Extreme Back pain (and neck pain/stiffness too)

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jmadzula1
Member

August 8, 2011 at 6:35 pm

Post count: 3

#4759

Hello,

I have been experiencing terrible back pain for approximently 5 months now. I have not been involved in any sort of traumatic injury, and the only thing I can think of what is causing this is that I sit for long-periods of time at my job, working a 12 hour shift.

I had seen 5 doctors before anyone would give me an MRI, it seemed that they all were thinking I wasn’t old enough to have any sort of herniated disc or anything like that. I am 22 years old.

The one doctor that finally did arrange for me to have an MRI done, however, he only requested an MRI of my lumbar, not cervical, and hasn’t even looked at the films. He is confident that the radiologists report is correct, and refuses to look at the films. I don’t have the radiologists report with me at this time, but I am looking for advice on what to do next.

I started out by having just the back pain with a little bit of neck stiffness. Now, the neck pain and stiffness has increased, giving me constant headaches, as well as the back pain. A few weeks ago the back pain started radiating down my right leg, and more recently into my right buttock and down to my toes, in addition to having “pins & needles/tingling feelings” in my right leg and foot.

The doctor put me on a depo medrol pack (prednisone) for 1 week, however that did not reduce any of the pain. The doctor also gave me lyrica when I presented the leg numbness/pain to him (which doesn’t seem to help either). I did get an ESI (which I believe was cortisone) and after 1 week of having that, it isn’t helping. I called the doctor to tell them that the ESI wasn’t helping, and they gave me another dep medrol pack (prednisone) even though I explained to them that it didn’t help the first time. I had to call the doctors office daily to see what they recomend I do, because ice, heat, a TENS unit, etc… weren’t working. Not even the pain pills he was prescribing. I am a little fed up with this doctor and his clinical staff (saying to me that I am “too young” to receive the “heavy duty” medications and accusing me of making up the pain), and am looking to replace him with someone who has a speciality in the spine (I am assuming a neurosurgeon would be my best bet?)

One part of the MRI report that I do re-call is that L5-S1 presents a “mild” bulge. (I believe they used more technical terms than I just did, however, when I get home and find the MRI report, I will be glad to post it here).

I hope I am taking the correct course of action. This has honeslty limited my ability to live life to the fullest. I have taken many many days of sick leave from work, and the most saddening part of this whole thing, is that I have a 5 month old, and I can’t hold him for too long because my pain will increase.

I am just looking for whatever relief is possible, however, it seems that everything I read about people having back pain, they run into problems with one doctor or another.

Thank you for your help in reveiwing my post, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

August 9, 2011 at 2:50 am

Post count: 8660

#4760

To summarize your complaints, you are a 22 year old female with severe lower back pain and right buttocks pain that started radiating to your foot with paresthesias (pins and needles) over the last couple weeks. This back pain has been present for five months and is increasing in intensity. There was no trauma or single event that caused your pain. You are now starting to have neck pain and headaches.

You have already tried oral steroids, an epidural injection, what sounds to be physical therapy and have had an MRI of the lumbar spine which notes a “mild bulge”.

Some questions. Is the leg pain present with walking and standing or with sitting or does it make a difference? Is the back pain worse with sitting vs. standing vs. lifting or?? Did the epidural give you relief for three hours immediately after the injection or do you not remember?
Have you had a workup for other problems that can cause these symptoms such as lyme disease or a rheumatological disorder?

As you can see, more information is needed.

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.

jmadzula1
Member

August 9, 2011 at 7:17 am

Post count: 3

#4761

Hello.

All the info is correct. Except that I am a male.

I had a blood test done for lymes and rheumetoid with negative results for both. After thr esi I experienced short relief followed by “a heavy asleep feeling in both of my legs for one or two days after the injection. The leg pain and numbness is present while walking sittong and laying. There seems to be no difference in the pain when sitting or standing.

Thank you doctor

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

August 9, 2011 at 8:38 am

Post count: 8660

#4762

Sorry about the gender misconception.

The short relief after the epidural is a good sign as an epidural contains an anesthetic like novacaine that temporarily shuts off pain nerves. A 2-3 hour window of pain relief could mean that your L5-S1 disc is causing most of the pain.

Have you had a good and thorough rehabilitation program? An intense program with pilates and core strengthening would be important to reduce the stress on the spine. Chiropractic treatment can also give relief and a trial should be considered. Finally, if nothing works and you have continued pain, a consult with a spine surgeon should be considered. Sometimes, there may be a diagnosis that has not yet been revealed.

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.

jmadzula1
Member

August 9, 2011 at 8:43 am

Post count: 3

#4763

Dr,

I have not seen setup a rehabilitation program for this yet, because I have not received a 100% definite diagnosis. 3 different clinical staff told me 3 different diagnosis’ and the doctor never looked at the actual films, just the report from the radiologist.

I have setup an appt to see a neurosurgeon on Wednesday, and this will hopefully be the last time I have to find a doctor to properly diagnose me. I have heard horror stories about chriopractors and physical therapy.

Thanks for your help thus far!
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Donald Corenman, MD, DC

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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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