I'm currently under treatment from an outstanding chiropractor I visit 3 times a week. He works with the U.S. Olympic team and is a competitor himself.

While the guy I finally stuck with wasn't with the Olympics he was with a weight lifting team and a competitor too. They seem to have a better understanding of this type injury and how to treat it.

 

over the counter 'TENS' device

Been there, done that. All it does for me is change the time of the pain to, "later".

do the ankle joints in them wear or compress over time?

No gots ankle joint. All that is accomplished by springiness of the foot, and yes, the feets do collapse, but I got a new one about 14 months ago. No risk on that one for about 3.5 to 4 years. Still, my first move is always to check for equal length of my legs.

 

While the guy I finally stuck with wasn't with the Olympics he was with a weight lifting team and a competitor too. They seem to have a better understanding of this type injury and how to treat it.

It's also a difference of philosophy. Instead of using pain pills or surgery, they prefer diet and adjustments – methods that allow the body to heal itself. Solve the problem, don't just treat the symptoms.

 

It's also a difference of philosophy. Instead of using pain pills or surgery, they prefer diet and adjustments – methods that allow the body to heal itself. Solve the problem, don't just treat the symptoms.

I've really made a lot of improvements in my lower back over the last 6 months with nothing more than regular and properly done stretching and core muscle building exercises.

Every time I do them they hurt but in trade I don't hurt while doing my normal day to day grunt work!

 

One of the therapies that my chiropractor has every single patient do is cervical traction. There's a gizmo you can hook over a door and has padded areas you place behind your neck and under your chin. As you squat, it stretches your entire spine and helps restore proper curve in your neck. Sounds like torture but it's very helpful in clearing away pinches and spasms. I'd recommend it to anyone. Simple, cheap, quick and effective.

 

regular and properly done stretching

I get the best results stretching when I awake in the morning. That's as low as my muscle tone is going to be that day.

every single patient do is cervical traction.

Maybe that applies properly to the kind of patients that hire him, but I have never had any pain or weakness in my neck except right after anybody tries to "adjust" it. This one is not for me.

 

You're not hearing me. This therapy has had a big impact on my lower back and mid shoulder issues. I have no neck problems other than a slight computer-user slump forward. Good curvature and discs.

 

You're not hearing me. This therapy has had a big impact on my lower back and mid shoulder issues. I have no neck problems other than a slight computer-user slump forward. Good curvature and discs.

Good to know, I didn't sleep a wink past 3am this morning, lower back pain. My sons neck has one of those traction collars, he was trying to put in a lift kit on his Jeep and really did nothing.

However, we have a cold front moving through and rain this week. I'm positive the weather is responsible for both our issues.

kv

Edit: Good Luck #12

 

The specific device I'm using is like the one below. I went to look for a picture and was surprised how many different kinds of neck stretchers there are! A friend found mine at a garage sale for $20, still in the package.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Pettibon-System-No-Model/dp/B004O83JY8

 

One of the therapies that my chiropractor has every single patient do is cervical traction. There's a gizmo you can hook over a door and has padded areas you place behind your neck and under your chin. As you squat, it stretches your entire spine and helps restore proper curve in your neck. Sounds like torture but it's very helpful in clearing away pinches and spasms. I'd recommend it to anyone. Simple, cheap, quick and effective.

That's what I do from time to time but unfortunately finding one that is built for big muscular guys with thick necks that also need 100+ #'s of tractive force to overcome natural muscle tone has been hard.

Apparently whoever designs them thinks most people are malnourished asians that could have their heads ripped from their bodies by a helium balloon.

I need one built for this guy.

 

Another front moves through, I was up again at 3am, my son and his girlfriend both said their backs are acting up.

I think there is a definite connection between the two.

kv

Edit: Hope your doing better @#12 Back pain sucks big time.

 

Another front moves through, I was up again at 3am my son and his girlfriend both said their backs are acting up.

Ok

I think there is a definite connection between the two.

If you mean, a connection between your sone and his girlfriend, I hope so.
If you mean a connection between your back and your son and his girlfriend, I hope not.

 

Hope your doing better @#12 Back pain sucks big time.

I fired my doctor, got a new one, and found a new cure!
I started cortisone pills on Friday at noon. By Saturday at 10 PM, I was without spasm for the fist time in 15 days.

I want y'all to remember, this is not a nerve or bone problem, it is the worst muscle spasm I have ever had without a bone or nerve cause.
I have reason to believe I'll be free of this in another week.

 

I guess someday I will know what this pain is all about.

 

I guess someday I will know what this pain is all about.

Don't count on it. Back pain is still a bit of a mystery. My daughter is studying to be an Army physical therapist. She's learned that if you compared the x-rays and MRIs of 100 patients with back pain, to a group of 100 with no pain, you would not be able to tell which group is which. Imagining is of zero diagnostic value for pain. Fortunately they have other tools to measure the speed and bandwidth of nerve activity in the body, and these do provide some useful information. As you can imagine, the Army is spending on research in this area and progress is being made.

