my husbands back injury

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creekfairy

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My poor husband hurt himself April 9th 2007 so almost 1 year ago. He was bending over and picking up a 50 lb wooden pallet and felt a pop in his back on the lower right hand side and immediately felt pain and a burning sensation that also ran down the right leg. He's had MRI's, FCE, Xray, physical therapy and medications included anti-inflamatory and muscle relaxers and pain killers. He currently uses muscle relaxers, this stuff called Bio Freeze and an electro impulse machine that senRAB electrical pulses into the muscles in his back..its a portable machine so he can walk around with it on if he wants to. Ever since the injury he's walked with a limp but now its even worse.. the xrays showed a slight curving of the spine which the doctor associates with the injury because he did not have that curve before the injury. He has weakness in his right hand/arm and has lost quite a bit of strength in it. He has headaches alot since the injury and he has sharp shooting pain and sometimes nurabness like its going to sleep in his right leg. The stress test showed that he can no longer bend to pick anything up no matter what the weight and he is restricted to lifting 20 lbs shoulder height or higher but no bending... it makes no sense to me at all! He can barely pickup our dog and she weighs 10 lbs.. but I cant convince the doctor of that. He can no longer do the type of work he has done in the past so we are fighting it out with the lawyers, judges and workmans comp. Only thing the doctor said basically was that he MAY have a pinched nerve but its "nothing dangerous" but the MRI showed nothing... He now walks with a cane to help straighten him back up. The doctor gave him no more physical therapy alto that was the only thing giving him any relief at all. He was doing water therapy and heat/stem therapy because thats the only thing he could stand pain wise. The doctor has refered him to a pain management specialist and the workmans comp people are supposed to be setting him up with an apointment but they have yet to do so. So right now he is only doing at home therapy...and very little of that because its just too painful. Sometimes he'll be hurting so much that he has tears... sometimes he takes a pill and goes to sleep just to not be in pain. He's not sleeping very good either because he cant/sit/stand for more than a few hrs at a stretch.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! ... we're just completely lost with this whole back injury thing
 
Hi Creekfairy and welcome to the board! :wave:
Your poor hubby sounRAB like he is doing awful! He had an MRI with contrast? How long ago was that? It didn't show anything except a slight curve to his spine? No bulging, herniations, nerve inpingement? What medications is he on? You said his arm is weak and nurab? What area of his back did he hurt...upper or lower? Check with the Workers Compensation Commission in your state....most states dictate that a patient is entitled to a second opinion. SounRAB like his doctor is "working" for W/C and not your hubby, if you know what I mean. sorry to ask so many questions but it will help everyone on the board to understand your situation better. The weekenRAB are usually a little quiet on the board so if you don't get many responses hang in there until Monday. I will keep your hubby in my prayers!

Deb
 
Thanks for the response Deb... he had his MRI done in Noveraber and they saw no bulging or herniations but there was "slight thickening of ligaments" And the doctor said if there was any pinched nerves he didnt see any and there was nothing "dangerous" He hurt his lower right side back.. like really low towarRAB his tail bone but to the right side.
This is the 5th doctor we've seen... and we're waiting for approval from W/C to go to a pain management specialist..so we shall see.. I'll have to dig out the papers from his FCE report and let ya know what that said...as well as the MRI... I'm just clueless to what half of all this stuff means... all I know is that they cut him off from physical therapy and now we're dealing with no treatment at all... the only medication they currently have him on is flexaril... (sp?) which all they do is make him sleep but when he's awake he's generally in pain...
thanks again for the reply and I'd definately like to stick around here;)
 
Hi Creekfairy,
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with such nonsense from W/C on top of the injury. Some W/C folks are wonderful, but some simply have no concern whatsoever for the patient. Is your lawyer being at all helpful in all this?

Do you have a gym or YMCA nearby that has a pool? Maybe he can go and try to do the same exercises he did in PT that gave him relief. Or even just walk in the water.

We not doctors, but we've all got various back issues here. We'll try to help you as best we can from our own experiences. I'm glad you found us! There are some great people here, very supportive and encouraging, and lots of good advice.

I wish you both the best as you continue to try to get answers and help.

Emily
 
Hi

Sorry to hear your hubby is in so much pain.

I would advise getting specialist help before he does any exercises because actually trying to swim and even floating on my back doubled me up in pain.

An as for test results a person can be in mega pain even if nothing shows up.
An it is so much harder to treat the problem when the cause carnt be found.

As for sleeping i had to sleep in a recliner chair for 9 months because i couldnt lie in bed.
Even now i carnt sit on my left buttock for long or lie on my left side or back.
This is after 3 years of chronic pain and now i have been told there is nothing else they can do for me except a 3 level fusion or live with the pain!

When i have a really bad time i take 2 Diazepam and go to sleep and usually wake feeling abit better.

I really hope he can find a solution soon and i hope he is grateful for having someone like you who cares enough to seek some help for him.

Good luck
 
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