Discussion
I had/have this problem also, been 5 years now and I tried everything apart from surgery. Chiro, physio, acupuncture etc etc.
Nothing really helped and the chiro made it worse.
Until!
I met a guy who does McTimoney, its a low impact form of realining the spine. Its pretty odd at first, its like he is just brushing your back but the effects were instant.
http://www.mctimoney-chiropractic.org/
Worth a punt I reckon.
Nothing really helped and the chiro made it worse.
Until!
I met a guy who does McTimoney, its a low impact form of realining the spine. Its pretty odd at first, its like he is just brushing your back but the effects were instant.
http://www.mctimoney-chiropractic.org/
Worth a punt I reckon.
McTimoney website said:
McTimoney chiropractors have a very finely tuned sense of touch, developed in their four years of training, which enables them to feel for misalignments of the vertebrae and bones. Upon feeling a problem, your chiropractor will use one of a number of light, swift and dexterous techniques, unique to McTimoney chiropractic, to adjust the bone.
ho ho"Adjust the bone"
The_Doc said:
without paying a bloke to stroke you.
but, it's your money and you might as well try things, just keep your feet on the ground so to speak...
ETA: changed the picture as i have crashed the other guy's server (oops)
Edited by The_Doc on Monday 4th August 22:24
The_Doc said:
ho ho
"Adjust the bone"
"Adjust the bone"
If you haven't come across Quackwatch before, I suspect you might like it.Doc,
You can see why people go to all these clinics, if folks are having to wait years and years on NHS lists, 6 months wait for physiotherapy.
I guess for most people a rub down by a clinic is all they require, whether it works or just has the placebo effect, I would assume matters not; as long as the pain goes away or becomes infrequent to be of no significant consequence.
For me it would be a non starter, in so far as I've had a microdiscectomy around 2000, which as you know involves removing ligament/bone.
I for one would not like to have manipulization of my lower spinal joints that are now not the norm.
I would imagine my case is extreme and some how I keep falling into some NHS/PCT black hole.
I really would like to change my consultant, I've lost all faith in him, similar concerns have been raised by other patients.
Doc, does the NHS have a serious shortage of spinal surgeons?
You can see why people go to all these clinics, if folks are having to wait years and years on NHS lists, 6 months wait for physiotherapy.
I guess for most people a rub down by a clinic is all they require, whether it works or just has the placebo effect, I would assume matters not; as long as the pain goes away or becomes infrequent to be of no significant consequence.
For me it would be a non starter, in so far as I've had a microdiscectomy around 2000, which as you know involves removing ligament/bone.
I for one would not like to have manipulization of my lower spinal joints that are now not the norm.
I would imagine my case is extreme and some how I keep falling into some NHS/PCT black hole.
I really would like to change my consultant, I've lost all faith in him, similar concerns have been raised by other patients.
Doc, does the NHS have a serious shortage of spinal surgeons?
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, it's amazing what you find in the PH archives 
I've had sciatica on and off since I was 18, when I put my back out lifting crates in the beer cellar at the pub I was working in. Never too bad, and always disappeared within a few days with rest and exercise.
Almost a year ago, I slipped on the stairs at home, and landed hard on my arse. I had several days of typical muscular back pain as a result, but once that wore off I was left with really bad (IME) sciatic pain. As well as the sharp pain on movement which I knew and recognised from previous episodes, I've also had the constant, nagging, neural ache down the back of my leg, accomapnied by pins and needles in my foot.
After eating painkillers and putting up with it for a couple of months I went to see the GP, who referred me to a physio. 4 months after the referral I finally got an appointment, and to say I was underwhelmed is an understatement! After a very, very brief initial assessment, I was given half a dozen exercises to do and ushered out. When I went back a week later, she asked me how I'd got on. I replied, completely truthfully, that it hurt too much to do all but 2 of the exercises, and the pain was absolutely no better. Her response was to send me away to do them for another week... By my watch that consultation lasted less than 5 minutes
So, filled with confidence
I decided not to bother with her again, and spoke to the physio at work. He gave me what I felt was a much better assessment, but effectively sent me away with the same exercises, which I still couldn't do because it hurt too much.
