I just completed treatment with success after many failed attempts. I have 2 ruptured discs reduced to 50% height L4/5 - I believe these are the bottom Lumbar discs. I am now symptom free.
*I did not have problems feeling my legs, so I cannot speak to those cases, but I had general achy lower back when sitting. Sometimes a flare up would get so bad that I could not walk, and had to lay in bed for a few days. I had to recline my office chair and car seat as far as they would go, and still felt the pain.
I wasted thousands of dollars on MRI, Cortisone Injections, and doctor visits. I also wasted thousands on EXPENSIVE Physical therapy. I do however recommend you shop around for Physical Therapy, and ask the rates. Do not accept the answer "You'll have to determine costs with your insurance company." That is a scam. Find a PT that does only PT, and has 15+ years of experience.
Here's the deal:
My spine was not flexible enough to produce the S shape from top to bottom. Because of the lack of flexibility at the top/middle, it caused the lower to be in bad form all the time without me knowing it, no matter how hard I tried to maintain good posture, proper lifting techniques, etc, I was destined for more degeneration and pain. You need to do a laundry list of things to bring back that 'S' curve. Here are some of them: Buy a foam roller, and spend an hour while watching TV rolling back and fourth and letting your spine hang down on each side--push the limits of your spine flexibility. When you sit or stand, you should be puffing your chest to get your spine in the right shape. A foam pad behind your MID-back while in a chair is a must. Lay down on your stomach and have some do like a CPR style slow motion compression on each of your spine vertebrae around the mid-back portion.
To help with symptoms, get some deep tissue messaging around the sides of the spine. Have someone walk on your back even. All this circulation will reduce the inflammation. You need to go to sleep with an ice pack under your lumbar region every night, and behind you when you drive to work every day. Do NOT use heat. Ice will be your new best friend until you figure it all out.
Long term prevention.
When they tell you that your core is not strong enough, it doesn't mean you are weaker than the average person, it means you need a seriously tight core to undo all the years of horrible posture, and to lift your upper half off of your spine enough for the symptoms to die down. PT will start you off with lame exercises, but you need to work up to full blown crunches, planks, etc. You need to relearn how to pick something up off the ground--Just because you bend your knees doesn't make it right--you need to put one knee on the ground to pick something up. The PT will help you relearn all this stuff. If they are not teaching that, find a new one.
I hope this helps someone because it took me 4 years to learn all this, and about 5k dollars. It was really only the last 500 dollars from a quality Physical Therapist that did the trick.
*I did not have problems feeling my legs, so I cannot speak to those cases, but I had general achy lower back when sitting. Sometimes a flare up would get so bad that I could not walk, and had to lay in bed for a few days. I had to recline my office chair and car seat as far as they would go, and still felt the pain.
I wasted thousands of dollars on MRI, Cortisone Injections, and doctor visits. I also wasted thousands on EXPENSIVE Physical therapy. I do however recommend you shop around for Physical Therapy, and ask the rates. Do not accept the answer "You'll have to determine costs with your insurance company." That is a scam. Find a PT that does only PT, and has 15+ years of experience.
Here's the deal:
My spine was not flexible enough to produce the S shape from top to bottom. Because of the lack of flexibility at the top/middle, it caused the lower to be in bad form all the time without me knowing it, no matter how hard I tried to maintain good posture, proper lifting techniques, etc, I was destined for more degeneration and pain. You need to do a laundry list of things to bring back that 'S' curve. Here are some of them: Buy a foam roller, and spend an hour while watching TV rolling back and fourth and letting your spine hang down on each side--push the limits of your spine flexibility. When you sit or stand, you should be puffing your chest to get your spine in the right shape. A foam pad behind your MID-back while in a chair is a must. Lay down on your stomach and have some do like a CPR style slow motion compression on each of your spine vertebrae around the mid-back portion.
To help with symptoms, get some deep tissue messaging around the sides of the spine. Have someone walk on your back even. All this circulation will reduce the inflammation. You need to go to sleep with an ice pack under your lumbar region every night, and behind you when you drive to work every day. Do NOT use heat. Ice will be your new best friend until you figure it all out.
Long term prevention.
When they tell you that your core is not strong enough, it doesn't mean you are weaker than the average person, it means you need a seriously tight core to undo all the years of horrible posture, and to lift your upper half off of your spine enough for the symptoms to die down. PT will start you off with lame exercises, but you need to work up to full blown crunches, planks, etc. You need to relearn how to pick something up off the ground--Just because you bend your knees doesn't make it right--you need to put one knee on the ground to pick something up. The PT will help you relearn all this stuff. If they are not teaching that, find a new one.
I hope this helps someone because it took me 4 years to learn all this, and about 5k dollars. It was really only the last 500 dollars from a quality Physical Therapist that did the trick.
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