My back was hurting quite a bit, hamstrings were really tight, when I would get up in morning, usually just bounced out of bed, was so stiff in lower back and hams that I could hardly walk. Pain and stiffness would go away later but I finally went to doc and the xrays showed spondylosisthesis, I can't even pronounce this.....Slippage of vertabra (the old slipped disc dx?). He prescribed Tylenol Arthritis Formula, a back brace, and a month of physical therapy which I start next week. Anyone else have this problem? Could be worse I guess.....Do you have to modify workouts very much? I read that a strong core and strong back help, any other tips on how to handle? Thanks for any feedback.....
Spondylolisthesis dx
- Thread starter Poffhager
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My back was hurting quite a bit, hamstrings were really tight, when I would get up in morning, usually just bounced out of bed, was so stiff in lower back and hams that I could hardly walk. Pain and stiffness would go away later but I finally went to doc and the xrays showed spondylosisthesis, I can't even pronounce this.....Slippage of vertabra (the old slipped disc dx?). He prescribed Tylenol Arthritis Formula, a back brace, and a month of physical therapy which I start next week. Anyone else have this problem? Could be worse I guess.....Do you have to modify workouts very much? I read that a strong core and strong back help, any other tips on how to handle? Thanks for any feedback.....
jcm
Cathlete
I have a very long back story I can share if you decide you'd like to hear it! But the short version ... after 2 years of pain, a trip to the ortho doc, referral to PT (who thought it was a torn disc),5 months of PT, a year of horizontal conditioning and yoga ... started prolotherapy injections 2 weeks ago. My PT recommended it. I've had less back pain in 2 weeks than I've had in almost 2 years.
Back pain is the worst and it's so tricky to diagnose and treat. Good luck!
Jenny
Back pain is the worst and it's so tricky to diagnose and treat. Good luck!
Jenny
I would love to hear your backstory!!! Glad the prolotherapy is helping. I had PT today, it helped for an hour or so. I'll be glad when it is not so flared up.......And Cathe's new discs coming soon.........But I know, the easier I take it now, the sooner I will be able to get back to it!!!!????
...But I know, the easier I take it now, the sooner I will be able to get back to it!!!!????
jcm
Cathlete
Okay - here it goes! I'll try to fill you in and if you have questions feel free to ask. Sorry if this is too long
To start ... I'm 41 with pretty significant scoliosis. Been a runner for 11 years, into fitness for longer. Decided as a personal goal to run a half marathon before age 40 and I did - one at 39 and one at 40 last spring. I've had back pain for years and I've seen a chiropractor since college. A year and a half ago my back pain was getting worse, especially after runs. It felt very tight ... like I needed to bend forward and stretch it out. After some reading I thought maybe seeing a massage therapist (no wimpy massages here) would help. At that time I also started what seemed obvious for back pain - yoga and core strengthening.
Enter ... Cathe's Yoga Relax and Horizontal Conditioning. And for months - almost a year - I was dedicted. Doing each of those 2 - 3 times a week. That and massage seemed to help for a while. Then in the fall it was getting miserable again. I'd do Yoga Relax and felt like I needed to do it again to stretch out this tightness in my lower back. It was a never ending ache. At one point Motrin - even combined with Vicodin - didn't even touch the pain.
I dreaded starting what I call the "treadmill" of doctor visits for back aches. But I did go in January. They took xrays, which confirmed the scoliosis but showed nothing else. So PT it was. I went to my very trusted PT - I've seen him on and off for 11 years and calling him anal is an understatement After an hour of evaluation he decided it was a torn disc. The tear was causing spinal fluid to leak to my posterio left - aggravting everything over there. Oh, I forgot that part. When I saw the doctor I didn't know if it was for back pain or something else because it was going into my left glute, hip ... Which would explain my PTs diagnosis. Thus began the PT.
