What has happened to my back!

[cazajacks]

I previously suffered with back ache if if i stood at the sink to wash up or peel veg etc, or stood up to iron clothes. ( only seemed to be when i stood up straight??)

Well 8 weeks ago i had a fall and broke my ankle, badly and had to have an operation to put plate and screws in, and now i can't stand up for more than ten minutes without the most agonising pain in my life, it makes me cry. It is in my lower left hand side just above the cheeck of my butt, and the pain is a killer, i just have to stop what i'm doing and sit down. If i stay sat down i'm ok?? This pain is starting to radiate across into my left hip.

I have to try and do what i need to do in under ten minutes flat as i know that is the maximum time ive got, and then i have to sit in my wheelchair and do whatever else i need to do.
I know i have some Tarlov cycsts on my spine area,i don't know if this makes a difference.
I never had pain like this before my fall, will it ever go!!

What could it be that is wrong, could i have done some damage when i fell. Up until recently i could not walk at all due to the broken ankle, it is only now that i am allowed to walk ( and have been for 3 weeks) that this terrible pain has surfaced.

Please anyone, any ideas on what is going on.

 

[Searchin]

Perhaps you have a pinched nerve or a hairline fracture to your spine or hip. Did they x-ray your hips and back? I would definitely give the physician a call. Sincerely, searchin

 

[cazajacks]

Hi, no they only xrayed my ankle as that was so bad and making me scream the hospital down to be honest. But once they gave me the gas i was out of it so much i didn't know what was going on.
It is only when i stand up, thats the strange part, also if i'm standing up it can happen if i lean forward.

I am seeing my local dr Tuesday so i will mention it to him and see what he can come up with,

Many thanks for you advice.

Caza

 

[tetonteri66]

When you describe your symptoms, it sounRAB like lurabar spinal stenosis. Simply put, stenosis is a narrowing. Stenosis is a natural process of aging...and, in the spine, this process begins in our twenties. There is a natural degeneration of the bones, discs between the vertebrae, the soft tissue such as ligaments and, last but not least, the nerves. Eventually everyone will show some signs of stenosis and by our 60s it is fairly common. Some people are more affected by the pain than others. It is one of those things that need not be treated until the patient cannot deal with the pain.

There is a chance that something was injured when you fell and injured your foot. However, I think it is more likely that, since the feet are our platform for posture and body alignment, the fall and subsequent surgery has shifted your center of balance. This "new" body alignment is resulting in more stenosis. Perhaps a nerve is now being more compressed. The key worRAB in your description is the fact that when you sit, the pain goes away. This is typical of stenosis.

The reason you have pain in your hip or running down the back of your leg is because a lower lurabar nerve is being compressed. These spinal nerves run out of the spine at each disc level and they innervate a particular part of the body, arms and legs. It is a "referred" pain. The injury is not in your leg or buttocks, but it is at the nerve root in your spine. When the signal is interrupted somewhere along the nerve path, it results in the pain you are feeling. When you sit down, the spine changes position, the disc space opens up a bit and the nerve is no longer squished...so the pain eases up.

If you are not already doing so, you will probably want to find a spinal specialist, either an orthopedic spine surgeon or a neurosurgeon who devote the majority of their practice to issues of the back and neck. This doesn't mean you need surgery...but this is the place to start for imaging and an accurate diagnosis. Conservative treatments are available for treatment, including physical therapy and exercise, medications and injections. The latter two are designed to reduce inflammation which allows the space to expand which will hopefully ease the nerve compression.

When you broke your foot, I imagine you started using your body differently. You may have overcompensated for the pain on one side, which increased the symptoms of the stenosis you were already experiencing. It may be that after your foot is completely healed and all inflammation has gone away, the stenotic pain you are feeling will return to its former level. But if you don't want to wait to find out, have a consultation with a spine specialist. Stenosis is not a condition that is going to clear up on its own.

I of course am not a trained medical professional and could be entirely wrong. But your description really describes what people with stenosis experience, so that would be my guess! Good luck, and let us know how things go. Good luck healing that foot, too.