Anyone have back ligiment damage and hip locking up?

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This is very frustrating with back, hip, and leg pain...not to mention I'm blowing up like a balloon again. I can't seem to shake an injury from this past june.

It took 5 months before I could do anything except walk. From November through January I was able to get back on the eliptical and finally add resistance. And as soon as I thought I was over this it happened again in early Feb. Two months later I finally got some painfree sessions on the eliptical...and I be darned if it didn't happen again just a few days ago.


I'm not sure what I did to cause the problem in the first place but this is going on a year now where I can barely walk. A 28 year old shouldn't have this....
Been seeing the chiro every week or so.


Curouis if any of you have dealt with this type of injury before and how long it took to fully heal

Replies

  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
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    I haven't personally had this type of injury, no. But I handled work comp claims for years so I've been involved with many cases that have similar features.

    Have you considered seeing either an osteopath or a physiatrist? I ask because it doesn't sound as though the chiro has gotten you the results that you wanted, and osteopaths and physiatrists seem to get great outcomes with this sort of problem in my experience as a claims adjuster.
  • Curtism1234
    Curtism1234 Posts: 73 Member
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    The chiropracter has helped significantly and I thought I was well on my way back to 100%. I pushed the issue too much at the gym. Then he fixed me up again and again I probably did too much too soon at the gym in terms of high resistance cardio. I think he'll be able to fix me up again in a couple of months but it would be up to me to figure out what's too much.


    I did go to the orthopedic surgeon DO last fall. He pretty much said it was a back strain and prescribed nothing at all.
    For whatever reason, stretching actually makes it that much worse
  • jultwan
    jultwan Posts: 36 Member
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    I know what you mean. I had knee surgery 4 weeks ago. I can't walk for long distance or even go very fast. Used to walk 3 miles a day not at Physical Therapy can barely 2.0 on the treadmill. Oh well. God willing my knee will become stronger and I can get back to where I used to be. Very frustrating. Good luck.
  • Curtism1234
    Curtism1234 Posts: 73 Member
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    Has anyone ever used a "sacroiliac belt" to help support their back?

    Is that something that is meant to be worn or all day, and can you wear it when jogging/eliptical?
  • JennDoesKeto
    JennDoesKeto Posts: 244 Member
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    im 31 ive been dealing with the same pain it actually got so bad it has cause a noticable lump on my back when its agrivated it swells and presses on my sciatic nerve. went to the ortho he told me i had muscle fatigue and i was fat..i said no i have a lump..showed it to him he said he was wrong and could help and gave me a cortisone shot in the spot where the swelling is and told me i would probably have to come back at some point. so far so good. got the shot march 16. ive done 2 sessions 30 min each of my biggest loser dvd's.

    talk to your ortho about a cortisone shot. it may help.
  • Curtism1234
    Curtism1234 Posts: 73 Member
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    im 31 ive been dealing with the same pain it actually got so bad it has cause a noticable lump on my back when its agrivated it swells and presses on my sciatic nerve. went to the ortho he told me i had muscle fatigue and i was fat..i said no i have a lump..showed it to him he said he was wrong and could help and gave me a cortisone shot in the spot where the swelling is and told me i would probably have to come back at some point. so far so good. got the shot march 16. ive done 2 sessions 30 min each of my biggest loser dvd's.

    talk to your ortho about a cortisone shot. it may help.

    Yeah, I've got a couple of those lumps - 2 in the back and 1 on the side of the hip
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
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    The chiropracter has helped significantly and I thought I was well on my way back to 100%. I pushed the issue too much at the gym. Then he fixed me up again and again I probably did too much too soon at the gym in terms of high resistance cardio. I think he'll be able to fix me up again in a couple of months but it would be up to me to figure out what's too much.


    I did go to the orthopedic surgeon DO last fall. He pretty much said it was a back strain and prescribed nothing at all.
    For whatever reason, stretching actually makes it that much worse

    Was it an orthopedic surgeon, or a D.O (an osteopath)? Surgeons and orthopedists like to operate. If they can't make you a surgical candidate, they shoo you out of the office. They only have a hammer and all the world's a nail, as it were.

