Shit! Ruptured disc?

[yeahman]

Wow very midieval looking!

My question is how is any of this, including the Y strap, any different than the spinal manipulation done by a chiro?

[sb]

Recently back in the jacked up back club.

Been here bee4.

Torn muscle, working thru it.

Sent pm to skideepow

[skaredshtles]

Well, I'm back in the herniated-disc club. Sunday prior to T'giving I woke up with horrid pain that was centered in my hip area. Right leg was pretty much useless, along with pretty bad foot drop.

Went in the next day to see my primary and got an order for an MRI the Wednesday prior to T'giving. With my history of blown L4/L5 I was glad to not wait a bunch of weeks "seeing if it will get better" like the first go-round with the L4/L5 blowout.

Got in to see the spine guy on Dec. 9th and was confirmed to be yet another fairly decent herniation which was impacting both my L4/5 root as well as the S1 root. With my symptoms they were concerned about permanent nerve damage, so got an expedited request into insurance for a 2nd microdiscectomy (first was back in 2012).

Spine guy had an opening on Friday the 13th so they put in an emergent request for authorization to United Healthcare on the morning of Dec. 10th. Which UHC fucked around with until it was too late to actually *do* the surgery on the 13th, so I waited nearly a whole extra week (Dec. 19th) to get in and have the procedure done.

Now recovering from surgery - foot drop is *very* slowly showing some improvement, and each day is a bit better than the day before. Heading back in for my follow-up on the 9th of Jan and hoping to be in reasonably decent shape to start PT thereafter.

Worst part of the timing on this whole thing is that the wife and I were going to head to Switzerland for our 25th anniversary in March and spend a week at the Euro Grumble and then another week in Zermatt - both of which, at this point, are fukkered.

Ah, well - there's always next season, right?

[yeahman]

Damn man. That sucks. Hope your rehab goes well.

[grinch]

Pretty cool youre seeing those improvements right out of the gate. Continued healing budz!

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[cspringsposer]

You said you've been through this before so I'm sure you know what to expect. When I blew two discs into a million pieces and had dual bilateral discectomys, I was probably 90% in a month. I did some serious nerve damage and still have a really weak left foot, but besides that, I was surprised how quickly I was able to get back to doing normal things. Hopefully you can make your trip, but getting the back right definitely has to be the priority.

[cat in january]

Good to hear came through surgery with healing happening so fast. Foot drop is the weirdest thing

[Buzzworthy]

Ah shit man, sorry to hear this. I too have old herniated disc injuries. That shit is no fun.

[skaredshtles]

Good to hear came through surgery with healing happening so fast. Foot drop is the weirdest thing

Yep. It's annoying as fuck.

Surgery follow-up is next Monday, and I hope to get into PT ASAP, as I'm feeling pretty decent, all things considered.

Still kinda walking on eggshells, though - don't want to do anything stupid that sets me back at all.

[Huskier]

Question from the peanut gallery: I went in to my PT with what I thought was an msk strain, DPT is convinced I have a ruptured disk. Has anyone been diagnosed by a PT? It seems like a hard thing to pin down, and admittedly I would pass all of my own exam maneuvers. Trying to convince my primary I need an MRI but without radiculopathy or weakness if the positions were reversed I can't say I would rush to it either...

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[Skistack]

Alot of people have ruptured disks with no symptoms. No need for an MRI unless you are suffering, and after PT and prednisone have not helped. My spine doc told me “the MRI just tells us where we need to cut”.


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[old goat]

Agree. Without radiculopathy treat symptomatically.

[Bunion 2020]

Just ran across this thread. Brings back a lot of great memories and a sad one. The OP use to work for me at MLB. He moved over to Big Sky in 2014 with the merger. It was around 2021 that things got to be too much. Miss the hell out of ya Shaun. You were a good friend, worker, route partner and person.

[skaredshtles]

Yep. It's annoying as fuck. Surgery follow-up is next Monday, and I hope to get into PT ASAP, as I'm feeling pretty decent, all things considered. Still kinda walking on eggshells, though - don't want to do anything stupid that sets me back at all.

Just figured I would follow up - still in PT and still have some amount of foot-drop, which is still annoying as fuck. Doc green-lit me in mid-Feb to go back to regular activity, so I got a reasonable finish to the ski season. I'm still kind of walking on eggshells so I do not do anything to set me back. Nerve recovery is so slow.

[boltonoutlaw]

subbed

[stealurface831]

anybody had a severe burning sensation that radiates pretty concentrically from a spot on one side of their mid thoracic? been going on for about two months now. standing in the same spot for awhile also gives a pins and needles feeling that shoots to my gut and outer foot on the same side and hand/ring finger on the opposite side. sitting longer than about 20 minutes really gets the radiating burning sensation going. oddly though, lifting and rotational movements dont seem to aggravate things. went to ortho and got xrays two weeks ago which didnt show anything obvious. about all the doc could tell me was it is nerve related (no shit) and that an mri is needed. so, im having the mri next week, got prescribed meloxicam and tizanidine (neither of which seem to do much), and started pt last week. added the prescribed stretches into my yoga routine with no apparent difference. first time seeing a doc for anything spinal so wisdom from the collective on how to approach this is much appreciated. gonna die, right?

[stuckathuntermtn]

My uneducated opinion would be go see a physical therapist. Or a rolfer.
Would xrays even show a pinched nerve? That's soft tissue.
Have you have any sprains, strains, falls, etc? Anything spasmy?

[stealurface831]

My uneducated opinion would be go see a physical therapist. Or a rolfer. Would xrays even show a pinched nerve? That's soft tissue. Have you have any sprains, strains, falls, etc? Anything spasmy?

had my first pt appointment last week but since we dont know exactly what is going on, she just showed me a few stretches and sent me on my way. apparently my insurance company doesnt like to pay for mris unless the patient does pt first so it is basically a formality.
no one thing stands out. i picked lacrosse back up for the first time since high school and all this started a couple weeks into my summer league season so probably triggered something there. but as far as specific mechanism of injury, i got nothing.

[grinch]

6-8 weeks of pt should give you an indication of whats next. Do your pt exercises at home in between visits to the pt. As many reps as possible.
MRI will show everything and give a good idea if its surgery or not. Either way pt with as many reps as possible. The more you do the better and not only for the current discomfort but they'll be tools for the future and many reps so you will always remember them. Hang tough, it will get better

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[Self Jupiter]

PT right away, don’t be shy about your athletic background because the one size fits all pt approach probably won’t work for you. Get the MRI if you need it but the interpretations from docs can vary a lot so try not to sweat one individual opinion. Listen to your body and see if what you’re doing helps you get ahead of it. Personally I’d avoid contact sports and heavy lifting until you get it a bit more under control — I think trying to physically handle moving cost me bigly in my mid 20s when my issues first started and I ended up deeply regretting it.

ETA on the nerve pain location: at first, and for many years I only experienced classic sciatica symptoms on my left leg. Many years later I began getting nerve pain that moves around and can sound like what you have at some times. The rout cause of my issues appears to have shifted from the disc damage at l5-s1 to a combination of disc issues at l5–s1, l4-l5 and facet joint damage with arthritis piloting the pain plane.