Facet Joints - Injected, Updated Update, Page 5

but that EMG about killed me.

 
My friend said the EMG was horrible for her too.  I think the worst for her was the MRI (or cat scan?...can't remember).  Lying flat on her back for that length of time in an uncomfortable position was excruciating.   She's had them since the surgery though and no problem.  On a positive note, she didn't have any problem with the steroid injections, but they also didn't help.  I think the Tramadol worked best for her as far as pain meds and they made her stop taking it 2 wks prior to surgery and I think that was her lowest point mentally.  I don't advocate jumping into surgery, I just think that it should be on the table as a consideration at some point.

Gina, you made me laugh so hard I almost peed my pants, LOL.  It's good to hear that your dad is doing well, especially since his was worse than mine is. You hit the nail on the head when you said this:  I can't imagine being 24 and sentenced to a lifetime of pain management with drugs and injections. That's my fear - that we'll put off "fixing it" too long and then it'll be really hard to fix once the injections, etc. wear off. I'm waiting to hear about a consult with a neurosurgeon, but the injection appointment will definitely happen before I get in with him.
 
Cathy, it's good to hear that she didn't have problems, per se, with the injections. That Tramadol made me so sick that I couldn't hold food down for 14 hours - that's why my family doc wants me to try the injections - to reduce the pain until I can get in with the surgeon.
 

 

I just think that it should be on the table as a consideration at some point.

 
totally Cathy!! all options sould be discussed with you Kelly and in order of what they suggest firs.!

I haven't had those, but did have the spinal block injections...scared me to death to do it.  I can't say it was painful, but the thought of it made me a nervous wreck.  Didn't help much, so I stopped doing it after 6 of them.  I should have fusion surgery, but am a wimp for that also. 

If you aren't pressed for money (insurance doesn't usually cover it), you could try the DRX9000.  It helps some people.  There is also a type of accupuncture that doesn't use needles but an electrical charge of some sort. 

ORIGINAL: marty_ga

There is also a type of accupuncture that doesn't use needles but an electrical charge of some sort. 

 
My father has diabeties.  and he keeps getting these tingly numb sensation in his arm.  He tried the needle form of acupuncture...but it didnt seem to help.
 
So my bros got him this "electrical charge" acupuncture thingie... it looks kinda cheap.. but cost over $300. They use leads and the elctrical current actually charges enough to make your tissue "jerk."
 
It's pretty crazy.
 
I dont know if it works or not, but people swear by it.

Kelly, I am going to agree with Bradley's recommendation of acupuncture.  I understand that you have a fear of needles, but acupunture needles are tiny & they are not painful.  I used acupuncture while my leg (fracture) was healing.  I am usually a very slow healer & this time my leg healed in 5 weeks!  (compared to the usual 8-10 weeks)  Now, I'm a believer!

My mom had a hurniated disk in her lower back I wanna say it was L6, I know it was near her tail bone.
 
Anyways she had to get the shots and she said they actually did not hurt at all. She was given some anesthetic, but she said she did not feel a thing, even after the injection. Good luck!

Ok I'm back.

My pain began in 1999 and it's actually manageable today.  I've had acupuncture, MRI's, injections, PT, chirpractice and a neurosurgeon consult.  The only thing that has helped is long term PT and chiropractice plus regular stretching exercises.  I also have a centrally bulging disc between L4 and L5.  The neurosurgeon keeps saying that central bulges do not cause problems.... um, ok.

So what I've decided in my decidedly non-medical opinion is that I have shortened front hip muscles that pull on my pelvis from the front.  This causes my lower back muscles to work extra hard to counteract those muscles pulling really hard.  This is why, for me, stretching my butt down and under feels so good after standing for long periods of time.  I try to get up 20 minutes early every day and do 20 minutes of exercises, situps, leg lifts, gluteous maximus exercises and then stretches that stretch every muscle in my butt, legs and front even.  If I skip these for even a week, my back spasms so bad it sends me to the floor. 

The pain I've been dealing with for the last 8 years probably started from a problem in my back, but because at the time, I didn't have medical insurance, I didn't get it treated quickly or effectively, it caused the muscles in the front to over compensate for the pain in the back.  This became a viscious cycle and now I have to work really hard to overcome that.

I sit for 8 hours a day at a computer, so the muscles in the front are shortened all day long, whereas the ones in the back are stretched tight.  At lunch and in my morning exercises, I do a stretch where I step forward with weight on the front leg, stretching the front of my pelvis with the back leg's heel being pushed to the floor.  This stretches those obnoxious muscles in the front.

I have come to this conclusion because the last chiropractor I went to did more muscle management instead of just cracking my back and neck.  He would do pressure point release to get those muscles to relax and stretch.  He also helped me discover how weak my butt muscles were and that the front muscles were probably doing all the work instead of the rear doing its fair share.

So my advice, is that you may indeed have a back problem now but that you should begin working on these same exercises so that your front muscles do not overcompensate all the time.  Find a doc that does both chiro and muscle release techniques (kinda like PT) to get him to help you work on it and the exercises.

