Back Numbness

[tRidiot]

If you're sitting like the picture in your avatar, I'd say thats a start. Go see a Doctor. If he's worth his salt, he'll refer you to a Neurologist. It's really amazing what a little pinched nerve can do to the body.

I have one in my lower back and it affects my right thigh just above the knee. I have no feeling there. Totally numb. Neurologist says there is nothing that can be done about it, not even surgery. He said it was probably caused by years of twisting and turning and popping my back.

Eh... I realize you are trying to help here, but please explain to me what a Neurologist is actually going to do? My guess is not much if anything at all...

Management of "disc problems" can be handled almost exclusively without the assistance of a Neurologist. Your regular primary care physician can order almost all of the tests that need to be done. Simple x-rays are unlikely to be helpful, CT is better but still limited. MRI would be the best choice most of the time, as well as NCV testing (nerve conduction velocity). All these are simple and can be done without seeing a neurologist. IF (and I stress IF) something returns abnormal, then there are many options, like physical therapy, medical management (medicines) and potentially surgery. I am a big proponent of physical therapy and microsurgery when appropriate. Referral to a Physiatrist is much more likely to be helpful than a Neurologist, IMNSHO. The last resort is steroid injections and maybe a myelogram, where they inject dye into your spinal canal and take xrays to see how much intrusion there is. These are not usually done by a Neurologist (although they CAN), in my experience, but by Physiatry and possibly Neuro/OrthoSurg or Radiology.

Neurologists are highly trained and qualified in many things. They are not unqualified to deal with neuromuscular back issues, but it is kind of like having Richard Petty drive your Corolla to diagnose a knocking rod... again, IMNSHO. Of course, if your primary care doctor doesn't want to deal with it, then referring you out for everything is certainly the easy way out.

Just my $0.02.

 

[BadgeBunny]

Here's another vote for going slow and easy. I'd try sitting in a different position (and not falling asleep in class, young man!! :wink2) I'm no doctor but try the easy stuff first ... GC has this same problem and it's caused by his duty belt putting pressure on his back. PT (stretching exercises -- google them), OTC ibuprofen, and massages (yes, yes, yes, I know ... this is one time it's okay to have a girl around ) work for him.

If none of this works, THEN go see a doc!

And STOP falling asleep in class!!

 

[264killer]

Looks like u need to drop about a 100 pounds

 

[Fyrtwuck]

Eh... I realize you are trying to help here, but please explain to me what a Neurologist is actually going to do? My guess is not much if anything at all...

Management of "disc problems" can be handled almost exclusively without the assistance of a Neurologist. Your regular primary care physician can order almost all of the tests that need to be done. Simple x-rays are unlikely to be helpful, CT is better but still limited. MRI would be the best choice most of the time, as well as NCV testing (nerve conduction velocity). All these are simple and can be done without seeing a neurologist. IF (and I stress IF) something returns abnormal, then there are many options, like physical therapy, medical management (medicines) and potentially surgery. I am a big proponent of physical therapy and microsurgery when appropriate. Referral to a Physiatrist is much more likely to be helpful than a Neurologist, IMNSHO. The last resort is steroid injections and maybe a myelogram, where they inject dye into your spinal canal and take xrays to see how much intrusion there is. These are not usually done by a Neurologist (although they CAN), in my experience, but by Physiatry and possibly Neuro/OrthoSurg or Radiology.

Neurologists are highly trained and qualified in many things. They are not unqualified to deal with neuromuscular back issues, but it is kind of like having Richard Petty drive your Corolla to diagnose a knocking rod... again, IMNSHO. Of course, if your primary care doctor doesn't want to deal with it, then referring you out for everything is certainly the easy way out.

Just my $0.02.

There ya go Been. Make an appointment, problem solved.

 

[been]

There ya go Been. Make an appointment, problem solved.

i dont like going to the doctor. But it seems like that is what we are going to have to do. If it was just the back i would think it is a over reaction, but there are other things that need to be looked at also.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

i dont like going to the doctor. But it seems like that is what we are going to have to do. If it was just the back i would think it is a over reaction, but there are other things that need to be looked at also.

