Hi and welcome bobbiedobbs,

Sorry to hear that you are having all those problems with your back. As a back pain sufferer, I know what you're going through. Now, you said that you were prescribed exercises and one of them included weight loss. If you are overweight, then it will definitely benefit you to lose some weight. Another thing you were told to do is stress reduction - you need to try to do that to the best of your abilities... just try to reduce as much stress as you have in your life. If that seems hard, then ask your friends and family to help you cope with all the stresses in your life.

Now as for different therapies you could try, I could suggest the following:
- Swimming and water exercises (and also hot tub with massage and sauna)
- Sports massage/deep tissue massage
- Sleep on a heating pad at night
- Use cold packs during the day when the pain strikes
- Ask the doctor to prescribe you Celebrex (anti-inflammatory) and see if that med helps
- Go for walks on a daily basis. It is better to keep moving than sitting and trying to avoid pain
- Use a magnesium supplement to relax your muscles (1000mg per day)
- Always get enough rest, never pull all nighters... they only aggravate back pain even more
- You MIGHT want to see a neurosurgeon to get another opinion
- Do some research about Lyrica (pregabalin) - I'm currently taking this med for lower back pain and it's helping me

And do NOT do vertical decompression - it does not benefit people with spinal stenosis and spondylosis unfortunately...


I hope that helps!

sport chiropractors helped me a great deal with a similar problem

Check out Vax-D! It's non-chiro, non-surgical, and painless. They offer it in most major urban areas. I found a practicioner in Chicago, where I live. Good luck, hope that helps!

i would not recomend VAX D it is simply traction that has been around for ages and never been proved to be effective putting a console with flashing lights on the traction table and giving it a fancy name is not going to make it any more effective.

I wouldn't recommend VAX D either. It really is nothing more than traction with a fancy name and insurance does not pay for it very often.

It's expensive, has not had an "real" clinical medical studies done to prove it works.

The only studies really available are those that are sponsored by the manufacturer and those that sell the treatment.

Those are nothing more than fancy sales pitches.

From what I have read on other spine sites, the VAX D may provide some temporary relief, but the key word is temporary. All that I have read that obtained temporary relief, did so for a few weeks to months and still ended up with various types of surgery.

It is not a cure, not a anything that will prevent surgery, but at most a temporary relief of pain.

More people that tried it obtained no relief or where made worse.

My own thoughts are this.

VAX D may give you a temporary relief, but gravity will undo any temporary relief by stretching you while you are lying down. Once standing, gravity will pull the disc back out again and bulge etc.

Fran

Hi,

What you describe sounds very much like the pain my husband was having, and no amount of pain killers helped.

He works in an office all day and the pain from sitting in the office chairs is near unbearable.

I got him some memory foam pillows . Super sleeping he used them to help support his back and butt while in work and at home. They take a lot of the pressure off. We also got a mattress from them to help him stay more comfortable and get better rest at night.

Hope that helps.

Try using a shiatsubag which is a great new cushion with 4" firm round balls inside. You can drive with it, sleep on it, gives massage and provides back traction

My friend did Vax-d almost 10 years ago and she has been pain free since. She has played volleyball and had a child since doing treatment and she still has no pain.

I think that it is important to look into all options when you have back pain. We all know what it is like to be in pain and feel like there are no options out there. Vax-d works for some people, surgery works for others and we all know people who have been "healed" by an epidural.

This forum is a great resource for people looking for options and people should use it as such. Do your own research and make your own decisions, but don't loose hope.

I hope you find your solution.

Best,
RM

its also handy for sly spammers

Rollar, you beat me on posting here.

Absolutely perfect wording in your post.

Fran

Did you try turpentine bath(Zalmanov method)?

I lost weight; go to chiropractor; deep muscle massages, tried sitting on tennis balls, purchased an inversion table and a "Jigglin George" I can take muscle relaxants and pain killers, but NOTHING seems to work. Can I have a butt amputation?

Butt amputation? LOL. can understand that feeling all too well, but don't forget about the phantom pain that comes with amputation. You will still have the pain.

In all seriousness though, have you seen a spine specialist and been diagnosed with a spine problem?

Have you had an MRI?

Fran

Yes to x-ray and MRI by specialist in Nashville. Seems I have misaligned L4 and gave me pain medication (hydrochodone) which didn't work at all.

Feels like a headache in my lower back and buttocks (gotta love that word...lol). I would be ROFLOL but I can get there, but have difficulty getting up.

I put on a TENS machine yesterday and it worked for a little while. I'll try it again today.