Is it worth going to my GP?

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philaw

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This is going to seem trivial to people with serious back problems, but I've had minor concern for a while, and don't know if I should go to see my GP. An informed opinion would be nice, because I don't know if there's anything that can or should be done, and don't want to waste a chiropractor's time or give anyone a chance to make it worse. Quite frankly, I don't even know what treatments are availble, and don't want to go to see my doctor without sorting this out.

The situation is:
*I can't sit comfortably for long perioRAB of time, even upright. This has been the case for years.
*I asked a friend (an NHS occupational therapist) to look at it in 2001 and he said I had a slightly twisted vertebrae (level with the bottom of my ribcage). *My back has frozen a couple of times but is generally fine when I'm exercising it. It seems as though strengthening my back muscles has helped a lot.
*I'm doing vigorous exercise like kung fu/pull ups/press ups 3 times a week and don't want to make it worse in the long term. Working on my flexibility is a particular concern as it's poor, but I feel stretches in my back.
*I have a feeling that this is going to be a concern for me long term, and want to do something now if I can.

Thanks in advance!
 
Chronic pain isn't trivial, and there's no contest here to see who's pain is the worst! You're very welcome here in our little back world.

I would stay away from chiropractors for now. A carefully chosen chiropractor has his/her time and place, but until you know for sure that you don't have something serious going on in there, I wouldn't let anyone adjust you. An adjustment could do permanent damage under some conditions.

Definitely go to your physician. You don't have to figure all this out ahead of time. Doctors really don't like you to come in with your own diagnosis. The best thing would be to think about all your different symptoms and try to describe them as clearly as possible. Where is the pain, how long has it persisted, does it get better or worse at different times of the day or with different types of activity, what is the pain like (sharp, dull, deep, throbbing, etc.). Tell the doctor your symptoms as accurately as you can and then let him figure out what tests are needed and whether you should go to a specialist. From what you posted, I'm thinking that a personalized exercise regimen might help you. A good physical therapist can work with you to develop a routine you can do on your own, specifically targeting the areas that will help your particular back issue.

Don't give up! There's no reason to live with chronic pain if there's a solution, and you won't know until you look into it.

I wish you the best,
Emily
 
Thanks for that, Emily. At the moment it's not even hurting, so I'm not sure that I wouldn't be wasting resources. Having said that, it's pretty reasonable to want to find ou tif you have a twisted vertebrae. I'll give em a call. :)
 
if you were actually 'told' about this possible finding by a good PT way back in 01? i do think it is high time to just get this evaluated fully now,even tho it may not be hurting you right now, like you stated, it could become a much bigger issue later on or even next month. there just really is no way to really tell when ANY type of real spinal problem or malformation could just really truely present itself in alot of different ways. soo you just get the eval done along with hopefully a referral for a good contrasted MRI of actually your whole spine would be better since you do just have what could be some level of a congenital issue in that lurabar? the actual twisting could have either come from a long ago injury type thing or it could have been there since you were born too. there are alot of people, myself included who were simply born with some pretty crazy things just wrong either anatomically or actual things IN a spinal cord too that you just do not know about since it has never been looked into as in depth before. this really just neeRAB a good neuro eval and at least an MRI at this point. you just really cannot properly treat what you do not know yet what you even have, ya know?

and i would stay the heck away from ANY chiro here til you at least find out what you have there and it is at least cleared by someone who understanRAB what it is you have going on. chiros do have their place, but in some cases they can cause some pretty horrendous and devistating types of damage too. it takes actually KNOWING down to that very important cord level first before even considering the chiro. don't know if you were thinking of this or not, but thought you should at least know the very real possible risks of not knowing and getting any adjustments made from them.

but DO see your doc for the eval and hopefully the referral for an actual 'contrasted' MRI. it just shows alot more than plain MRI can in alot of cases and certain findings that just can be there that do not always show real well without contrasted enhancement. good luck with this, and make certain to always obtain any and all copies of any MRIs done or other types of testing so YOU have the copies for your medical files. they can really come in VERY handy at times. you can also just post the summary at the very end of the rad report here on this board where we can help you better interpret the findings as stated by the interpretting radiologist too. marcia
 
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