JOINT AND MUSCLE PAIN // Lower back and leg pain

JOINT AND MUSCLE PAIN // Lower back and leg pain

I had a disectomy on L4/5 in Aug of 2010 - I have about 85% of my leg pain healed but my back pain is now worse.

I wake up every morning stiff or crooked, it takes about an hour to straighten out.....I recently received a second opinion for fusion b/c S1 is now degenerated........i feel once I am up and moving my back pain subsides and that fusion is not needed and if I could get rid of the morning stiffness I could be fine.......

Any suggestions?...............the reason Im on your site is b/c another dr said i may be a victim of facet syndrome.......thx

Hello,
It's fairly easy to diagnose lumbar facet syndrome. Bend slowly backwards - does it hurt? More than bending forwards?

Now, whilst bending backwards, slowly bend to the side, right and left. Significant pain? Pain down the leg?

What concerns me is not the morning stiffness, that almost everyone with back problems has troubles with, but the fact that you have to straighten out. There's a suggestion there that you may still have an antalgia - bending to the side to relieve the pain. That's not good.

See that XR above? The lady has a short leg, and the solution was relatively simple: a small lift in her shoe. It could be that you have a short leg, ask your chiropractor about it.

Secondly, I strongly recommend our simple "lower back exercises" at C-H - look in the Navbar on the left. Every morning very faithfully before getting out of bed.

Sit less, bend less, no vacuum cleaner and start icing your back once or twice a day for 20 mins, followed by a hot shower. Avoid the bath.

Do the Slump test, use the Search this site function. Do you get significant pain in the leg?

Each and every back is unique, individual, and the joy of chiropractic is to work out what is going to work with your back. Usually it's a tussle, requires a lot of head scratching, working together. Traction helps with one, drops for another, manipulation for a third...

Find an experienced conscientious chiropractor in your neck of the woods. Take all your scans and X-rays with you.

I hope this has contributed.

Dr b