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Southern Alberta | I injured my back about 12 years ago. It had the nerve pinched quite tightly and steadily got worse because it could not move out of the way when doing normal movement.
Ended up paying for a MRI as the Alberta gov't was going to be a year to get in. With the MRI that I paid for the local physican was able to speed me up seeing a back specialist (another 3 month wait).
In the meantime it got so bad that I could not sit for more than 3-4 minutes at a time and was on percoset. Was told about a machine called a VAX D table. It is a special traction table that can put tremendous pulls on your back and has a very high success rate on pulling the ruptured disc away from the nerve. I helps to have the MRI so they know which disc they are aiming for and they can change the pull angle to get max effect. I went in for this treatment as I thought that in another week I wouldn't be able to walk anymore. After the first session I felt way better. That evening I sat at a party in the same chair for 4 hours. Had been 5 minutes max only the day before. Does not work for everyone, but if it is a pinched nerve, the machine worked excellent.
Things that I learned about backs in Alberta:
Most injuries cure themselves in 1-3 weeks, so the regular doctor must go through the regular steps and make sure that you have given it a proper amount of rest. Probably 95% of them will cure in this period. Specialists will not even look at you unless you have waited your time or have a paid for MRI that shows something.
If the injury is severe, get yourself into the hospital. Being the tough guy I was it took way longer at home and occasional doctor visits than it would have if I was taking up room in a hospital bed. If it is serious enough you will be fast tracked and have a cat scan or mri within the week if you are in a hospital bed. Biggest mistake that I made was not getting checked into the hospital, it shows the doctors that you have something serious going on.
Go see a physiotherapist. They do an excellent job of assesment. If you have nerve root entrapment it will usually show up on a physiotherapists examination. Often they can even tell where it is trapped. If they find something serious then the MRI or hospital bed may be the way to go. If there is no nerve root entrapment then it is much harder to fix. Soft tissure injuries are very hard to diagnose and correct. Usually time heals these.
Good luck. Make sure that you let it heal before playing hockey again too soon. An extra weeks worth of healing may save another months worth of injury. | |
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Anyone an expert in back pain/injurys?