So, starting in January there was E-stim to get tissue to relax (or something like that), followed by gentle movements followed by strengthing exercises for my back and glute/hip (I kept telling them I couldn't figure out how - after doing Cathe/STS my glutes could POSSIBLY be weak )
I - like you - had some pain relief with PT. But it was always temporary. As long as I didn't really do anything else. The end of April they thought I tore my disc again because of symptoms. Apparently I was walking too fast - not running! All the tests they did showed improvement. My glute was was stronger and they were impressed by my core strenth (thank you Sandra from HC). So then I was told basically: no yoga (forward bending/twisting puts stress on that disc), no fast walking (too much pelvic rotation) and no impact of any kind. And sit as little as possible. Which left me with the option of an elliptical.
Then May 21 I was back in PT with pain. She basically told me there was nothing else they could do but thought I should go see this guy for prolotherapy. This didn't come from nowhere. The same person recommended it 10 years ago when I was there for a totally different injury. And what they had noticed since January was they had to always do a back adjustment in the beginning. And I was going twice a week. My L4 and L5 were constantly out of alignment.
So I met with the doc for prolo, he said the prognosis was excellent. Had my first injections 3 weeks ago and the next round is Thursday. I was unpleasantly surprised by how much it hurt. I've had 2 natural childbirths and with my 3rd child 9 failed epidurals (thanks to the scoliosis) and I'm a positive thinker. But I am NOT looking forward to Thursday. The theory for the prolo is: 1) my ligaments are loose, thus allowing my lower back to go out of allignment easily, and the prolo will tight things up, and 2)the connecting ligaments are damaged, there isn't much blood supply, and a lot of my pain was what is called "referring" pain. Inflaming and aggravating these ligaments with this injected solution with cause collagen and cartilliage to grow and heal the area.
Sorry that is so long. Hopefully I told you what would be helpful. I've read in some prolo forums of people seeking prolo treatment with your condition and they've had success. But of course people haven't. For better or worse I didn't spend much time researching prolotherapy before I got it done. I just figured it had been going on so long, and I'd been months (and hundreds of $$$s) in PT and just hadn't made much progress so I figured why not.
My guy said the average number of treatments needed is 4. Since my first visit I've had less back pain and the one spot in my back that's been tender ( my massage therapist and PT have worked on it for months) I can no longer fine. Last week I worked in my yard for 6 hours, layed 17 bags of mulch ... and my back didn't hurt. I'm not calling anything a miracle yet but I'm hopefuly enough I'm enduring another round on Thursday.
Good luck to you and I hope you keep us informed of your story. Back pain seems to start such a never-ending cycle of appointments!! Hope anything I shared helped. My kids are sick of me typing, but let me know if I can be of any help in the future!!
Jen
To start ... I'm 41 with pretty significant scoliosis. Been a runner for 11 years, into fitness for longer. Decided as a personal goal to run a half marathon before age 40 and I did - one at 39 and one at 40 last spring. I've had back pain for years and I've seen a chiropractor since college. A year and a half ago my back pain was getting worse, especially after runs. It felt very tight ... like I needed to bend forward and stretch it out. After some reading I thought maybe seeing a massage therapist (no wimpy massages here) would help. At that time I also started what seemed obvious for back pain - yoga and core strengthening.
Enter ... Cathe's Yoga Relax and Horizontal Conditioning. And for months - almost a year - I was dedicted. Doing each of those 2 - 3 times a week. That and massage seemed to help for a while. Then in the fall it was getting miserable again. I'd do Yoga Relax and felt like I needed to do it again to stretch out this tightness in my lower back. It was a never ending ache. At one point Motrin - even combined with Vicodin - didn't even touch the pain.
