I'm having pretty severe pain in my lower back, on the left side of my spine, and then down my leg. All signs point to a herniated disc. I'm not sure if I should just call my PCP or a chiropractor or an orthopedic doctor or what. I'm pretty sure whoever I do see will just give me an MRI and hopefully just physical therapy or something, but I want to make sure I go to the right kind of doctor.
2007-02-13 01:10:26 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Injuries
As a note, I do not need a referral to someone other than my PCP under my insurance.
2007-02-13 01:33:59 · update #1
sports medicine Dotor.
He/She will get to the bottom of back injury better than any other.
2007-02-13 01:14:05 · answer #1 · answered by iroc 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
First - I'm not a doctor, blah blah blah, I'm not diagnosing you, you can't hold me responsible.
Second - My wife ran into this problem last week. The best doctor we found to treat her was an Orthopedic doctor. She was a back specialist.
My wife did have previous MRI's, and that probably made the diagnosis easier for the doc. The diagnosis for my wife was a bulging disc. The disc, the doctor said, was/is pressing on a nerve and causing the sensation down her leg.
The prescription was 2-fold.
One thing was a short-term course of Prednisone. It's a steroid that acts as an anti-inflammatory. It knocked my wife's pain out quickly. There are certain health concerns using Prednisone, but what I found was the general consensus is that it's perfectly fine to take for a week or two. The vast majority of concerns I found were folks that had been taking it for over a year.
The second thing was physical therapy. The doc was convinced that if my wife did that and strengthened her core muscles it would be enough to keep that disc inline and off the nerve.
Hope this helps, and I hope you feel better, my wife is for now.
2007-02-13 01:18:02 · answer #2 · answered by Steve S 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Your regular doctor can diagnose with the assistance of a CT scan, you usually dont need an MRI for that sort of thing IF it is a herniated disc. The pain could also be caused by arthritis, disc compression, narrowing of the facet joints in your spine... a number of things. The pain you are experiencing is called sciatica caused by compression of the sciatic nerve that comes out of your lumbar spine and services your leg. If it is a herniated disc you will be referred to a Neurosurgeon. Orthopaedic doctors dont deal with spinal problems much anymore unless it is completely bone related and no nerves are involved. Herniated discs usually need surgery to remove them. Best to get properly diagnosed by your PCP first as it is probably something more minor. Also if it is a herniated disc a chiropractor will probably do more harm than good if it hasnt been properly diagnosed first because manipulation can be detrimental. Hope that helps
2007-02-13 02:00:18 · answer #3 · answered by alikong 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It depends on the training of you PCP...some of the more savy ones are intuned to how to differentiate it. Some will send you to the specialist anyway...so if you don't need a referral, I would start there. Although your PCP is a good person to make sure your pain isn't being caused by a medical cause. Most likely, you will be referred to PT..with or without having an MRI first. If you are referred, I recommend you see a therapist with MDT experience (commonly known as the McKenzie Method). This is a method of assessment and treatment that is found to be highly specific to detecting the presense of disc derrangement (bulging or herniated disc). The ability of a PT with MDT experience to detect it reaches close to that of an MRI. So even if you don't have the MRI, a PT with this type of experience will give you a pretty good idea of what is going on...and then point you in the right direction for treatment.
2007-02-13 02:06:11 · answer #4 · answered by mistify 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Having treated lots of patients with herniated disc I would say your best bet is to see a chiropractor first. Research has shown that after a 4-6 week trial of Conservative care you should be feeling somewhat better. If at that point you aren't you should move to the next step in the process, that usually means seeing an orthopedist. Couple words of caution: See a chiropractor that will get you doing lumbar stabilization exercises. If they don't, see someone else. Also most recent research shows that people with herniated discs that have surgery are in no better place 1-4 years down the road than those that didn't. Surgery is not the only option. If chiropractic/physical therapy doesn't work, try spinal decompression. Google it and look for someone in your area offering the service (usually chiropractors or DO. Try to see the DO first as your insurance may cover it if billed out of his/her office. Usually chiropractic offices cannot bill insurance for that procedure and you will have to pay out of pocket anywhere from $1700-$4000 depending on what they want to charge). Good luck and I hope this helps.
2007-02-13 02:07:18 · answer #5 · answered by backdoc 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Details that would be good to know: how long has this been going on? Was there an incident that set it off, and if so what was it?
Very often, low back pain (including pain that radiates to the leg) will go away on its own in a short period of time. That is one of the reason your PCP can give you drugs and say "come back in 2 weeks if it's not better". They know the meds will get you by, and with luck the pain will go away.
HOWEVER, this self-resolving pain is often recurrent. Whatever happens with this problem, and however you treat it, you don't want it coming back again every few months or so!
For that reason, consult with physical therapy. Your PT can help you to strengthen your spine and use correct movement patterns to avoid the chance of additional episodes. They will also help you to decrease your current pain.
Good luck!
2007-02-16 18:06:53 · answer #6 · answered by Jason W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Orthopedic is good but we are talking about your spine. Several nerves run thorough the spine and the best person to go to in my opinion after your PCP is a Neurologist. They specialize in the nervous system. PCP should be first to examine though to take X-Rays and possibly an MRI. If the conservative treatments through a PCP offer no relief then I suggest the neurologist next who may try other alternatives other than surgery. Surgery is most always the last step.
NREMT-P, CPC
2007-02-13 03:12:14 · answer #7 · answered by EMS_5 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I were you I'd see your regular physician first. You usually have to have a referral for specialists anyway. Pain management clinics are a big help too. They will probably recommend physical therapy and mediation, but will move onto more aggressive treatment if you dont get any relief.
Hope you feel better soon!
2007-02-13 01:18:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have the same problem, and my PCP handles all of my pain management very effectively. You only need to go to an Orthopedist if your doctors says you need to see one, other than that your doctor should be fully equipped to deal with your back injury. And if you are having a lot of pain I would reccomend having your doctor reccomend you to a good Pain Management doc in your area. Hope I could be of help!
2007-02-13 18:01:53 · answer #9 · answered by Kitsters Mufasa 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't self-diagnose. Your worries or fears can cause stress, which can worsen the pain.
I recommend going to a chiropractor, first. You can get an appointment right away. If the doctor feels he can treat you, you will begin to get some relief right away.
Medical doctors will start out with drugs and hot packs. Then they will reassess in a few weeks.
I had back problems. The medical doctors made it worse. Chiropractors made it better...eventually.
2007-02-13 01:17:18 · answer #10 · answered by regerugged 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
1
2017-02-25 11:24:37 · answer #11 · answered by Rosa 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