE group of people together as a group to “not like” until you know you really don’t like any of them.
ok, it’s nothing personal, I’m sure they’re great peoples.
I’m just looking for alternatives. If this was killing me I’d be crawlin’ down there. I may be inaccurate, but the docs would xray it, say this is pinchin’ this and tell me not to run (duh). if it gets worse we’ll shoot somethin’ in ya and if that don’t work will give ya a pill. If your still bitchin’, we’ll cut ya open. so with that frame of mind you can see I’m pretty much lost :o)
Sounds like a herniated disc pressing on the nerve root. Cortisone shots might actually help. They helped me. I also needed 7 months of PT that included VAX-D therapy. http://www.vax-d.com/ I’m back to about 95% and can train relatively pain free.
Unfortunately I’ve had all too many run-in’s with Dr.'s just like you’re describing. See if you can find a sports medicine Dr. or a physical therapist with a strong sports background. The PT can’t diagnose you, but should still have a good idea of what’s going on, but better yet know some Dr.'s that might be interested in helping.
And you’re right, if he tries to mask the pain, get out of there. He’ll obviously tell you not to run, but sometimes they treat you as a “regular” patient rather than someone “athletic”.
ok, it’s nothing personal, I’m sure they’re great peoples.
I’m just looking for alternatives. If this was killing me I’d be crawlin’ down there. I may be inaccurate, but the docs would xray it, say this is pinchin’ this and tell me not to run (duh). if it gets worse we’ll shoot somethin’ in ya and if that don’t work will give ya a pill. If your still bitchin’, we’ll cut ya open. so with that frame of mind you can see I’m pretty much lost :o)
And you put more trust in someone waving magic wands, poking you with needles, and going “ommmmmm ommmmmmmmm” in a room full of incense smoke?
(Yes, I’m joking. But that’s about as accurate as your portrayal of AMA.)
Seriously. Assuming you go to one of those blasted “real” docs, you’ll probably get a script for PT, which will likely include stretching and strengthening exercises. I suggest you don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
I’m asking for feedback on alternative methods from people who’ve had similar difficulties.
I realize somethings are viable, others aren’t. Hence looking for actual experience, as one member of the board has quite kindly supplied.
I suppose I should note, that my healthcare is the U.S. military (I’m retired) and my experiences with government organizations such as the health care professionals has been less than adequate on most fronts. That is hit and miss, mind you there are times when I’m pleasantly surprized.
I had something similar but not as severe. However there are apparently a few different causes of Sciatic pain and mine might not have been the same.
For me the doctor said to try an anti-inflamatory such as ibprofen for 2 weeks. This was seconded by a retired surgeon. So I tried it and it did help dramatically. That was months ago now and it isn’t completely gone but it doesn’t bother me anymore.
I just read through the VAX-d site and I was wondering what specifically was different about this treatment, that decompression of the spine using one of these couldn’t do?
I don’t know what difference in the VAX-D therapy from that type of equipment. I had a friend tell me about VAX-D and thought that it would be worth trying before going the surgery route, plus my insurance covered the treatment with only a $10 co-pay each visit.
I did have to cease all training during the PT in order to let everything stabilize and not to further aggravate anything. It was rough, but when you are talking about your spine, it was worth it. I’ll say this again too, don’t fear the cortisone shots. They really helped relieve some of the acute symptoms.
I use the inversion table, actually the exact one you have pictured($300), for my disc issues. It works great and using it in conjunction with my PT where they did some hanging with additional pull(weight) i increased the space between my vertebrae which helped to ease the pain. I grew a 1/4 inch also. Unfortunately my disc problem is worst than originally thought so I get to have surgery now. I would suggest a MRI so that you know exactly what is going on now instead of 5 months down the road like me( i had a MRI early on but it was not a very clear picture). I like the to use chiros, accupuncture and Rolfing, but sometimes you gotta go to the “real” Dr.
I know I’m playing Devil’s Advocate here, but bear with me:
thanks for making me seem like and idiot.
So it’s OK for you to make insulting comments about the entire American medical system, but it’s not OK for me to make a joke about alternative medicine? Notice I did point out that I was making a joke.
FWIW, I’m all for alternative medicine in certain cases, especially after traditional medicine has failed to produce results. However, I also don’t understand why you’d want to completely write off traditional medicine without a second thought. And, for the record, I have suffered from chronic back pain, brought under control through the efforts of a physical therapist. I’m lucky enough to have one in the family who’s sports oriented, and like the poster above, I’d suggest you start by finding one yourself with that background. Personally, I wouldn’t turn to alternative medicine for something like this unless everything short of major surgery had failed to produce results.
Yes, I had the exact same issue on two separate occasions (about 7 and 9 years ago). A good, sports-minded, chiropractor solved the problem both times in about 10-14 days / 4-6 visits each time. I know a lot of people don’t think highly of chiro’s, but it worked for me.
I have had this for years After a bad flare up 8 years ago, I finally found a PT who was a marathoner and he showed me stretches and exercises, also did some manipulation, heat and muscle stim for a week or 2. That worked great for 7 years, numerous halves and 1 IM. This past year it got bad again and my R calf cramps whenever I swim. Since then I have had 2 MRI’s, 2 selective nerve root injections and am seeing a sports chiro. The injections had no effect, the chiro has a brief and very temporary effect. I am back to thinking that I have to work harder to stabilize my spine and strengthen absolutely everything around it. If I lived near a Osteopath or a person who did ART I would try both of those as have friends/family who have had great results with each. Good luck!