    Osteopaths (D.O.s) are M.D.s who also have a chiro license. Osteopaths tend to be very thorough and very much inclined toward PT and OT and not very drug or surgery oriented. They can also do chiro manipulations if that's what you prefer.

    Physiatrists are similar in many ways to sports orthos and good Physical Therapists (PTs). Like the good osteopaths, they look at the body as a complete system rather than a series of symptoms and also tend to favor non-surgical, non-drug interventions. They look to restore function to the body as a whole, rather than treating isolated symptoms.

    I can understand why you were upset and felt underserviced by your first doctor visit. But most back strains do resolve with rest alone, so even though you felt that you weren't heard, that doc was going the conservative route with you, which is often the best route. (Frankly, I wish more of them were conservative having seen too many claimants get unnecessary surgeries.) Why didn't you return when the symptoms failed to resolve? If you had, further diagnostics would have been conducted and you probably would have been referred to PT (physical therapy).

    It does sound as though you have a bit more going on here than a simple back strain, but believe it or not, muscle strength imbalances in your core can produce hip pain. If you were my claimant, I'd refer you to an osteo or a physiatirst for a better diagnosis and treatment plan. I wouldn't make you stop seeing the chiro (although I could as I could refuse payment to a chiro). But I'd want an osteo or a physiatrist on this as well. In fact, I learned about D.O.s BECAUSE I had so many claimaints who didn't do what their primary care or ortho said and went to a chiro instead. I wanted to work with them(even though I could have easily refused to pay the chiros), so I found docs who could also do chiro. And they produced great recovery rates!

    And even though people tend to think the WC rep is not on their side, that's not always true. I get measured on whether you can return to work and stay at work. So if you go back to work before you're really better and reinjure yourself, it wrecks everything I'm measured on. Even though we may seem to be at cross purposes, it costs MUCH less to get people the RIGHT care the FIRST time so they actually GET BETTER. So we are on the same side here. ;)
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
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    I'm not just blowing sunshine up your butt. You have had ONE of this sort of injury, while I have supervised thousands of such cases. I know what works and what doesn't work, following these patients for years. Chiro alone rarely works. (And in my experience, most folks go to a chiro for a limited set of reasons: don't want meds; don't want surgery; some modalities temporarily reduce pain; they listen better to the patient--NOT BECAUSE OUTCOMES ARE BETTER-outcomes are ALWAYS worse if it's chiro alone. I've monitored thousands of cases and that's the truth, statistically. I pay for chiro (which is totally discretionary on my part) only because it keeps patients involved ina treatment plan--not because I have any belief that it works. Excellent chiros (um, 10% or less ) are basically PTs, which is why they sometimes make improvements in symptom relief) )

    If you were my brother, my husband, my son--I'd give you the same advice. Make an appointment with a good Osteopath (D.O.) or a good Physiatrist in your area. If you can't do that, then demand your PT (Physical Therapist) notes. The crux of most cases is in those notes--they pay more attention than any doc ever will to you. I solved many a case by carefully reading the PT notes. Not becasue I am a doctor or otherwise super-savvy--far from it! But because I saw that the PT notes did not match the Dr. diagnosis and was able to communicate that to the patient, the care team, and then direct care accordingly. I know it should all be a continuous feedback loop amongst providers, but it isn't. It takes MONTHS for one provider to communicate to another and the patient RARELY sees the notes. They HAVE to give me notes in a timely fashion in order to get paid, so they give them to me. If it's a complicated case, I pay for a rehab nurse to run around and collect notes more quickly. If you aren't getting your notes after each visit, you have no clue what's going on in your case. GET THE NOTES!

    When I had a suspected stress fracture, I went to the best Sports Ortho in my area. He referred me to the D.O. And so it goes...And yeah, I did have a stress fx!