I have back pain and I need to know what is the problem

Since you’re asking no one in particular to address your question, I’ll add an observation. You’ve had an MRI scan, yet don’t have a dictated report of the radiologist’s impressions and primary interpretation of your images. You also haven’t had a follow-up appointment with your orthopedist to discuss the results, which may or may not coincide with your symptoms upon initial presentation to his office. It’s unlikely anyone here, or elsewhere, can begin to offer any explanation for why you’re experiencing intermittent back discomfort and leg pain. Here’s why…

The primary reason for the lack of responses to your question is that you’ve only provided your subjective, personal description of the pain (which could be muscle spasms, a herniated disk, nerve root compression, minor arthritis, a misguided rocket, a cyst impinging on a nerve, inflammation, or any number of countless possibilities). You mentioned your physician’s suggestion that this is possibly related to something “swallowing your disks” and causing episodes of irritation to the nerves. It’s unclear what you mean with regard to “swallowing”, but perhaps you misheard what he was referring to. To my knowledge, there’s not a back condition involving the swallowing of anything, so this is a case of mistranslation during your conversation with the doctor. Next, you stated that at first, “you didn’t realize it was something serious.” There’s no way of concluding this is anything serious, because you have no test results to confirm that. Back pain has been deemed the #1 chief complaint by patients seeking initial treatment by orthopedic specialists, and the #1 pain-related reason people use when they “call in sick” to work. In fact, recent research indicates that back pain costs our healthcare system billions each year, and is unfortunately one of the most commonly “faked” injuries in order to obtain narcotic pain medication. The causes of back pain are still not completely understood within the medical community, so many patients never know the exact cause of why their back hurts.

The majority of back pain cases do not result in paralysis, disability, life-long bouts with severe pain, the need to take drugs forever, or even significant future flare-ups. Plus, back pain doesn’t always equate with “serious.” Believe me, a stubborn or awkwardly located muscle strain, spasms, and inflammation from excessive or strenuous activity can hurt worse than back pain from a disk issue or nerve compression. A good example is a nasty high ankle sprain, which is probably a somewhat common injury seen in emergency rooms close in proximity to Dr. Corenman’s location (Vail). Beginners will set the boot binding too tightly, then when they fall, the boot doesn’t separate from the ski. These ankle injuries can hurt 500 times worse than a fracture, and most people will tell you they would’ve preferred their foot to break off. So again, pain doesn’t translate to serious.

You begin to conclude your post by indicating you have no idea why your back hurts, but that you’re sure you did nothing to cause this pain. Again, it’s not uncommon to experience back pain, and many times, there’s no memorable event that you can connect to it. In other words, back pain isn’t always the result of a fall down a mountain, a car wreck, being hit by an asteroid, or being smashed into the ground while playing football. Pain anywhere in your body can occur from the most subtle, unnoticeable reasons — every year, people strain their backs and suffer from inflammation due to an exceptionally powerful sneeze or cough, two of the most kinetically-violent forces produced in the body. Seven years ago, I woke up one morning to severe elbow pain — imaging revealed a 60% complete tear of the tendon from the epicondyle. To this day, I have no clue how I managed to do that, and my surgeon who repaired it had no answer either.

There’s no possible way anyone here can tell you, “what you’re facing”, “what the problem is”, whether it’s “serious”, whether it’ll “go away”, or if your “daily routine” will return to normal. And, while Dr. Corenman’s videos rank right up there with those action-packed Dirty Harry classics, simply watching these videos won’t lead to the reason behind why your back and leg hurt. Nor can you watch these brief videos and exclude every possible cause for your back problem just because your pain doesn’t match the pattern of pain associated with back problem “X” in Video #4.

Again, it’s impossible for anyone to answer what you’re asking unless you have something to actually interpret.

Thanks SpinelessWench. That description is helpful.

The causes of leg pain are myriad but most commonly, leg pain is generated by a compressed nerve in the lower back. This can be the result of a disc herniation in the posterolateral position (the most common location for a disc herniation). This disorder will cause increased pain while sitting and somewhat relieved with standing.

Foraminal stenosis can also cause leg pain, worse with standing and improved with sitting. Foraminal stenosis can be caused by a disc herniation, a collapse of the disc height or by a bone spur.

Let us know what the MRI report indicates.

Dr. Corenman

Most spine disorders are very painful but not dangerous. A significant degenerative disc at L5-S1 is not uncommon. If you also have leg pain from this disc collapse, you either have foraminal stenosis, lateral recess stenosis or a disc herniation (see website for those descriptions).

You can if you wish send the CD/DVD of your MRI images to the office. Screen shots are incomplete and can be misleading. Call the office at (970) 476-1100 for further instructions if you so desire.

Dr. Corenman