There maybe a lot to that. If it was me a would seek a 2nd and 3rd opinion. If there is pain there is something wrong! But of course if you don't want the knife or needles I suppose there isn't much reason to peruse any more doctors. Look into a physical therapist.

Well just got back from the Dr's and he ordered an MRI, and a load of blood tests.. He lightly checked my back out, much nicer than the Dr after the jeep wreck and he is leaning to a torn muscle/ligament down near the s1 its tender to the touch.. Said if it was herniated it be more pain when I move instead of triggering with contact. He looked briefly at my hands/swelling issue.. then said lets get this back in shape first.. If MRi comes back good its off to PT.. and I'm not sure what he is looking for in my blood.. but its a lot of tests..
He did say the ligaments may of never healed correctly from the auto wreck.. he was surprised at my recovery and just basic care I received back then..

Hope it all turns out well for you.

Sorry to hear of your problems...Some of your symptoms sound very close to my kidney stone epidsode last year: Sudden pain, an hour of laying around saying no to the ambulance, can't even touch the area (I could not even wear a baggy t-shirt), heavy duty pain killers don't work as well as Advil, etc. 4 Hours in the ER, 2 doses of morphine, and dose of vallium the nurse said would make me happer than ever knocked the pain down enough to make it a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. Couldn't hurt to have them rule that out as I thought I herniated a disc before they asked about a family history of kidney stones. Good luck!

Eric

MRI will see everything including ligaments. Blood talks a lot as well, could be a number of things he's interested in to rule out.

Hope he is right and its not a disc problem. Perhaps that can be helped with some core training after PT.

Do you like this doc?

So far this Doc asked a lot more questions,, and listened to the answers.. was rather concerned with my answers.. and even more concerned with the lack of followup of the previous Dr's. He comes highly recommended from LVH. They have broke their ties with OAA since I was last seen(last place I went). He is reommending some pt,, and said a regular regiment will most likely be needed. Said he will get into that after the MRI tho.. There are 4 Dr.s that specialize in the back in this practice.. This Dr does not believe in surgery except as a last resort.. even does acupuncture. He still mtn bikes and strangely on some of the same trails we ride our bikes on..

Geez, Cruiser, hope this works out for you. My wife is a hard nosed mtn biker, white water paddler, and hockey player, but has been sidelined while dealing with back isues, so i empathize with you totally.

Best of luck.

I thought LVH was a good hospital, if my stay was any indication. I followed up with the surgeon in Allentown, I don't remember his name but it was a big practice. I'm really glad I didn't go to that other strange place with the funny name, I forget, the one that treated Holley so well.:eek:.

I am glad you finally got DR. that is taking care of you. There is nothing worse then a DR. that doesn't really care if they send you out of there office in pain and with out any answers.Sounds like they got you on the right track! Get well soon!

Hey Steve I hope you're feel'n a bit better.
I did my lower back in at work almost 6 years ago...just went out after twisting the wrong way. Standing in front of a mirror you could see my right shoulder/hip was at lot lower than the left. Tried everything chiropractor, massage therapy, Docs with lots of Xrays (funny how most doc's won't recommend chiropractors), chewed on Robaxacet like candy. The only thing that finally released the muscles was physio where they hooked me up to a Muscle Stimulator Machine (Runs off of a little 9 volt battery.) The therapist explained that my muscles would not let go by themselves and had to be coaxed....man that little machine sure worked wonders for me. Once the muscle released I took some Ibuprofen for the inflammation of the muscle pushing against the nerve and I was smiling again.