Last week, for reasons unknown, the pain woke me up during the night, and even after painkillers kept me awake until morning. It's difficult to describe how soul destroying it is to have the constant pain. It's not even desperately severe, it's just always, always there. So every single night last week, I woke up between 3 and 4 am, unable to get back to sleep.
And then I fell in love with my new Osteopath
who, in the space of an hour, identified and explained the problem with my back, and with some pretty impressive manipulation popped and cracked my sacrum and coccyx back into position. After a day of initial soreness, the pain is noticeably better. It's not gone completely, and she doesn't expect it to quickly because the muscles and joints have been misaligned for so long, but now my lower back is straight, everything else should fall into line naturally.
I know osteoptathy and chiropractic aren't always approved of by doctors, and I fully understand why, but in my case, it's worked a treat and I'll keep going back as long as my back keeps improving. Well worth the £30 an hour
I've had sciatica on and off since I was 18, when I put my back out lifting crates in the beer cellar at the pub I was working in. Never too bad, and always disappeared within a few days with rest and exercise.
Almost a year ago, I slipped on the stairs at home, and landed hard on my arse. I had several days of typical muscular back pain as a result, but once that wore off I was left with really bad (IME) sciatic pain. As well as the sharp pain on movement which I knew and recognised from previous episodes, I've also had the constant, nagging, neural ache down the back of my leg, accomapnied by pins and needles in my foot.
After eating painkillers and putting up with it for a couple of months I went to see the GP, who referred me to a physio. 4 months after the referral I finally got an appointment, and to say I was underwhelmed is an understatement! After a very, very brief initial assessment, I was given half a dozen exercises to do and ushered out. When I went back a week later, she asked me how I'd got on. I replied, completely truthfully, that it hurt too much to do all but 2 of the exercises, and the pain was absolutely no better. Her response was to send me away to do them for another week... By my watch that consultation lasted less than 5 minutes
So, filled with confidence
I decided not to bother with her again, and spoke to the physio at work. He gave me what I felt was a much better assessment, but effectively sent me away with the same exercises, which I still couldn't do because it hurt too much.Last week, for reasons unknown, the pain woke me up during the night, and even after painkillers kept me awake until morning. It's difficult to describe how soul destroying it is to have the constant pain. It's not even desperately severe, it's just always, always there. So every single night last week, I woke up between 3 and 4 am, unable to get back to sleep.
And then I fell in love with my new Osteopath
who, in the space of an hour, identified and explained the problem with my back, and with some pretty impressive manipulation popped and cracked my sacrum and coccyx back into position. After a day of initial soreness, the pain is noticeably better. It's not gone completely, and she doesn't expect it to quickly because the muscles and joints have been misaligned for so long, but now my lower back is straight, everything else should fall into line naturally.I know osteoptathy and chiropractic aren't always approved of by doctors, and I fully understand why, but in my case, it's worked a treat and I'll keep going back as long as my back keeps improving. Well worth the £30 an hour
Edited by parapaul on Friday 19th December 06:37
parapaul said:
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, it's amazing what you find in the PH archives
And then I fell in love with my new Osteopath who, in the space of an hour, identified and explained the problem with my back, and with some pretty impressive manipulation popped and cracked my sacrum and coccyx back into position. After a day of initial soreness, the pain is noticeably better. It's not gone completely, and she doesn't expect it to quickly because the muscles and joints have been misaligned for so long, but now my lower back is straight, everything else should fall into line naturally.
I know osteoptathy and chiropractic aren't always approved of by doctors, and I fully understand why, but in my case, it's worked a treat and I'll keep going back as long as my back keeps improving. Well worth the £30 an hour
Please see the highlighted areas above that the osteopath has told you as an explanation.And then I fell in love with my new Osteopath who, in the space of an hour, identified and explained the problem with my back, and with some pretty impressive manipulation popped and cracked my sacrum and coccyx back into position. After a day of initial soreness, the pain is noticeably better. It's not gone completely, and she doesn't expect it to quickly because the muscles and joints have been misaligned for so long, but now my lower back is straight, everything else should fall into line naturally.
