Back problem, nerve endings

Physio says I somehow jarred my back and a couple of vertebrae and dinged the nerve endings. Hence the pain expressing itself in the hip - deferred pain. She found the bits where the damage was done and like physios do, she gave them a good working over.

But I've been on the bench for two months now. I try a gentle jog and straightaway the pain returns.

Much as I respect physios, I'm not inclined to keep spending £45 a pop if after two months there is no advance.

So I'm wondering if anyone has had anything like this. If so, how did it resolve itself? The options I'm considering at present are knocking off the running till the end of the year and/or seeing the GP.

Comments

  • Muttley I had Physio today and have been having a hip niggle, she advised a few things to do to help release the back and glutes..



    I know it's not quite related but They MAY help you so worth a try?



    - lie on your back knees towards chest but feet on floor..with a tennis ball just below the bony part of where the bum meets the back on each squishy part. Two balls needed ..



    Roll gently to one side, you may feel tension - I did! Hold for what is comfortable, it could be 1-2 seconds or 10.. Move the ball until you find a sore spot. Do it both ways left and right and a few reps - should release the tension. Afterwards the sensation was like being flattened out and the small of my back seemingly wanted to be flatter.



    - she massaged around my belly area towards the groin and shoulder blades / armpits and at same time stretched my arms back. This also helped release tension in shoulder blades and lower back area.. What Ive been told to do at home is use a deodorant roller (empty) and apply pressure in the arm pit region and "wing" area under the arm and gently raise the arm back. Keeping it square at 90d raise the hand like you are testifying and pushing the elbow back past the ear after that intial movement



    Hope that makes sense and maybe that'll release some tension in the back + hip image
    Pain is weakness leaving the body
  • I used to have lower back pain. Most of my life. Running and walking were sometimes difficult. Sometimes it felt higher up, like a pinched nerve or a slipped disc. Sometimes around the hips and down to give me a dead knee. Imagine the insomnia. Anyway, i stopped eating grains. And I am completely cured. Back pain cannot be cured if the same thing constantly causes it. So medicine, massage or acupuncture may only give temporary relief. Inflammation is very sly. You may think you have a pinched nerve or a tweaked dis. So I went the preventative way and stopped eat inflammatory foods like grains and dairy. I am fat adapted now and run ultra mountain marathons. My life has changed radically since I have go over my back problems. I know we are all different, but look into diet, if it is a persistent problem.... Good luck.

    PS: I am also a minimalist runner now. A forefoot strike give me good technique and I have less leg fatigue and injuries etc...

     

  • Hi Muttley - I was getting very tight right glutes and hip flexor with pain down the thigh and, ahem, right "lad" pain. Thought I had just strained something to start with but found a tender area on my lower spine. I used a foam roller to massage out the back and all but the obvious (!) painful areas and after a few days it was much better and all gone after a couple of weeks. Obviously this may not work for you but a foam roller if you haven't got one already is a really useful bit of kit.

  • Hi Muttlley,

    Unless you had a major accident like a car crash it's unlikely that running is the root cause of this injury. It might have triggered it but it wasn't the root cause as your body is designed to run pain free.

    Your back and your body has a certain design, which is held together by muscles. Muscles need a certain amount of work to stay healthy and nowadays we just don't get enough of it as we spend most of the day sitting or doing repetitive activities. This causes some muscles to underwork and others to overwork. Your muscles go out of balance and they can't position and stabilise you properly.

    Then you could go for a run, or bend over and pick up a pencil or even wake up and your back hurts.

    I had lower and upper back pain for years when I was younger. I tried rest and loads of body work (massage, physio etc) which helped a little but what got me permanently pain free was doing exercises which rebalanced by body and got everything working properly.

    These 4 exercises will help you do that and I still do them to this day:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdlKZ6h3zF0

    Good luck

    Ameet

     

  • Muttley

    it depends upon the level of pain - are you, on a scale of 1-10, at the lower end or upper?
    If after 2 months of conservative treatment the pain has not eased then go and see your GP. Normally after 6 weeks  of pain the GP will seek to sort out the cause of the pain and it could be a herniated disc or other degeneration of the spine.
    If the pain is severe then microdiscectomy surgery may be the answer.

    How do I know - I was stricken with sudden onset of extreme radicular pain down one leg (level 8+) and my physio, after seeing that her regime of exercise and manipulation was not improving it, referred me to my GP with a recommendation for a scan.
    The MRI scan confirmed that I had a herniated disc impinging on the nerve and this was causing inflammation of the sciatic nerve and the pain. I had probably had the herniated disc for many years as the calcification around it and the nerve had grown considerably and had decided now was the time to give me grief!!!
    I had surgery to free the nerve and form a groove through the calcification for it and the pain level was reduced post-op to 2-3 and several months of exercises and strengthening work on the back has restored it and my leg to near fully functioning order.

    Get it checked out...............................

  • Thanks chaps. Food for thought.

    The back and nerves are funny things. One day I'm getting grief in the hip, another it's down the back of the leg and feels like the hamstring.

    I've done a couple of short jog-walk sessions and it seems to be slightly fading. It's not up to level 8 and never has been, but it's a low-level warning pain. There's something going on but it's not mega serious. Yet.

    I think I'll have a go at manipulating the tender part of my back and try a couple more recovery jog-walks. If no improvement then off to the GP I go. He's a runner so he won't mind.

  • Muttley
    that moveable pain is certainly indicative of neural damage but which may be caused by nothing more than inflammation around one of the discs if it is not too high up the scale - and you don't want to get thereimage.
    the nerves exit via the spinal column and different points and where the pain is helps to pinpoint which discs are affected - leg is typically L2-L3 and it is the sciatic nerve that gets irritated.
    Are you taking any anti inflammatories? They may help along with some pain killers - paracetamol 500mg - and lay off running until the pain is very much reduced/gone!!

    My GP was also a runner so he treated me seriously and didn't just dismiss it as "back pain"

  • Hi TS

    I think the physioterrorist said something like L3 when she was beating me up. What you're saying sounds familiar but it seems like you had it much worse than me.

    I did a short run-walk on Sunday, Monday it gives me gyp down the back of the leg, Tuesday it is gone altogether even after another short run-walk.

    Not taking pills, I try not to if at all possible.

    Thankfully it seems to be clearing up. The physio did say to expect some grumbling from it when I resumed running but it felt like more than grumbling at the time. Maybe it just needed to be shaken out. But I'll stay vigilant and reserve the right to bother the GP.

  • Muttley

    been away for a couple of days on business.

    Sounds good news on the recovery front and I hope it stays that way!!!

    Yes mine was pretty bad from June last year until end January this year when I had the op, Continual pain at a very high level and impossible to find a comfortable position so I scarcely slept for more than an hour or so at a time. Believe me I would have swallowed anything towards the end - and I did image!!

    Just watch out for any reoccurrence of similar pain or low grade back pain and if it does flare up see your GP asap. There are other treatments other than surgery, which is very much a last resort, and the sooner they are started the better the chance of recovery.

    Good luck!!

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    The human body wasn't designed with anything but survival in mind. Running wasn't the reason of the design, its a by-product of that design.

     

    🙂

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