My morning routine:
crunches (up to 50 now)
cross-side crunches (20 per side)
right leg lifts (40)
left inner thigh lifts (90)
left leg lifts (40)
right inner thigh lifts (90)
rear gluteous maximus leg lifts (9 and held for 5 seconds) (these are HARD)
pushups (girly 20)
cross leg, butt stretch (hold for 10 seconds)
neck/leg rotations (10)  (these also help keep the spine limber)
legs straight, bend forward
feet together, bend forward, push knees down
legs wide apart, bend forward, then to each side
head forward stretches (10)
head to each side stretches (5 each side)
head turned to each side (5 each side)
head down, rotate head (5 each direction)
lunge stretch on each leg
curl head, then shoulders, then torso to touch toes stretch

Then I get in the shower.  Good luck and let me know how it goes on Monday.  I have a high tolerance for anethesia so I think that's why it hurt the first time.  The second time, he had no problems giving me more. [8|]  but I've also had to have dentists give me more pain shots before drilling because it just takes more for me.  Go figure....

Thanks for all the responses, everyone. Maybe I'll try the acupuncture since so many have tried it. Eeek.
 
Tashakota, I really appreciate your detailed post. The pain management doctor said that central bulges don't usually cause pain, either. My point is that there are indeed nerves in the outer covering of the disc, so if that's torn and the center is pushed out of it, couldn't that cause PAIN? Go figure.
 
I have a chiro that does do active release, massage and stretching, as well. Sitting at my desk (I'm a copywriter) kills me more than say, riding the horses or cleaning the house. I have to watch how much I stretch because I am SUPER flexible - that's why I'm in this boat, they say. My muscles are so limber that they don't always "hold" my spine like they should.
 
Marty_ga, I think that my terror is actually worse than the procedure itself will be. What is the DRX9000?

So sounds like you should work on strengthening back muscles then.  []  I hope the shots work for you!  I did try acupuncture and found that it didn't help one iota.

So if sitting hurts, then it's some how connected to stretched muscles or bent joints in your lower back/pelvis right?  For me, vacumming caused a flare up.  Moving agility obstacles causes flare ups, but since I've been concentrating on that front stretch so much, they are not as bad and don't last as long.  whew!!  Finally!!!  8 years?!  sheesh, you'd think at least one of the 20+ doctores I've seen would have been able to figure it out in that time.

I would think that it would be connected to the bent/compressed joints in my lower back. Vacumming I can do fine, but I CAN NOT lift or set anything weighing more than 5 pounds while slightly bent over and reaching away from my body.
 
I'll definitely have to give the stretches a try. What the heck, people look at me funny at work anyway when they see me laying on the floor behind my desk to stretch my back, LOL.

The DRX9000 is a decompression machine...usually found at a chiropractor's office (you have to look around for one).  I think the series of treatments was about 2K, but for me I felt it was worth trying.  The company's website has changed and is not so informative, so I have given you a link to my chiropractor's site.

http://www.smithspinalcare.com/DRX9000.htm

I belive its also called VAXD.  You strap into a belt which is attached to a machine, you hold onto two handles near your head and you're lying on your stomach.  The machine gently pulls your pelvis away from your torso, then it relaxes, then it pulls more.  After I went througha  few treatments of this, my back actually got better.  The idea is that you create space between the discs to let the bulging disc flow back between the vertabrae instead of protruding out.  Doesn't work for ruptured discs, just bulging or slipped.

I will say that it hurt like he!! and I couldn't get up after the treatments.  That chiro finally told me he didn't think he could help.  BUT, my back actually got better after a few days of rest once treatments stopped.  I mean better than before the treatments, so as much as they hurt, I think they helped with the disc.  I have not had another MRI since then, so I don't know for sure, but it did help.  I just think that twice a week was too much for me.

When you're laying on your back, what do you do?  Just lay there?

Marty, thanks for the link. It really looks interesting and is something I will be bringing up to my Chiro next week when I go.
 
Tashakota - I just lay on my back, with my knees bent so my feet are on the floor. Even that provides so much relief from sitting down.

If you think about it, you are shortening the muscles in the front of your body and lengthening the ones in back.  this too, is THE most comfortable position for me.  I cannot sit or stand for long anymore.  The last time my back spasmed so bad it sent me to the floor, I was doing "go on's" with my dog to a jump in the living room.  I said go on, took a step forward and went to the floor.  Crawled to the couch and reclined for a bit, then made my way to the muscle relaxers. []

The muscles that are bad on me connect to the front of my thigh bone, go through my pelvis and connect in the back.  So they are pulling my legs up to my knees basically.  The ones in the back connect at the L4/L5 area and go to the back of the thigh.  There are also some that go through the pelvis to the front.  I'm not saying this is what's going on with you, but it sure sounds similar! 

Perhaps you've pulled a muscle in your back really badly.  So now your front muscles are compensating in order to keep you upright.  They are making it hard on your back to heal since they are now shortened to compensate.  It makes sense to me!  but I'm not a doc.  []

ETA:http://www.anatomy.tv/home.aspx?S=IDNJHKJKJBEHHP00&ReturnUrl=http://gateway.ut.ovid.com/gw1/ovidweb.cgi&#
This is a link to the IUPUI OVID database of anatomy pictures.  I found it very interesting to look at the pelvis and pelvic region muscles.  You can look layer by layer on this.  It's pretty cool.  Just a note of caution, the pelvis picture takes you to a MALE anatomy shot. []