Back spasms

Waylay

Hi all. Chronic back, buttock, hip and thigh pain on L side due to scar tissue after spinal surgery for herniated disc since 2008. The worst part is the back spasms. Has anyone had any success in lessening the severity, frequency, or length of back spasms? My spasms happen anywhere from 1 to 8 times a week, last for anywhere from 1 hour to 9 days, and range from 5/10 pain and moderate mobility limitation (can walk bent over, slowly, for short distances) to 9/10 pain, complete mobility limitation.

Thanks!

mikehughescq

I had all the symptoms you describe.

Yes. I have degenerating discs between L3 and L5 and a small benign tumour hanging about. At one point I was on painkillers 24 hours a day and could buckle and collapse at any point. NHS Physio took too long to access and worked their way through the usual suspects of hands on for a short period; heat treatment; cold treatment; acupuncture etc. Only the rehab exercises at the end assisted in any way. Senior Physio was all about working through the above and it was fairly demoralising. 

Booked private Physio and whilst one told me I needed to get used to being like this for the rest of my life I found one who was fairly aggressive and put hands on. At 6 weeks the pain lessened erratically and at 8 it dropped to a 2 or 3.

Had a second episode and ignored the NHS and went straight to private. Sane pattern. 6 weeks hands on produced a change and by 8 we were good to go. I then lost 3 stone by accident (couldn’t eat chocolate or drink fizzy drinks for 6 months thanks to a compacted wisdom teeth issue). I wasn’t officially overweight but I noticed that the pain became far more predictable. Finally, my Physio suggested I get a gait assessment and look whether I needed orthotics. She’d never had a patient for whom they didn’t improve some aspect of the pain. 

Was told to not expect miracles. Pain dropped to zero to 1 within 2 days and I’ve largely got full mobility back. It varies and it will come back from time to time but compared to where I was it’s fantastic.

All I need to do is cross train for 10 minutes per day or do 2 lots of small Physio rehab for a similar length of time in order to retain my core strength. The thing with Physio is that almost everyone gives up if given stuff to do on their own too soon and almost everyone gives up if they see no immediate improvement or if the Physio is aggressive. Persist and results do come.

Unfortunately an issue at work has undone much of the above but it’s in hand.

Waylay

Thank you!