I dreaded starting what I call the "treadmill" of doctor visits for back aches. But I did go in January. They took xrays, which confirmed the scoliosis but showed nothing else. So PT it was. I went to my very trusted PT - I've seen him on and off for 11 years and calling him anal is an understatement
After an hour of evaluation he decided it was a torn disc. The tear was causing spinal fluid to leak to my posterio left - aggravting everything over there. Oh, I forgot that part. When I saw the doctor I didn't know if it was for back pain or something else because it was going into my left glute, hip ... Which would explain my PTs diagnosis. Thus began the PT.So, starting in January there was E-stim to get tissue to relax (or something like that), followed by gentle movements followed by strengthing exercises for my back and glute/hip (I kept telling them I couldn't figure out how - after doing Cathe/STS my glutes could POSSIBLY be weak
)I - like you - had some pain relief with PT. But it was always temporary. As long as I didn't really do anything else. The end of April they thought I tore my disc again because of symptoms. Apparently I was walking too fast - not running! All the tests they did showed improvement. My glute was was stronger and they were impressed by my core strenth (thank you Sandra from HC). So then I was told basically: no yoga (forward bending/twisting puts stress on that disc), no fast walking (too much pelvic rotation) and no impact of any kind. And sit as little as possible. Which left me with the option of an elliptical.
Then May 21 I was back in PT with pain. She basically told me there was nothing else they could do but thought I should go see this guy for prolotherapy. This didn't come from nowhere. The same person recommended it 10 years ago when I was there for a totally different injury. And what they had noticed since January was they had to always do a back adjustment in the beginning. And I was going twice a week. My L4 and L5 were constantly out of alignment.
So I met with the doc for prolo, he said the prognosis was excellent. Had my first injections 3 weeks ago and the next round is Thursday. I was unpleasantly surprised by how much it hurt. I've had 2 natural childbirths and with my 3rd child 9 failed epidurals (thanks to the scoliosis) and I'm a positive thinker. But I am NOT looking forward to Thursday. The theory for the prolo is: 1) my ligaments are loose, thus allowing my lower back to go out of allignment easily, and the prolo will tight things up, and 2)the connecting ligaments are damaged, there isn't much blood supply, and a lot of my pain was what is called "referring" pain. Inflaming and aggravating these ligaments with this injected solution with cause collagen and cartilliage to grow and heal the area.
Sorry that is so long. Hopefully I told you what would be helpful. I've read in some prolo forums of people seeking prolo treatment with your condition and they've had success. But of course people haven't. For better or worse I didn't spend much time researching prolotherapy before I got it done. I just figured it had been going on so long, and I'd been months (and hundreds of $$$s) in PT and just hadn't made much progress so I figured why not.
My guy said the average number of treatments needed is 4. Since my first visit I've had less back pain and the one spot in my back that's been tender ( my massage therapist and PT have worked on it for months) I can no longer fine. Last week I worked in my yard for 6 hours, layed 17 bags of mulch ... and my back didn't hurt. I'm not calling anything a miracle yet but I'm hopefuly enough I'm enduring another round on Thursday.
Good luck to you and I hope you keep us informed of your story. Back pain seems to start such a never-ending cycle of appointments!! Hope anything I shared helped. My kids are sick of me typing, but let me know if I can be of any help in the future!!
Jen
Thanks for taking the time to tell me your story. Horizontal conditioning makes sense bc of strenthening the core and if your core is strong, supposedly your back is strong. Wondering if I should get a starter of it for when my back is better...???
I have just started looking at some of the prolotherapy stuff, if it is as good as they make it sound, it's a miracle!! Almost too good to be true, but like you said, it would work for some and not for others.
Did you have your injections today? I had 2nd pt session today and still have to take something for pain, even though it is better. I just hate this acute phase where I can't do much of anything. I printed some articles about prolotherapy to read. Hope it is helping you. Thanks for your help to me....
I have just started looking at some of the prolotherapy stuff, if it is as good as they make it sound, it's a miracle!! Almost too good to be true, but like you said, it would work for some and not for others.
