Lower back pain

[physiofi]

Wishing you a speedy recovery - let us know how you get on.

[nmarman]

physiofi is right about most parts of your condition.

Giving way is a sign of knee or hip instability but can also be a sign of back instability with scoliosis.

With your traumatic history and age you are a good candidate for X-ray.

A long story short you are not getting any better and no one knows why, any good practitioner would be asking for extra imaging to either confirm or rule out other diagnosis. Ask your GP for X-ray of the Lumbopelvic and Thoracic spine stating that both acupuncture and physio have offered only limited relief. alternative ask you chiropractor to take the x-rays as chiropractors are trained in musculoskeletal radiology, they should have equipment on site.

Other wise is sounds like you might have had a disc lesion in lumbar region possibly central disc bulge. This would have lead to instability making it hard to recover from treatment alone. to define this a MRI would be the best possible examination.

A history of desk bound occupation or multiple children - would decrease you abdominal/ core strengths making you a slow recovering patient. given the giving way it is apparent that the muscles are failing to provide stability at the moment purchase a good strap, let pain disparate and stop the pain cycle then exercise in water until you feel confident again.

GET EXTRA IMAGING!!

[scarletblue]

Hello nmarman
Thank You for your response. I met with my physiotherapist yesterday and updated her on all recent events. She continues with short wave diathermy, and has suggested we meet more often to 'keep an eye' on the other issues. After a thorough examination, she believes I have a trapped or pinched nerve, and while the matter has not resolved, she considers that as there has been some improvement 'we'll wait and see'. She has suggested additional exercises to increase abdominal/core strengths which is what you have mentioned.

I agree with you regarding further investigation and have suggested an MRI, but GP dismissed it. My visit to a Chiropractor was at my own expense, to allay some concerns I had. It was during this visit that it was recognised that I had an issue with my hip and not sciatica as had been diagnosed.

I have been a civil servant all of my working life, so sitting at a desk is an occupational hassard, I also have 3 children (all adults now). Since the accident, I have not been very mobile, I am usually quite active, hill walking, cycling and swimming but this has not been possible although I still swim. I could believe that my lack of exercise is not helping my situation, but I'm never sure what to do for the best.

I will take your advice and in the first instance arrange a further appointment with the Chiropractor and arrange some x-rays. If anything untoward shows then I'm armed with some evidence to produce to my GP.

You will probably have gathered that despite this being a work related accident, I have made no compensation claim, otherwise I'm sure all of these MRI's, x-rays etc would have been done long ago.

Many Thanks for your advice, I will keep you all posted.