What to do for severe back pain?
Patient: I have a severe back ache problem, started with a neck pain 2 years back. I got an MRI done and it did not show anything much, slight compression in C4-C5, which my doc says wasnt a worrisome problem. I went for physio and then managed with the problem somehow. 8 months back, I had a sudden pain in my lower back also, when I saw the doc, he advised bed rest and asked me to take an X ray. The Xray was normal, infact he told me the curvature showed a healthy spine. he then advised blood tests, and that showed my Vitamin D was almost zero. He then put me on Vit D medicine and shots and I did get a lot of relief. The pain was more or less under control with some intermittent spurts once in 2-3 months. Now, the pain has come back and both upper and lower back. My vitamin d is normal now and Myoril has stopped acting on my system now. Also, there is pain in hands and legs sometime. pls advice Doctor: HelloAs per description of your clinical symptoms it seems that you have Radiculopathy due to nerve compression ( Presently at the cervical region ,c4-c5). symptoms for this are same as described by you, but may worsen if not taken care of.If I were your treating doctor I would have suggested you the following:1. please take necessary precautions to maintain a good posture for your spine. you may even use cervical coller.2. Get a MRI screening of your whole spine with brief descriptions of cervical and lumbo-sacral spine, to rule out any disc compression or worsening of the cervical compression.3. Also get a report of vitamin D levels in your blood.Depending on the investigation reports it could be decided whether you need a conservative management with exercises and supportive medications or a definitive management by surgery ( decompression/discectomy/root block etc).For now, please avoid bending forward, lifting heavy weight, sitting or sleeping on the floor, squatting. Instead I would suggest you to use a firm bed and flat pillow to sleep, and always sit with back rest.Thank you.