 

you would not be able to tell which group

Three years ago, that squished disk was obvious to see. Now it shows on the image as 90% healed and I am very happy about that because it feels 90% healed!
Right now, I have a muscle spasm that is invisible on imaging, but I couldn't even crawl to water for 4 days.
Some of them show up and some of them don't. Sometimes you get an obvious image of a real problem, and sometimes you can't see squat on a person who would have died if help did not arrive. I suppose some of the images of backs look wrecked and still function, but I have not had that honor.

 

My wife is a chiropracter. She can help most people with back pain using a combination of chiropractic treatment, massage to help relieve muscle spasm and acupuncture. But you usually need more than one seasion to cure the problem and then regularly afterwards, at least every few months, to prevent recurrence. But if there's no benefit after 3 sessions its usually not going to help. And you do feel like you,ve been hit by a train afterwarda

 

My wife is a chiropracter. She can help most people with back pain

Been there, done that. I had a good D.O. for 20 years and he decreased the number of days I couldn't walk by 90%. It took him 3.5 years to achieve 90% and then he held that number for 16+ years, and then he quit to be a surgeon.

Now I am 5 years away from when I had good care and the costs are showing up.
Insurance company doesn't want to pay$2000 for routine monthly maintenance across 5 years? Fine. They have paid ten times that much for 20 days of in-patient care in the last 3 years. Penny wise and pound foolish.

 

I fired my doctor, got a new one, and found a new cure!
I started cortisone pills on Friday at noon. By Saturday at 10 PM, I was without spasm for the fist time in 15 days.

I want y'all to remember, this is not a nerve or bone problem, it is the worst muscle spasm I have ever had without a bone or nerve cause.
I have reason to believe I'll be free of this in another week.

Mine is muscle spasms also. I used to be flat on my back about twice a year. It would start to hurt and I would bend over to relieve the pain. That would make it worse. A trip to the doctor for pain pills and muscle relaxers was the fix. When we moved to California I could feel it starting to go so I went to the drug store searching for something to help. The pharmacist saw me looking and ask what I was looking for. I told him and he handed me a bottle of Advil. He said one of it's side effects is that it is a muscle relaxer. It worked like magic! Ever since when I am going to work my back I take some. I haven't been laid up for 30 years. About a week ago after a really bad round of golf I felt the same feeling, but it passed.

 

A trip to the doctor for pain pills and muscle relaxers was the fix.

The, "War on Drugs" has arrived here. We even have a county level committee of self appointed crusaders against, "quality of life" medicine. They actually go into doctors offices and intimidate them not to prescribe for their patients. Basically, the only things around here you can get treated for are cancer and spinal cord injury, and I refused the, "Pain Management" for the squished disk because the price of admission was injections right into my spinal cord! I'm not going to risk abscess, paralysis, and infection for a shot of cortisone that will not change the long term outcome of my healing. The only reason to do that is the >$1000 that Medicare pays for the injection. Cash flow at the risk of permanent paralysis? Not on your life!!!
http://www.thennt.com/nnt/steroids-for-acute-spinal-cord-injury/

I have had a 2 bottles of good, opiod pain pills in the last 5 years, but I have been through 7 different anti-spasmodics in 50 years so I know which work for me and which have the least side effects. (Parafon Forte, Robaxin, Baclofen, Valium, Flexeril, Skellaxin [Metaxalone] and one I can't remember.) I have also discovered that Tramadol is effective for me. Tramadol is DEA class 4 while Hydrocodone is a DEA class2. Local doctors dare The Committee to challenge them about Tramadol. I expect the DEA will get around to escalating the alleged danger of Tramadol soon enough. They have already jacked its rating up once, back in 2014. Right while I was in hospital with the squished disk. I got out of hospital only to find all my refills had been cancelled by the elevation in DEA rating. We can't have any effective treatments available, at any level of risk. So I did the disk healing with nothing to treat pain or spasms (which continued unabated for at least 8 months).

The surprise this time is how effective cortisone is! Cortisone has way worse side effects than pain killers or anti-spasmodics, so cortisone was last on my list to take, but after 14 days of constant, major pain, and no possibility of pain pills, I was willing to do what the dr. said. Cortisone has always been the magic bullet for my arthritis. Half the recommended dose and I have relief in 12 hours! I have had a bottle of cortisone laying around for at least 10 years and average 10 pills per year because I refuse to take it until I am pretty much completely crippled, non-functional, can't walk. Still, it took me 4 years and 4 different doctors to get a refill. Now I can throw away the 5 year old pills and start on my new cortisone pills. I have a 10 year supply! I will also be getting injections on Tuesday, directly into the renegade muscle.

So, bottom line, it is nearly impossible to get treatment around here. I even had to go to two different hospitals last week to get treated until I could walk and feed myself. The first one gave me a shot of pain killer and sent me home like a, "frequent flyer" (drug addict). After another 24 hours of, "can't stand up enough to get to water" the second hospital fed me for 3 days, did a lot of, "rule out" tests, and found a dreadful potassium deficit. I gave more blood to get that checked on Friday and will know the result on Tuesday. Meanwhile, I have enough Tramadol for 1/3rd of the recommended dose and a bottle of Baclofen which I don't expect to use up. I quit taking Skellaxin 3 days ago I quit taking Flexeril yesterday because I'm getting better.

I also got new shoes today, new height inserts, and will have them checked for equal leg length on Tuesday.

Edit: post #47 reminds me that Naproxin was one of the medications I tried over the years.