Can you spot the owie? (ruptured disk)

[KTM Mike]

Take a look at the attached pic from an MRI I had today - can anyone spot the owie?


Yep ruptured disk - L5 I think it is (not sure... but you can see it there down low - the Doc was rattling off all this stuff...didnt catch all of it)

So...for those of you experienced with spinal, disk type injuries (Fred - I am thinking of your neck issue - not sure exactly what your issue was though).... any suggestions for the care and feeding of a ruptured disk?

The radiologist seemed to feel this was not one warranting surgery - seemed to feel a steroid injection would likely take care of it for some time - said he had one similar in fact - and the steroid inject did the trick for him (he is an avid mountian biker). I assume some PT work will follow....but long term - how do I deal with this and keep on riding?

Any suggestions appreciated!

Mike

 

[Fred T]

what are your symptoms?

 

[KTM Mike]

what are your symptoms?

delusions of granduer...oh...not those symptoms..... :coocoo:

pain in lower back, hip/buttocks, down thigh, into knee, outside of calf, into outside of foot. Numbness/tingling from knee to foot. Bad enough at times, I can hardly walk - like drop you to your knees sorta thing. then on rare and fortunate occasion, it seems I can somewhat walk - not without pain but sorta OK. One interesting bit though - seems when I ride my scooter - life is good and for the most part, pain free!

The doc put me on oral prednisone yesterday - only 2 doses so far - and it does seem to help somewhat. According to the radiologist, the injection approach is the hot ticket though.

I did this, or at least the final straw 7/19 (week before the Jackpine) - been in pain ever since. Saw a chiroquacker about 3 or 4 weeks ago (I am generally not a fan of those...no real reason though) - she said it was likely a sprained muscle pulling a vertebre out of alingment pinching a nerve. Felt a little bit better, but over the last couple of weeks it has been getting worse and worse.

 

[team2by4]

Been there done that bought the tee shirt.

I also had a ruptured disc at L5. I suffered with it for 6 months before it got so bad I had no choce but to get a laminectomy/discectomy. I tried the steroid injections, the excercises and popped thousands of pills with no luck.

The steroid injections for me were a waste of time and the process is less than pleasant.

They do say that if you can tough it out it will eventually go away (I'm not so sure).

The surgery for me was a miracle. It took a few months to get back up to 100% but now I feel great and have no limitations. In fact at the age of fifty I'm riding better now than ever.

Advice :
- For me it took a while to figure out where exactly the problem was. The first MRI was inconclusive I had to a get a different type of scan (can't think of the name) where they inject a dye into your spinal fluid.
- It is important that they know exactly where the problem is. They can't figure it out after they open you up.
- If you opt for surgery take the post surgery PT seriously. I believe it helps.
- Most importantly never admit to your wife that riding had anything to do with the problem. I swear to this day that it was golfing that did me in.

 

[silver]

I think I can spot it .Looks like mine. Appears to be a bulging disk up above it.Time to hang up the riding boots your to old to ride any way. :nener: I did about 3 months of PT and it did help out quite a bit.Some pain but not the shooting down the leg pain I had for 6 months proir.Don't let them talk you into fusing it as there are some very good disk replacement out there.If it comes to that.

 

[KTM Mike]

mike - so yours was a ruptured disk to? I wasnt sure if yours was ruptured or just bulging? Radiologist said the spine above L5 look pretty good overall - some thinning on a disk here and there, and some signs of arthritis. I suspect I will be spending a bit of time with Michelle in Fairview in the near future! (at least she can relate to riding etc.)

Oh - hanging up the riding boots is NOT and option there buddy - no way...no how!

2x4 - My story is - it was a mountain bike ride - a nice, maybe spirited pace ride, on back roads - nothing gnarly at all. (it is a loop I ride regularly). that is the for real story of the last straw at least..... now, what might have led up to that last straw, may be a different story (that I wont tell!)

 

[TCTrailrider]

Good luck with it Mike. Move forward with a plan, waiting could make it worse.

 

[Wolverine423]

Ya buy a new set of golf clubs.

 

[KTM Mike]

Ya buy a new set of golf clubs.

Can't do that... I dont have an old set.... golf is boring anyhow

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

The 5 discs damaged in my lower back did not start out as 5. It was one, then spread over 30 some years. The worst is the one crunching the sciatic nerve, hello Lyrica. The 5 they found in my neck was a little more surprising. That test where they shoot the dye in and roll you around taking pictures is archaic and painful, for my wife! No ffing way they are touching my spine till they get out of the stone age and do some decent work. The cage and fusion lasted 5 years in my wife. But, it was so bad she could not raise her arms. My conclusion, once 1 is damaged, unless you radically change, it will spread left untouched. If you get the fusion, they bridge the spine apart, eliminating how it used to arch. Puts a lot more stress on the ones above and below! If they go in with a knife and remove the bulging material, 1) it grows back, 2) it was what provided cushion between your bones! Being aware of it and not over doing it helps. Plenty of good exercises help out a lot. Practice and racing makes it feel stronger, as long as I keep doing it. 4 days or so off, and it comes back bad. The neck sucks, but the lower back, wow. 2 times it snapped and almost put me bed ridden, from wiping my ass! Step wrong, twist it wrong, or over work it,, time for the hot tub, and I mean hot, 107 is as hot as I can stand it. Pretty sure food could be cooked at that temp. But it does relieve all aches. And for some reason, always comes back!

 

[tdunn976]

Heal quickly, Mike, We need you out there.
Too good of worker to let go.

 

[70 marlin]

Pretty pic's you have there Mike. It took took two shots to get my wife walking with out pain. Good luck!

 

[Don Marsh]

Not good, sounds like alot of exercise & rehab in your future. I know with Deb's back fusion mobilty is key.