Make a list before you go in and discuss as much as you can.

 

[been]

Make a list before you go in and discuss as much as you can.

now your making me feel like an old man!

 

[criticalbass]

now your making me feel like an old man!

Get yourself to the doc so you can increase your chances of becoming an old man.

 

[Vamoose]

See a doctor Been.

 

[tRidiot]

If you're hesitant to actually see a doctor, about the only thing I might recommend as a trial to stave things off is possibly the inversion therapy some have mentioned. I don't see it being too dangerous in terms of possibly worsening things, so it might be worth a shot. Other than that, I don't know that even doing plain ol' PT might not make things worse, without seeing exactly what is wrong.

Let me give you a little story...

When I was working in my office, I had a new patient come in one day. Never seen him before, but he was there for "back problems." He was a nice gentleman, in his early 50s, I think, and he worked driving tractors all day. He had developed some pain down his left buttock and a little numbness in his left foot. He had been to see a chiropractor who had done some manipulating on his spine, and the problem actually got worse. Now... here is where I get on my soapbox a little bit... don't get me wrong, I am NOT against chiropractors. But I know there are some that try to do way too much and everyone seems to have one leg longer than the other, and they can get you all fixed up in 26 treatments (which is just how many Medicaire will cover), etc., etc., etc. We actually had one here in B'ville a few years back who was advertising on TV for people to bring their kids in, 'cause he could cure their ADHD. Yeah... anyways....

So this guy had made my patient's pain worse by manipulating him. And his explanation was, "The nerve is like a river, with signal flowing down it. I actually unpinched it and allowed more of the signal to pass through, which is why you are feeling more pain now." Ummm.... right. So I asked why he had come to me? He said the chiro thought he should come to me and just get a short course of steroids to get things settled down again and he should be just fine. <sigh> I politely suggested that I didn't agree with the assessment he was given, and that I believed more investigation was in order.

The patient was resistant... he really just wanted me to give him some steroids so he could get back to work driving his tractors. I explained that I was concerned he had a disc problem that needed attention. Yes, it was possible it was only "sciatica", inflammation of the sciatic nerve, and that might be helped by a short course of steroids, BUT since the pain worsened after spinal manipulation, I was seriously concerned the problem was in his back, not his sciatic nerve. It took me a couple of appointments to get him to take any medicine to help calm the nerves (Neurontin), and he refused any narcotics at all. But his foot numbness was significant enough he had trouble working the clutch on the tractors.

So I talked him into an MRI, and sure enough, he had a single-level disc protrusion on one side only. A perfect candidate for minimally-invasive micro-discectomy! After a few more attempts, I convinced him to go see a specific surgeon in Tulsa who specialized in just such surgery and I had had great results with on previous patients. I explained there was no risk and no commitment just to talk to the surgeon and let him offer treatment options. Long-story short, he had the minimally-invasive partial discectomy and was back at work in a few weeks and has been doing wonderfully ever since! Pain free, no major back surgery, where some other surgeons would have jumped right into a laminectomy or fusion and had him likely screwed up for life.

The funny thing is, I was really glad I did not bad-mouth what the chiropractor had told him later. I saw him once several months after his surgery just for a checkup and he mentioned that the chiropractor he had been seeing was a close friend of the family for something like 20 years! Wow... if I had gone off about the stupid things he was told, I probably would have been written off and he'd have never come back again, and who knows what would have ended up happening.

So... that's one of my stories. Again, I am not bashing chiros, but I have heard some claim to cure blindness, cancer and ADHD... but have yet to see any proof or even a reasonable theory behind how such things might be possible. I have referred many patients to chiros, massage and accupuncture, too, so I'm not one of those "traditional medicine only" bigots. But to me, this story is a perfect example of how something with relatively minor symptoms can be an early warning sign of a larger problem. And if not taken care of and further preventative steps taken, can lead one to a life of pain and misery from being crippled up and out of work.