I know osteoptathy and chiropractic aren't always approved of by doctors, and I fully understand why, but in my case, it's worked a treat and I'll keep going back as long as my back keeps improving. Well worth the £30 an hour
What the medical profession, ie the doctors with medical degrees
, hates so much about these pseudoscientists is not that they make people better, which is good for everyone; but more the utter piles of steaming lies they tell you.You cannot 'pop' or 'crack' a sacrum, coccyx, intervertebral disc, spondylolithetic vertebral section etc 'back into position.'
To move these anatomical segments in or out of position either requires a long time with a deforming force applied, or a combination of scalpel and power tools (my domain)
Pay the man your money if he helps you, and smile to yourself when his lips move and the dirty, dirty lies come out.
Please remember though, the natural history of most back pain is for spontaneous resolution with no such treatment, you handing him money to beat you up may just be road decoration on the way...
All I can add is after the pain-relief and countless manipulations by endless physio etc... ad nauseam over a period of four years. Often bad enough to have me off work for a week at a time.
My old GP (old school 40-a-day man) just huffed and said "right, try some yoga, get a beginner's DVD and try it out gently, next stop after that is a referral for surgery I'm afraid" whilst writing out another co-dydramol prescription.
My god, after three weeks of about 2 x 20 min sessions it started to ease up. I kept it up and it's been about 6 years now, not a pang, twinge. It only gets sore after excessive DIY and gardening for more than a few hours.
Sounds a bit girly but I found it worked and I got to a point where I'd have taken up bathing in cold piss to cure it.
My old GP (old school 40-a-day man) just huffed and said "right, try some yoga, get a beginner's DVD and try it out gently, next stop after that is a referral for surgery I'm afraid" whilst writing out another co-dydramol prescription.
My god, after three weeks of about 2 x 20 min sessions it started to ease up. I kept it up and it's been about 6 years now, not a pang, twinge. It only gets sore after excessive DIY and gardening for more than a few hours.
Sounds a bit girly but I found it worked and I got to a point where I'd have taken up bathing in cold piss to cure it.
I had sciatica on my left leg for a number of years (>5) after an incident when I put my back out. I managed this through a chiropractor, In September I put my back out badly, I didnt bother with a chiropractor, took a week off work and saw the doctor (Prolapsed disc) rest didnt work so started physio then all of a sudden it got worse (I could only lie and sleep on my front, could not sit properly! So many pain killers, anti inflammatory etc) In the end I saw a Neurosurgeon and had an MRI, best action was a Micro discectomy to trim the damaged part of the disc away.
No more sciatica now and recovering well after 4 weeks, did a couple of days back at work.
In my opinion I will never see a Chiropractor again, my problem was masked for many years. I had regular pain and regular emptying of the wallet. Sticking with my "core" exercises and eventually [whispers] pilates to keep flexible.
I was quite lucky as I was covered under my health insurance so I could see who I wanted to when I wanted to.
No more sciatica now and recovering well after 4 weeks, did a couple of days back at work.
In my opinion I will never see a Chiropractor again, my problem was masked for many years. I had regular pain and regular emptying of the wallet. Sticking with my "core" exercises and eventually [whispers] pilates to keep flexible.
I was quite lucky as I was covered under my health insurance so I could see who I wanted to when I wanted to.
I am also resurrecting
Read through most replies, and learnt a bit- just have a few more queries so I am hoping the experts are still reading
Had bad back pain since Tuesday night, Went to the docs and got painkillers, went to Osteopath and had a short session- got couple of exercises to do.
They both think it's acute muscle strain- osteopath says it's very deep and around disc area lower back.
Anyway, there has been no change and it is just as painful, went back to the docs and am now on stronger pills, they take the edge off but it is still quite painful.
I can't sleep for more than a couple of hours, getting up from laying down is a 20 minute job, getting up from sitting down is getting a faster operation, went for a gentle walk today and I am moving around every few hours at least to keep mobile. I am working as it helps and I don't really want to be stuck at home.
