[Green Giant]

Well,

I've been going to PT now for 2 months regarding my l4/l5 bulging disc. It's not ruptured, and the nucleus is still in place. It is however still bulging and causing some buttock and leg pain.

PT took care of 75% of my "everyday" pain. That is most of the time I can work, walk, drive for 2 hours or so without pain. Last weekend I was told to start riding conservatively.

Unfortunately after about 20 minutes the "pulling" came back and I started to have some of the exact symptoms I had when riding 3 months ago. I'm pretty crushed right now.

Talked to the PT today. He said the disc is healed, and likely what is occuring is that the disc is scarred over, but is still close to that nerve and after a while it pushes out again.

This does make some logical sense to me. I can pass all the tests that would cause major pain if it was blown or herniated (toe touching, knees to the chest etc).

He said my body is definitely out of balance (I broke the left side of my pelvis when I was 17... 18 years ago.). He doesn't often recommend Chiropractic care but suggested I try it conservatively.

A couple questions.

1. Does it seem reasonable that it's healed, but is close to the nerve and could cause the pain (and associated muscle spasms) after a while? It makes sense to me and he has a great reputation.

2. Thoughts and or Experiences on Chiropractic?

3. Any other thoughts?

I've already depressingly accepted that my riding will be curtailed forever, but now I just want to be able to get 2-3 days in a week and survive it...

Thanks.

 

[unclekittykiller]

Check this out, thank me later.

Green Giant,
you should check out my thread entitled "three herniated discs!", particularly my last post. i was experiencing your same symptoms almost to a tee until recently. now i am riding like i haven't been able to in years. i am also in your age range (one year older). i highly recommend the unit i purchased that is described in the link in that post. also check out the second link for an explanation of why it does work. sorry, i don't know how to link one thread into another so you'll have to locate it yourself, its still up on the first page of the forum.

 

[mlepito]

Chiropractic has been shown time and time again over many studies to be the treatment of choice for disc issues with the highest patient satisfaction even 5 and 10 years after the injury. Disc injuries take almost a full year to heal all the way. Even though the PT treatment may be over the disc still needs time to heal with good tissue. You should try to find a chiropractor that utilizes flexion distraction. It is a dynamic type of traction and it's covered by insurance. Decompression is new and fancy, however it doesn't work as well long term and you have to pay out of pocket.

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

Drink whiskey and go see a doc who graduated from U of M. Avoid the MSU grads at all costs.