Back pain, and nerve pain in lower body

Tagged: anus, back pain, penis, perineum, sciatica

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jgoodma3
Participant

August 10, 2015 at 3:44 am

Post count: 3

#20167

Hello Dr Corenman

I was hoping that you could help me.
I’m a 29 year old male and for a year I’ve been having lower right sided back pain around my sacroiliac joint area, across to the center of my lower back.
Along with the back pain, I also have nerve pain going down my right buttock, inner leg, back of leg, and to my right foot, I also have the same nerve pain pattern on my left leg, but not as a bad as the right. I have nerve pain and some sensorary loss in my perineum, tip of penis, testicles, and anal area, although it seems to be intermittent or varying in intensity a lot of the time. My sitting tolerance is very low, about 30 mins, walking is difficult due to pain; laying down or resting my elbows on a desk relieves some of the pain.
The right side of my lower back is very stiff and painful when leaning backwards.
Lastly, when I stand from a seated position my right side lower back clunks quite audibly upon walking a few steps; although it’s not painful, it does cause me to limp for a few seconds.
All these symptoms started happening after I did a day of heavy lifting; after I had finished lifting for the day I was very aware that I had injured myself as I was on my back in pain for the rest of the day, and vomited numerous times.
I have had an MRI and CT scan, ordered by my orthopaedic surgeon, both which returned nothing significant, only a note of a right sided lumbar transverse process at l5 s1 which is pseudo-articulated.
A year has past now, and I have not improved, and I have probably got slightly worse.

I was wondering if you could help me understand what might be causing these symptoms.

Kind regards,

Joe

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

August 11, 2015 at 7:31 am

Post count: 8660

#20169

Your symptoms can be related to a number of different spinal disorders. Your right sided articulation between L5 and S! is not uncommon and generally is not a pain generator. You can look up Bertolotti’s syndrome to understand symptoms of this disorder but I have not yet written on this disorder (next on my list).

It is not uncommon for a patient to have an isthmic spondylolisthesis that is missed. Look this disorder up too. You will find this on my website.

It is probably time to have a diagnositic work-up. This will involve nerve blocks (SNRB), possible facet blocks, maybe epidural injections and possible discograms. Look these up on the website. Make sure you keep a pain diary with each injection (see website) as it seem that most interventionalists (the individuals who do these injections) do not ask you to keep one. This information is quite valuable to make a surgical diagnosis and is lost if you don’t keep thsi diary. You can download the diary page from this website.

If the orthopaedist you use is not spine trained (has a fellowship in spinal disorders), you might look for a second opinion from a spine surgeon (an orthopaedist with this fellowship).

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

jgoodma3
Participant

August 12, 2015 at 4:46 am

Post count: 3

#20229

Thank you very much for your reply.
I am scheduled to have facet joint blocks and si joint blocks at my pain clinic. I have had a second opinion and he too could not understand the cause of my symptoms.
I do remember both surgeons mentioning I have no pars defect on my CT scan, which based on my research is the main reason for having isthmic spondylolisthesis. Could something such as a pars defect be missed on a CT scan? Or is there other reasons which by a person could get isthmic spondylolisthesis? And could other scans be helpful in determining such issues?

Kind regards

Joe

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

August 12, 2015 at 8:06 am

Post count: 8660

#20232

If you have a CT scan that is negative, you do not have an isthmic spondylolisthesis.

If you are going for pain injections, you must keep a pain diary. These individuals will most likley not ask you to keep one and this would be a mistake not to collect this data. Aggrevate your symptoms before the injection and record your results for the three hours after the injection. Download the pain diary from my website.
Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.
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Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Average rating:

81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

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