Any other advice I can do to help myself?
The worst thing is the sleeping problem, we have two beds, a sofa and a bean bag, the beanbag is the most comfy so far- so may try staying on that tonight
If I could sleep whilst sat, I would, I feel like I am going back to square one every time I come up from lying down as it just tenses me up again
Read through most replies, and learnt a bit- just have a few more queries so I am hoping the experts are still reading
Had bad back pain since Tuesday night, Went to the docs and got painkillers, went to Osteopath and had a short session- got couple of exercises to do.
They both think it's acute muscle strain- osteopath says it's very deep and around disc area lower back.
Anyway, there has been no change and it is just as painful, went back to the docs and am now on stronger pills, they take the edge off but it is still quite painful.
I can't sleep for more than a couple of hours, getting up from laying down is a 20 minute job, getting up from sitting down is getting a faster operation, went for a gentle walk today and I am moving around every few hours at least to keep mobile. I am working as it helps and I don't really want to be stuck at home.
Any other advice I can do to help myself?
The worst thing is the sleeping problem, we have two beds, a sofa and a bean bag, the beanbag is the most comfy so far- so may try staying on that tonight
If I could sleep whilst sat, I would, I feel like I am going back to square one every time I come up from lying down as it just tenses me up again
I don't know if this will be of any help to anyone but I've had a bad back for about 10 years and it got worse over the past 12 months. I've tried osteopaths and pillates. The later more successfully than the former. But nothing has worked spectacularly.
Anyway, I read something about how our modern diets cause all sorts of inflammatory diseases such as heart disease, asthma and arthritis. It's something to do with the types of fats in the food. So for the past month I've been eating fish every day and cutting out the junk food. Feel free to flame me but I feel a hell of a lot better and I'm almost pain free for the first time in years.
Anyway, I read something about how our modern diets cause all sorts of inflammatory diseases such as heart disease, asthma and arthritis. It's something to do with the types of fats in the food. So for the past month I've been eating fish every day and cutting out the junk food. Feel free to flame me but I feel a hell of a lot better and I'm almost pain free for the first time in years.
Be careful on that beanbag, your back will not be straight, yes it may feel comfortable but wait until you get up from it....
I have had the same as many others here, put my back out at about 19 and have done so about 5 times since then (28 now).
I,m in the building trade and have never done it through heavy lifting just awkward lifting.
I have seen chiropractors, physio on nhs and private, had acupuncture and tbh the best was the nhs physio, all the rest just seemed to make me keep coming back, the nhs i guess just wanted to fix me and move me on (was several years ago now though).
I have done my back again this week, not put it out but the sciatica is back, my legs and ankles hurt and the bottom of my back is getting the sharp pains going into my bum and thighs.
My advice is to do try to move about a bit, try not to let your back bend while sitting, it doesnt help at all, i may sleep on the floor tonight.
The best excercise for me from the nhs physio was to lie on my back and bend my knees backpulling them into my chest, it almost automatically relieves pain.
Back pain is bloody horrible though, at one stage when i put my back out real bad i could barely walk or move, with any movement almost bringing me to tears. That went on for over a month and i got very depressed thinking i was disabled.
They say that breaking our collar bone is the worst bone to break, after breaking mine i would say full blown sciatica is worse!
I have had the same as many others here, put my back out at about 19 and have done so about 5 times since then (28 now).
I,m in the building trade and have never done it through heavy lifting just awkward lifting.
I have seen chiropractors, physio on nhs and private, had acupuncture and tbh the best was the nhs physio, all the rest just seemed to make me keep coming back, the nhs i guess just wanted to fix me and move me on (was several years ago now though).
I have done my back again this week, not put it out but the sciatica is back, my legs and ankles hurt and the bottom of my back is getting the sharp pains going into my bum and thighs.
My advice is to do try to move about a bit, try not to let your back bend while sitting, it doesnt help at all, i may sleep on the floor tonight.
The best excercise for me from the nhs physio was to lie on my back and bend my knees backpulling them into my chest, it almost automatically relieves pain.
