<p>My husband is in pretty nice shape for a 50 something and he bent down and picked something off the floor this afternoon and something “just snapped” in his lower left back. He can barely walk and looks like a 90 year old man trying to just get around. He has taken some advil after hours of resistance (hates taking any meds and is only one “everyday” medication) and is in some pretty major pain (he never complains and you would think I am living with a 5 year old right now). Any advice how to get through until the morning? He refuses to seek ER care tonight. Is it ice/warm/ice or warm/ice/warm. Any guesses…pulled muscle…disc?</p>
<p>He needs to find the most comfortable position he can get in (although it sounds like a ruptured disc, which means he won’t be completely pain free) and just stay there. This may involve your help with situating lots of pillows in different places for the right support. </p>
<p>When H ruptured his disc, I had to call the ambulance as he couldn’t really walk. It was interesting watching them carry him down the stairs on a stretcher!</p>
<p>Ice, ice, ice if it’s a ruptured disc. It’s inflamed and you want to cool it down.</p>
<p>Does he have shooting pain down the back of his leg (should have asked this first)?</p>
<p>Oh gosh. This happened to me twice. I leaned over in kitchen, and back froze. After my au pair took me to ER, then many tests, I was given heavy pain meds and told to stay in bed 3 days. Next time it happened, I just took the meds and retreated to bed.</p>
<p>At some point, it would be good to have hubby checked for a med condition. I don’t feel comfortable mentioning what meds I used, but they helped to keep me in bed. The pain was so bad that I don’t think I bothered with hot or cold. The treatment for me:“Don’t lift your toddler any more”.</p>
<p>No pain in the legs is good. My BIL had to be taken to the ER, his back pain and pain going down his leg was so bad. They put him on a morphine drip and later that week operated on his back. A ruptured disk was pressing on a nerve.</p>
<p>I’ve done it a couple of times, in my case I’m pretty sure it was muscles spasms. Heat and total rest work best. The first time it happened (in Germany) our doctor made a house call and gave him a shot which worked great. After he’s healed, I really recommend exercises to strengthen his core muscles.</p>
<p>A year ago I was working out, lifting weights, and I heard the “pop” in my lower back - turns out I herniated my L4/L5 disk.</p>
<p>Fortunately it didn’t put me into debilitating pain - although I could sit with no pain, I was unable to stand or walk for more than 5 or 10 minutes. After a year a various treatments (drugs, physical therapy, chiropractic, etc) I bit the bullet and had surgery. </p>
<p>I had a bunch of jaw-breaking things done - microdiscectomy, facetectomy, foraminotomy, laminectomy. Turns out my back was in pretty bad shape - my surgeon said afterwards that it was “a mess”. I really wanted to avoid surgery, but I’m glad I had it.</p>
<p>Quite honestly, if Advil and ice aren’t cutting it, I’d be calling my friends. Someone probably has some spare Vicodin or Percocet lying around, or maybe some muscle relaxers.</p>
<p>I’d agree that no pain down the leg is a good thing. </p>
<p>Interestingly, when H ruptured his disc and they took him to the ER (on a Monday morning), their basic plan of care was limited to pain control, then hooking him up with a neurologist. They did not admit him, but they did give him morphine and steroids via IV for a couple of hours before releasing him and sent him home with scripts for a Medrol dosepak and some narcotic. Of course the steroids kicked in pretty quick, allowing him to at least move and go home. But when he saw the neurologist (after having an MRI), he told him the rupture was very bad and needed surgery (I guess some ruptures can heal without surgical intervention). But it was outpatient surgery; afterwards, the neurologist told him it was one of the worst ruptures he’d ever seen.</p>
<p>Just as a possible way to ease the pain, if he can get in a position that stretches and lengthens the spine (think traction), you might be able to relieve the compression on the disk. For me, with a cervical disc, raising my arm above my head was the only thing that cut the pain.</p>
<p>Generally, the muscle spasms and tightness are a protective strategy by the body in response to disc pain.</p>
<p>^ DW’s first rupture healed itself, but it took almost 2 years, and for about a year of that she couldn’t sit down - she either had to stand or lie down.</p>
<p>The second rupture, she gave it a year and then her neurologist basically forced her into surgery - her spinal cavity was completely filled and she was starting to have weakness in her legs. If the pressure on the cord gets bad enough you can lose bowel and bladder control, and be unable to walk.</p>
<p>re steroids - I forgot, I had three epidural steroid injections (that didn’t help). Scariest needle I’ve ever seen. My doctor wouldn’t let me see the needle until after the first shot.</p>
