questions for the doc's

[s13silvia]

while getting ready for a mountain biking trip, i was able to injure my back loading my bike into the back of my car. i was positioning the bike in the back when something in my back gave out and i dropped to the ground. i didn't think too much off it since the pain wasn't bad and i just popped a tylenol for the pain. 1/4 mile into the mountains and i couldn't go any further and had to circle back and wait.

after getting home i just layed in bed and that is when things went bad. i could not stand up straight and my back is severely curved. if i move my hips up or down the curvature in my back will change sides and pinch my nerves which hurts like nothin i've ever felt before. i went to the dr. yesterday and got some pain killers and anti inflammatories. i'm not sure what is going to be the result of this, but for now i can barely walk w/o severe pain in my lower back.

the report from the radiologist is:

there is no fracture. the disc spaces are maintained. the spinal alignments and posterior elements are intact. the paraspinal soft tissue is unremarkable. the is straightening of the lumber lordosis. levoscoliosis is noted.

i've never had any time of scoliosis before and the first time this happened was last night when i was trying to walk. what do you guys think? any luck for me? i really hope i don't need back surgery..

wish me luck

[moonpod]

first caveat: I am NOT a spine doc.

BUT, all that xray report states is essentially you didn't break anything. A little bit of scoliosis is common and you may have not noticed before. Also, however it may represent spasm from your back pain. If you are having radiating pain from your back down to your legs then you must suspect a herniated disk. If you are just having back pain, it falls into more of a "black box" in terms of diagnosis. Throwing your back out is very painful, and as much as it hurts to move around, not doing anything, ie bedrest is even worse. Tank up on antiinflammatories and tylenol. I discourage narcotics b/c they really don't help all that much usually. If after a couple of weeks it's not better/improving, or you have pain radiating down your legs, you need an MRI to rule out a disk related problem or other problem not visualized on a plain XR. That's "basic" spine stuff.

good luck.

[s13silvia]

chuck, thanks for sharing your knowledge i greatly appreciate it. i have done some researching when i can and the pain is mainly in my lower back and not in my legs at all. the good news is the pain isn't as bad as yesterday as i can just take it without screaming in pain like i was yesterday. i think the anti inflammatories are helping out. interesting that you say bedrest is bad, its extremely hard to stand up since it puts a lot of pressure on my lower back causing pain. the same thing happens when sit down, but it doesn't really go away if i lay down. i guess i'll try to move around a bit more today since i spent more of yesterday in bed.

thanks again for sharing your wealth of knowledge