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Just diagnosed after a back injury.

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  • Just diagnosed after a back injury.

    Hello. I have just recently suffered my second work related back injury this past February. I am still off work with this injury today. I also had a similar injury last March the year before and was off work for four months with that one.
    During this injury they did an X-ray series and discovered Scoliosis of my lumbar spine with the curve to the left. I also have sciatic nerve involvement down my left leg and pain in the leg as well. It is also a lot weaker than the right and does not have the endurance the right one has. My hamstring muscle in the back of my left leg is so tight I can only raise the left leg about 45 degrees off the floor from a seated position.
    I have had on and off lower back pain since my first injury and now the pain is mostly constant. The pain is on my lower left below the waist and seems to go through to the front in my hip area. It is a burning type pain.
    I have been doing physiotherapy for 2 months now 5 times a week and walking as well. Although I know I am a lot stronger with the physio it does not seem to alleviate any of this pain.
    Is this what I have to look forward to??
    Is there anyone out there who have had back injuries and pain with the scoliosis as a result that have any tips to help make things a bit more manageable?
    I would really appreciate hearing any of your wisdom.
    Thank you in advance.

  • #2
    pain in low back

    Hi there...

    I'm so sorry to hear about your injury and subsequent pain. I don't know if I can help you out, but your pain certainly seems similar in many ways to what I have experienced this past year after injuring my back lifting a box. I had severe low back pain which was pretty constant, which began after a while to radiate down the leg, and which sometimes seemed to spread throughout my hip. My injury was diagnosed as a disc injury (and although I didn't really trust the doctors, I did trust the opinion of a physical therapist who was fabulous).

    I also have had scoliosis since I was a teenager, but many doctors and physios have told me that they don't think the two are necessarily related. I've read a lot about back pain, and it seems that it's extremely difficult in most cases to pin down a cause with any certainty.

    In my case what they could see on an MRI would not warrant surgical intervention. I went to a spine clinic and they tried out epidural injections of steroids, which apprently work in many cases of disc injury (unfortunately not in mine). I was pretty much in despair with the constant pain each day.

    BUT then my doctor suggested trying out a very low dose of anti-depressants, which have the side-effect of relieving pain caused by nerves. She seemed to think that because the level of pain was out of synch with what could be seen on the MRI, that perhaps my nervous system had gone crazy and was firing off unnecessarily. After about a week or two of these pills, my pain was about 50% of what it had been since the injury. I can now function pretty well on a regular basis, and am adding in physical therapy exercises I couldn't do before.

    Sorry for writing such a long message, but I wanted to describe my situation so you can pick out anything that may be of use to you. I can't tell you how much the low-dose anti-depressants have provided relief from the pain. It might be something you could discuss with your physician.

    Good luck with everything, and try and remember that there are many things to try. Best wishes!
    30y/o
    Upper curve around 55
    Lower curve around 35

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