What to do about bad disk in your lower back?

Question

My husband has really bad lower back pain and all the doctor does is give him pain killers. There has to be something eles besides going under the knife he is to young for that only 30years old.

Answer 1

Yes. I had 4 compressed disks for 30 years. I got cortizone injections in my disks. They don't work for everyone and I have to have the procedure re-done about every 10 years, but it's painless and is done in the doctor's office. It was a miracle for me. I'm pain free again. I had the injections at 9 am and was on my way to work by 10 am.

Answer 2

I have had two lots of spinal surgery, 11 years ago at three levels L3/4, L4/5, L5/S1 and agin two years ago on L4/5, and Im only 31. I would suggest finding the cause of the problem first, either with a CT or MRI scan. If a disc protrusion is present there are many measures you can try before surgery, and most neurosurgeons will not operate on more than 10% of cases they see with disc protrusions.
I did try a chiropractor prior to the first surgery, but what people who recommend this fail to realise is that if there is a serious underlying problem that the chiro is not aware of they can actually make you significantly worse and in rare cases seriously damage the nerves (I am sure you must have heard of people having strokes whilst at the chiro or shortly after leaving, I know of two such cases).
I would seriously try physiotherapy, where by they can give relief, but also teach exercises to strengthen the core muscles around the spine, perhaps together with anti-inflammatory medication. If this delivers no relief you can try an 'epidural' whereby an injection is given into the dural hopefully with the effect of shrinking the protrusion back to relieve the impedment on the nerve.
I have also tried prolotherapy, which is now producing some exceptional results for me, I have gone from taking morphine daily to about once a week. You can read about it on www.prolotherapy.com.
As a last resort, surgery is it. I had a fantastic result and am back to snow skiing after 12 months (silly yes, but I love it) and still work in a high pressure professional career.
As others have said, find out exactly what the cause of the problem is first, and plan a strategy from there in conjunction with your doctor, or see another doctor if the current one is relying only on pain killers and offering no ther solutions.
It can be a hard thing to go through and some days will be better than others, but work through it and it will get better...
Good luck with your husband, I hope it gets better for him, and if you would like to know any more feel free to ask.
Keep smiling... :)

Answer 3

See a chiropractor and massage therapist.

Much pain is from muscles below is an example of what may help (based on headaches).
Begin with a couple swigs of molasses or a couple of bananas daily - magnesium (which regulates many things in the body) and potassium (a needed building block for muscles).
Drink at least 1/2 gallons of water per day. Running a body low on water is like running a car low on oil is the analogy the head of neurology at UCDavis told my husband about 10 years ago.

Now to the cause - muscles - your back, neck shoulders and head have tender spots. They are knots in the fibers of the muscles called trigger points. It makes the muscles tight which makes them press on nerves and other things causing the pain.

The cure - start with a professional massage, you will also want to go back over any place you can get to 6-12 times per session up to 6 times per day rubbing (or lightly scratching on your head) every where that is tender until the knots go away. The place where the skull connects to the spine press up under the edge of the skull (to get to those muscles).

For more information read The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Davies. It teaches what to do and where the pain comes from.

Answer 4

Depends on how bad the disc protrusion is. If it's very bad and he's in a lot of pain, I'd consider the surgery now. However, in general, I'd keep surgery a last resort. There can be complications as well as continued (or new) pain with surgery. There is some evidence that disc protrusions will heal to some degree on their own. Epidural steroid injections may be useful to limit the pain for some time. If this doesn't work, microsurgery or minimally invasive surgery would be my next consideration.

Answer 5

As a healthcare provider I agree with Mike the medical student. However, I was wondering if your husband was diagnosed with herniated disc by MRI, or if we are concluding that he was since you mentioned surgery.... Low back pain can be caused by a multitude of different causes. So, to make recommendations I would prefer to know what the cause of his back pain was determined to be. As Mike states, surgery for herniated disc should be the last resort. I've seen them resove on thier own. I also agree that there is some low back pain that has been controlled well with localized injections by pain management practices. And chiropractic services are effective for other causes of low back pain. However, we need to know the diagnosis to give you better advice.

Answer 6

I hurt my lower back a while ago to the point I could barely move. Doing stretching exercises and walking (once I could) helped. I walk every day now. When I go a while without walking my back starts to play up again. Walking tugs on the muscles either side of the lower spine. A good doctor should suggest specific stretching and excercises.

Answer 7

Surgery is not always the answer. No neurosurgeon or orthopedist will tell you this but spinal surgeries are less than 30% effective. Has your husband tried more conservative treatments? Has he been referred to a physical therapist? There are of course when surgery is required such as if the spinal cord is being pushed on that it is causing problems with muscle control or bowel/bladder function, tumor, etc.

There have been many studies showing that outcomes of non-surgical treatment are way better than those that have had surgery in the long-term.

Please feel free to ask any additional questions.

Answer 8

if you don't have surgery you will be going to chriopacters for the rest of your life to get your back adjusted. your better off to have the surgery as the longer you put it off the nerves get affected in your back and it start working on several parts of your body. I've been dealing with back pain for several years and there are days I don't want to do anything. your quality of life gets ruined if you don't go for surgery as things just get worse the longer you delay.

Answer 9

I have three bulging lower back disks L3 L4 L5 as well as arthritis. My doctor will not give me pain killers. I won't have surgery and I still do Taebo five times a week. Tell him to suck it up like everyone else does.

Answer 10

Have him see a chiropractor. But please if it's really that bad make him have the surgery. My mom went on for 8 years with bad disks and finally had surgery, she is so much better now.