<p>Heat is not a good idea when the pain is acute. Use ice, 5 minutes on, five minutes off. Our family has had sucess with Chiropractic if anything serious is ruled out. Good luck!</p>
<p>We have had good luck laying down on the back on the floor with legs up on the bed and knees bent. Advil and hot tea. Good luck! If getting onto the floor is out of the question you can lay flat on your back on the bed with no or small pillow under the head and a stack of pillows under the shins. You wind up in a sitting pose on your back. Very soothing.</p>
<p>Ice or heat have similar effects on back pain. Ice is usually better when applied immediately to reduce swelling or inflammation. The general idea is break the pain/flare up cycles by increasing the blood flow into the area. Heat tends to work better if the injury is a few hours old and does not improve. </p>
<p>If you can get it, one of the great remedies is Tiger Balm. It even comes in a patch. </p>
<p>When a similar thing happened to me, I called a neurologist (of course, I waited for a whole week before calling - my pain threshold is very high). The docs will try to treat back pain without surgical intervention. In my case, I was given oral corticosteroids for inflammation control, and the pain gradually went away. That said, a CC thread is no replacement for a competent medical advice, so keep an eye on your husband - if his condition worsens or if you notice something unusual, go to the ER.</p>
<p>He’d rather worry you and get advice off of a an internet board than go to the ER? That doesn’t fly at my house. Personally I’d tell him he can either get in the car or I’m calling an ambulance. I don’t mess around with my health or my husband’s.</p>
<p>When it happened to me I went to a chiropractor and within a couple of weeks was walking fine. The one I went to used heat and vibration in addition to adjustment. Since it was sudden this could work for him too.</p>
<p>Personally, if he’s not experiencing shooting pain or numbness in the legs and can manage the pain to a tolerable level, I wouldn’t go spend six hours in the emergency room where he will be even more uncomfortable. I would go to the doctor tomorrow, get the prescription for the steroids to reduce inflammation along with the painkillers/muscle relaxers, and see how it all unfolds. Mine cervical disc problem resolved itself over two weeks and that’s not unusual.</p>
<p>No matter how it unfolds, he should a) stop doing crunches and b) begin a program of modern core stability exercises (see Stuart McGill). Personally, I would probably buy one of McGill’s books, because lumbar disc problems can be greatly improved with the right approach. BTW, McGill says that the injuries almost always occur when doing something simple like tying a shoe or picking up a sock off the floor.</p>
<p>To husband’s defense, he just feels better waiting to go to our doctor in the morning. (I have already made an appointment with nurse on call) Last time he went the ER for stiches, he caught a staph infection and 8 stitches turned into a 2 week nightmare. To say he is guarded about ERs is the world’s biggest understatement. Just trying to make him comfortable till the morning. I wouldn’t hesitate to call an ambulance if I thought it got that bad.</p>
<p>Make sure you insist that he get a lumbar MRI to evaluate the condition of the discs. Many times all doctors want to order is an xray, which will only show bone and not show the discs, nerves, etc.</p>
<p>Has your husband had any past history of back issues before this incident? I had years of back spasms, stiffness, and pain that went down my right leg to the knee. My pain got so intolerable one weekend that I finally insisted that they do an MRI. It revealed 2 ruptured discs (13mm and 14mm) at L4-L5 and L5-S1 respectively. They did a microdisectomy at L4-L5 because that disc was pressing against a nerve. They left the level below that alone because this rupture wasn’t pressing against any nerves. In a week or so the pain subsided greatly and I wasn’t in much pain but I developed a DROPPED FOOT. It was for this reason that I had the surgery. The surgery got rid of my dropped foot, but I developed other issues post-surgery such as peripheral neuropathy (burning in both legs and feet), and a determination of spinal stenosis (narrowing of the nerve canals due to calcification). </p>
<p>I would advise against surgery, unless the disc is pressing against a nerve which could result in partial paralysis if not surgically cleaned up. </p>
<p>Good luck to your husband, and I hope they don’t find anything too terribly wrong after performing an MRI. By the way, have them do the MRI without contrast (forgoing an IV). Both my neurosurgeons and neurologists tell me it was completely unnecessary to do my first MRI with contrast. If he should do any follow-ups with a Chiropractor, I would NOT let them perform any “adjustments” if his discs are compromised. They can sometimes do more harm than good.</p>