 

[Fred T]

delusions of granduer...oh...not those symptoms..... :coocoo:

pain in lower back, hip/buttocks, down thigh, into knee, outside of calf, into outside of foot. Numbness/tingling from knee to foot. Bad enough at times, I can hardly walk - like drop you to your knees sorta thing. then on rare and fortunate occasion, it seems I can somewhat walk - not without pain but sorta OK. One interesting bit though - seems when I ride my scooter - life is good and for the most part, pain free!

The doc put me on oral prednisone yesterday - only 2 doses so far - and it does seem to help somewhat. According to the radiologist, the injection approach is the hot ticket though.

I did this, or at least the final straw 7/19 (week before the Jackpine) - been in pain ever since. Saw a chiroquacker about 3 or 4 weeks ago (I am generally not a fan of those...no real reason though) - she said it was likely a sprained muscle pulling a vertebre out of alingment pinching a nerve. Felt a little bit better, but over the last couple of weeks it has been getting worse and worse.

So your symptoms indicate that there is pressure on your spinal cord. My disc ruptured and was pressing on the spinal cord too and created constant nerve pain-the wort pain I have ever experienced. I'd see a really good neurologist and get some opinions. A web site that you may find interesting:
http://www.spine-health.com/

 

[Mully]

Mike,

Hope this goes well and your back in the saddle soon.

Mully

 

[YZMAN400]

See Mike ya just had to go mention backs didn't ya!

Went riding at the local MX track last night with the boy to break in the new motor on his YZ85 and get him and me some seat time. 2nd lap I was rolling a double and something in my back went sproing! Mega pain. Hurt to breath pain.

Back to the truck to try and stretch and work it out. Being stubborn I continued to ride trying to ride it out which worked to an extent.

But man I woke up at 3am this morning in major pain. Back totaly locked up. Crawled out of bed, took some ibuprofen, and proceded to try and stretch it out. It feels slightly better now other than the feeling that I took a few shots to the kidneys.

Oh and me and the boy woke up late for work/school this morning. Life just sucks sometimes.

 

[MuddyBuddy]

Boy Mike, guess it's a good thing you're not a horse!

Hope you're able to get yourself fixed and back on track.

 

[WomanRider]

Mike, I hope everything works out for you on this and you are able to get out and have fun in the woods.

 

[bbarel]

Probably caused by that 2x4 ktm seat.
I hope you get better Mike.

 

[team2by4]

2x4 - My story is - it was a mountain bike ride - a nice, maybe spirited pace ride, on back roads - nothing gnarly at all. (it is a loop I ride regularly). that is the for real story of the last straw at least..... now, what might have led up to that last straw, may be a different story (that I wont tell!)[/QUOTE]

Good, stick with that story. Better to lose the mountain bike than the KTM. My wife didn't buy the golfing story and started pushing my bike out to the street with a for sale sign on it.
My doctor actually told me that he didn't think it had anything to do with dirtbiking. It was more a degenertive thing that just happens to some people.
Things may be bad now but you will get through it. I know at bunch of people that went through a similar problem and all of them are doing well now.

 

[KTM Mike]

2x4 - I wont need to worry about my wife trying to push me outta bikes - we have been married 27 years - she has put up with all my various stages of riding all those years - never once has she even remotely threatened - (though I do think she once wondered out loud if I loved my bike more than her ...) She might of course try to talk sense into me about how I respond to all this stuff though.

Thanks everyone for the advice and well wishes.

I did speak to my local Doc. today - he called after he got the radiologist's official report. the offical diagnosis "a large prolapse (rupture) at L5/S1" . I asked if this were scaled 1 to 10, with 10 being holy crap, your disk is trashed" , he rather readily commented this is a easy 7.5. Dont sound so good.

PT will be scheduled right away, then I am being referred to a neurologist. They figure it will take about 3 weeks to get into the neuro guy, so felt PT in the mean while would be best to get started rather than waiting. TCT - I need to find out what you know of a couple of neurosurgeons in the Traverse City area Dr. Paul Davis or Eric Zimmerman.

I do need to find some near term relief from this though - I am at best, getting 2 to 3 hours of sleep per night - and that little bit is rather crappy sleep.

When I spoke to my doc about the radiologists comments about the steroid injection approach - he basically said this is well beyond that - but he would defer to the neuro guy's judgement.

Fred T - you are right - about the worst pain I have ever had to. But life goes on... and I will be back in the saddle!

 

[TCTrailrider]

Mike, No knowledge of the Docs you mention but I will ask around. Sounds like you have it messed up pretty good. Cleveland Clinic has a fantastic reputation for back issues, I would try for a referral to go there. Kind of like the Mayo Clinic for backs.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

The only way you are going to sleep is, pain killers, muscle relaxers and anti-inflammation pills. A hard bed/floor helps greatly. And sex, forget that for a while, even not driving causes more pain. I would no way start pt till the swelling subsides. Daily activities are hard enough.

 

[Fred T]

Mike
I hadn't realized your pain got to that point. But when the disc ruptures most likely the Neuro will do a disc fusion because I don't think the ruptured disc can heal and there is enough tissue missing between the 2 vertebrae that they will continue to pinch nerve roots. But this is for you and your Nuero to discuss. I ended up having a titanium spacer placed between the 2 vertebrae and then it was about 9-12 weeks for the bone to grow around it. Once it's fully fused you are good to go for PT. The nice thing was when I woke up from surgery ALL the pain was gone! If this is how it go's down with surgery and PT you will be up and running in 3 months and back on your bike by April - 6 months. Let it heal!!!!

:cool:

 

[fatherandson]

Old Mike,
I hope you find relief from the pain and heal up quick.
Big Mike