Back Pain

"Low back pain is common and affects people of all ages. It is second only to the common cold as the most common affliction of mankind, and it is among the leading complaints bringing patients to physicians’ offices."-Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine

The sixth of the seven Warning Signs from Women's Health magazine is back pain with tingling toes. This sign I can personally relate to.

As a computer progamer I sit for hours at my PC with less than perfect posture. Some 15 years ago I began experiencing awful back pain. It got worse and worse but I did nothing about it. Then one day it went away. Hurray, I thought. Not long thereafter a stange, new experience began - a shooting pain down my leg that became worse over time. I had no clue what this meant until a friend of my wife gave it a name, Sciatica. My first visit to the doctor was odd - I was in so much pain that it hurt to sit and was easier for me to lie on the floor. The prescription was an x-ray, take some asprin, and rest. Nothing to worry about - until the x-ray results came back. Then the doctor was seriously worried.

A cartiledge disk in my lower back had ruptured. The original pain was the disk being squeezed, then relief when it popped, and new pain as the protruding disk began pushing on my spinal column. A Neuralogist tapped my knees and toes to see if there was any nerve damage (no thankfully) and I was scheduled for surgury within days. There was great concern that the protrusion would bruise or damange my spinal column causing paralysis from the waist down.

The operation was simple with a scar only a few inches long and I was sent home early morning after an overnight stay on some powerful pain medications. The recover took six weeks before I was allowed to drive or go back to work. Physical therapy lasted many months to rebuild the back muscle and strengthen other muscles.

Bottom Line

If I had gone to a doctor earlier, during the back pain stage, I could have avoided later pain and surgery by early application of steroids and physical therapy. I was lucky that the surgery was successful. Sometimes it is not and the pain remains.