Back arthritis

[lo123]

I got stubborn when I went to the gym tonight and jogged a little before spinning class - and of course my quads got tight because it is too early. Then I had to cut spinning class short because my legs/hips/back whatever was cranky because of my stubbornness I will be ok tomorrow - I just find this troubling me more than I had expected.

Yes Crankin, I hear that hip injection isn't a cake walk, guess it has to be under a live x-ray, and can't imagine what the back injection would be like. My doctor keeps mentioning the one for my hip though - apparently that arthritis is worse than my spine. I am glad to hear that it hasn't slowed you down, and I do not intend to allow it to slow me down either.

So it is good that Knotted mentioned mechanically trained PT here the other day, I already had my appointment and my dr office staff were preparing to fax the order when the x-rays came in. So they are going to go ahead and send him everything...

Crankin - I feel for you. Sounds like your'e dealing with similar stuff I dealt with the past several years.. I think I mentioned the hip injections. My rheumatologist kept pushing them thinking "well, you do have a chronic degenerative disease, this will help for a while at least". I finally got fed up and went to an ortho. He thought it could be hip related, but all imaging indicates nothing that could really be 'fixed'. So, he sent me for a lumbar MRI. It turned out that I had herniated L4/L5 and L5/S1. The latter pushing on the nerve root. I saw a back specialist who said it wasn't bad enough for surgery, but recommended I get an epidural steroid injection (ESI).

I was skeptical (and so was the doc who did the ESI, but he said some women just seem to get pain in the groin from disc herniations). But girl, I didn't realize how much pain I had been in until after the shot kicked in (it was also done under fluoroscopy and sedation). Worth every penny of that copay!

I had that injection in June and did PT in July and September until my wreck in October put me in the hospital...

So, anyway.... The back is weird. Things that seem unrelated, can be the back. I only went for the steroid injections because I've been having such extreme pain for 5 + years. I'd definitely try PT first.

[Crankin]

Great... I've been having groin pain (on the opposite side of the hip thing) for years. It used to happen only when I was not warmed up and then it would go away. For awhile, it was constant, but this season I kept it under good control by stretching well. It kicks in on climbs or when I am really pushing it on the flats at times. It's not a problem running or hiking or snow shoeing. Once in a great while I notice it x country skiing. At one point I thought i had that vascular thing that cyclists get, where the artery near the groin kinks up and I went to the chief of vascular surgery at Brigham and Women's. Despite the fact that the guy looked about 16 years old, this was a specialty for him. But, he sent me on my way, probably laughing.
I had a lumbar MRI about 3 years ago. At that time nothing was there, except "normal degenerative stuff for someone your age." I hate when they say that. Like I am supposed to sit in a rocking chair? I am not sure I would do the steroid epidural, since I have osteoporosis (the one thing I definitely have) that is under treatment. Steroids are highly contraindicated. Well, I guess I am going to have to go to some kind of doctor. I got so burned out from my medical saga, 3 years ago, that I have have only been to the doctor when I've had some kind of sinus infection and for my gyno check ups. I dislike my pcp, as he took over from the one I had chosen, so although I don't need a referral to go to a specialist like an ortho, I think I need to find a pcp that understands an active "older" woman. My rheumo. used to tell me to "ride 5 miles and gain 5 pounds." Oy.

[Catrin]

Curious to learn if others have noticed any numbness in their back while riding. I noted a bit of this today...

I suspect that as my saddle height raises that, in effect, lowers my handlebars and forces me into a more bent position. I currently have 2 inch riser bars, may have to go to 3 inch risers to regain the right position. I will be meeting with my fitter on the Gunnar fitting soon and will ask him about that.