Did you have your injections today? I had 2nd pt session today and still have to take something for pain, even though it is better. I just hate this acute phase where I can't do much of anything. I printed some articles about prolotherapy to read. Hope it is helping you. Thanks for your help to me....
jcm
Cathlete
My second round of injections are tomorrow morning. I'll admit - not looking forward to it. Suppose it could be a miracle cure or a comlete failure depending. So far there is no miracle but must admit there is definite improvement. My PT is excellent -he's had prolo himself - and I just personally got to the point, after so many months or physical therapy - that it was kind of the next step. I had a disturbing side-effect a week after my first injection where my left glute got so tight I could not cross my left leg over my right. Scared in that - if it was working and tightening things up if they got tighter I wouldn't be able to walk! I've gotten close and personal with the heating pad and gentle stretching, talked with my PT and it's better. But I'll still be discussing this with the doc in the morning before injections.
I did HC today and it was good. Cathe has good core stuff - I have Core Max and another core one - but I HATE sit up type things and don't mind plank so HC was a good fit for me. When I saw the DO for my prolotherapy and explained I'd tried EVERYTHING (months of therapy, a year of HC and yoga, massage therapy, chiropractor) and had nothing left to fight it he laughed and called me an over-achiever
Obviously I am not doctor or expert. I just see people with back pain and I empathize. I honestly didn't research prolo much because I think too much time on the internet looking stuff up can make you paranoid I'd just dont everything that seemed obvious, given my constant pain something needed to change, my PT liked this guy so here we go.
I'll check in again after injections after a few days. I don't anticpate a comfortable TH/F/SA but we'll see!!
I did HC today and it was good. Cathe has good core stuff - I have Core Max and another core one - but I HATE sit up type things and don't mind plank so HC was a good fit for me. When I saw the DO for my prolotherapy and explained I'd tried EVERYTHING (months of therapy, a year of HC and yoga, massage therapy, chiropractor) and had nothing left to fight it he laughed and called me an over-achiever
Obviously I am not doctor or expert. I just see people with back pain and I empathize. I honestly didn't research prolo much because I think too much time on the internet looking stuff up can make you paranoid
I'd just dont everything that seemed obvious, given my constant pain something needed to change, my PT liked this guy so here we go.I'll check in again after injections after a few days. I don't anticpate a comfortable TH/F/SA but we'll see!!
jcm
Cathlete
Well, I went in bracing myself for another round, and after talking with me he thought I was done!! Since the majority of the healing kicks in around 6 weeks, and I was already having so much relief, that one set of injections might be all I need. He did add that being in good shape and being a non-smoker has helped the process greatly. He did say if it feels like another round is needed to call any time.
I did get ambitious and started P90x Monday. I made it through Wednesday and decided my back was hurting so quit. Went back to my walking/running/HiiT stuff and everything is fine now.
I'm sure prolo isn't for everyone, but so far it seems to be what I needed. I actually wish I'd done it months ago rather than spending all that time and money in physical therapy and it never got to the source of the problem.
How is your back doing?
I did get ambitious and started P90x Monday. I made it through Wednesday and decided my back was hurting so quit. Went back to my walking/running/HiiT stuff and everything is fine now.
I'm sure prolo isn't for everyone, but so far it seems to be what I needed. I actually wish I'd done it months ago rather than spending all that time and money in physical therapy and it never got to the source of the problem.
How is your back doing?
That's great that you don't need anymore injections right now. And you know what can help next time....I went to my 4th physical therapy session and told her I wasn't hurting. I learned those basic exercises we all should be doing anyway, the only thing pt was doing was that nerve thing with the ice pack which felt good. So, she cut me loose, told me to go ahead with my work outs, just keep that core tight!!! I see the doc again on 7/29/13. Supposed my injury wasn't really bad, but it hurt enough to see the doctor. And I have had bulging discs before, so L4 and L5 are not the strongest.......I have to start easy bc I don't want to get sidelined again.
Saturday I did Yoga Relax. Today I did Pyramid Upper Body. My Horizontal Conditioning came in the mail today so I will be previewing it this week. I hate not working out bc it's the healthiest thing I do. I really helps me with anxiety too.
Saturday I did Yoga Relax. Today I did Pyramid Upper Body. My Horizontal Conditioning came in the mail today so I will be previewing it this week. I hate not working out bc it's the healthiest thing I do. I really helps me with anxiety too.