Back pain is bloody horrible though, at one stage when i put my back out real bad i could barely walk or move, with any movement almost bringing me to tears. That went on for over a month and i got very depressed thinking i was disabled.
They say that breaking our collar bone is the worst bone to break, after breaking mine i would say full blown sciatica is worse!
m3jappa said:
Be careful on that beanbag, your back will not be straight, yes it may feel comfortable but wait until you get up from it....
It's the easiest thing to get out of at the moment, they are all comfy to sleep in. Worst one to get out of was memory foam matress- they are supposed to be good for backs tonyvid said:
JVaughan said:
co-dydramol prescription only is my friend too.....
Do you find that any good? I used to be on Coproxamol, but they stopped prescribing that as it is too easy to top yourself with, and now Co-dyd but it really doesn't seem to have much effect apart from making me a bit dozy.And I'm on a mission here, please PH'ers, DO NOT BUY Nurofen or any of its evil offspring.
Nurofen Express: contain a standard dose of Ibuprofen which has an additive to dissolve faster.
Nurofen Plus: contain a standard dose of Ibuprofen + a small dose of Codeine Phosphate.
Nurofen colds and flu: contain a standard dose of Ibuprofen and a decongestant.
Nurofen recovery: contain a standard dose of Ibuprofen which melts in your mouth.
So, basically, they do the same job as bog standard Ibuprofen which you buy in a boringly plain own-brand pack from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury et al. Add a standard dose of anybrand Paracetamol and the combo is as good as the above.
All the extra you pay for Nurofen makes millions for the conmen of Reckitt-Benckiser and pays for flash advertising and packaging.
Rant over
LMC said:
And I'm on a mission here, please PH'ers, DO NOT BUY Nurofen or any of its evil offspring.
Nurofen Plus: contain a standard dose of Ibuprofen + a small dose of Codeine Phosphate.
So, basically, they do the same job as bog standard Ibuprofen which you buy in a boringly plain own-brand pack from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury et al. Add a standard dose of anybrand Paracetamol and the combo is as good as the above.
All the extra you pay for Nurofen makes millions for the conmen of Reckitt-Benckiser and pays for flash advertising and packaging.
Rant over
So in your opinion Brufen = Brufen + paracetamol = Brufen + Codeine Phosphate?Nurofen Plus: contain a standard dose of Ibuprofen + a small dose of Codeine Phosphate.
So, basically, they do the same job as bog standard Ibuprofen which you buy in a boringly plain own-brand pack from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury et al. Add a standard dose of anybrand Paracetamol and the combo is as good as the above.
All the extra you pay for Nurofen makes millions for the conmen of Reckitt-Benckiser and pays for flash advertising and packaging.
Rant over
While non prescription forms may well have less of the secondary ingredient than do prescription forms, you are talking out of your rear end.
Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Monday 6th April 00:55
Alternate Ibuprofen with Paracetamol rather than taking both together. They are different families of chemicals (Ibuprofen is related to aspirin though) so won't add to the "load" of each other in your system. Paracetamol is supposedly an anti-inflammatory, but it seems to do naff all for me though. For me, it seems better to take 200mg at one time, and space them out more, rather than 100mg at shorter intervals.
I find heat can help much more than painkiller tablets though. Use a hot water bottle in a cover (or wrapped in a towel) applied to the area concerned. Be careful not to have it too hot though. If curling up on a bean bag works, I would say go with it.
(Usual disclaimer that I am not a medically qualified person in any way)
I find heat can help much more than painkiller tablets though. Use a hot water bottle in a cover (or wrapped in a towel) applied to the area concerned. Be careful not to have it too hot though. If curling up on a bean bag works, I would say go with it.
(Usual disclaimer that I am not a medically qualified person in any way)
I curled up on said beanbag ready for my 40 winks, worried about what was said about back not being straight and transferred to he sofa- fairly hard. Woke up - getting up was agony again, so think I will be giving the beanbag a go tonight after all. Anything for a good nights sleep, please
Edited by missdiane on Monday 6th April 05:48
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