[jazpoppy]

Teach;

Hi. I have severe back pain also, I do have a herniated disk in my lower back (L4/5), Sacrilitis(sp?), a herniated disk in my neck (C5/6), facet joint arthritis, and spinal stenosis, and arthritis in my right hip as a result of child birth, the other injuries are either from a couple of accidents or just hereditary. I've talked about surgery, but I'm only 31 and the few surgeons I've seen don't want to touch me. My primary care doctor gives me pills (yuck, since I'm a recovering addict, though I DO have someone else holding them and giving them to me as prescribed, its worked out OK for about 2 years now, but I'm SICK OF PILLS). Pill just aren't FIXING the problem, and I'm getting worse. I'm going to start another round of PT and Aqua Therapy (which I've done in the past to no avail, but I found a GREAT place to go, and they teach Yoga for the Back as well). I'm going to start swimming, and do my Yoga and try Tia Chi as adding each in as my back can handle it. I am hoping these many different types of low impact strengthening exercises will help me get most of my flexibility back and I will be able to DO MORE and FEEL BETTER without pills! I am thankful to have the pills, as they are helping me because I have no health insurance right now and all I can afford is to go for pain management with cheap pills (muscle relaxers, one type of narcotic, and a sleep medication). I will be getting Medicaid very soon, so once I have my insurance card, I am going to start a rigid long rehabilitation of my back. I'm on one hand looking really forward to this plan, and on the other hand, I'm scared about how its going to hurt in the beginning and I don't want to have to rest every moment I have off from therapy! Does anyone here have any experience with a multiple therapy approach to rehabilitation of the back??? If so, let me know if you had results right away, no results ever, or results after some time, or a lot of time, you know, let me know how it worked out for you! And, HistoryTeach, have you been able to try an approach like I described here yet? If not, I'll let you know soon (in about 2 weeks I start the first classes in the pool and in the gym) how it goes. I feel so bad for you, 8 years of pain! I've had 4 and I'm really depressed! I want my life back! I used to do Karate, Kickboxing, Tia Bo, Yoga, Pilates, and Weight Lifting. I used to feel so EMPOWERED and I looked great, felt great, and I was in the best shape of my life, according to my doctor, I had the muscle mass of a world class athelete! I was so lucky! Then I fractured my achille's tendon, ended up in a brace for 3 months, when the brace came off, I was picking up a heavy computer and I twisted my back and popped a disk (herniated). That ended my serious bid to become a tournament champion in karate and kickboxing. It even ended simple walking around the block for quite a while. I gained a lot of weight, and I'm still working on taking weight off now! I think things will get better with this therapy! Hang in there Teach! We can both get our lives back, you'll see, we can quit now!

Love

Jaz