After a long period of time which includes two lumber decompression operations, epidurals, Racz procedures I am down to now choosing between six sessions of Acupuncture or a Rehab course which is ten day's long in Central London.
I am on a private health scheme which luckily covers both of the options.
The problem I have is scarring in the spinal region which was created by the procedures that I undertook which has left my left leg numb from the buttock down to my toes. Sometimes I am in pain but I take Pregablin and Amitrypline to help with the pain however I have now been taking this medication for over a year + now which cannot be good.
I am just wondering if anyone has had acupuncture or attended one of the Rehab courses for pain management and if so what the results were ?
Hello Chris!
I am just wondering if anyone has had acupuncture or attended one of the Rehab courses for pain management and if so what the results were ?
My experience of acupuncture is very limited, because when I received this therapy, my muscular spasms where very severe and the act of placing the needles caused incredible pain. This simply amplified the pain and caused an increase in spasms and pain levels, not a decrease as hoped. As I was in this condition frequently, I decided not to continue.
If you experience severe inflammation or spasms like me I recommend you avoid acupuncture.
Perhaps other members can offer you 'a different take' on the subject based on their conditions and experience!
I found physical rehab to help increase my physical mobility and cardio-vascular activity, but the NHS only offer a 6 weeks course, which I think is a bit short. It also helped me find my 'post-op level' of physical endurance and limitations. I found that although I had good endurance, the 'pay back' after the session was totally disabling and I very often fell asleep after the session due to the fatigue of the effort and increased level of post exercise pain, which was caused by the aggravation of my nerve root impingements.
On balance though, I would say that you will probably gain more understanding of your condition and tolerance levels with physical rehab than acupuncture!
I would be disinclined to recommend 'Cognitive Behavioral Therapy' if offered to you. I was told by a Pain Management Doctor that this would be good for me. When I asked questions about the detail of this treatment, she had no information to give me. When I went online to search there only a few clinics in the country and I believe that the evidence for its successes are exaggerated. I find the idea of being an 'expert patient' and having to 'manage pain' to be somewhat insulting!
I find the concept of every day back pain sufferers having time to psychologically alter the mental perception of the 'actual' tearing and burning pains experienced by lower lumber spine pain patients, caused by a nerve root impingement or tethering, to be ridiculous!!
I accept that some people have reported finding some benefit from this treatment, but I just think that Medics should apply themselves to correcting the underlying causes rather than tinkering with the symptoms!
I hope this helps.
Best wishes
SPINELF
Thank you for the informative reply Spinelf it helps a great deal.
Thinking of proceeding with the course on the basis of that hopefully there will be quite a few experts there and when doing the exercises etc they might inadverntly spot something that the consultants have not.
Hi I have tried both., The accupuncture wasn't supposed to hurt but I screamed as the needles intensified the nerve pain tenfold. so be careful. I was a bit shocked as I was really hopeful of it helping.
I have attended three courses and also the Expert Patient course. I ended up training to be a counsellor ( and also took CBT) to see if that would actually help. It did in many ways but the fact remains that I am in chronic pain and no mindset can alleviate that fact. Once that is accepted as a fact then it was far easier to move on and change my lifestyle and what I try to achieve and my aims and that way avoid disappointment. But I am not saying that these courses don't help. for the most part they do, especially to the newly in pain, but so many chronic pain sufferers have been there done that and for these they can be a bit of a waste of time and very patronising. We know all about core muscles and fitness and overweight, and each time it gets me mad when people assume any one of those was the root cause of my situation now. Other aspects covered like meditation and positive thinking can be very useful.
Oh dear I am ranting now lol,, go and report back 🙂
Thank you for the informative reply Spinelf it helps a great deal.
Thinking of proceeding with the course on the basis of that hopefully there will be quite a few experts there and when doing the exercises etc they might inadverntly spot something that the consultants have not.
I like your train of thought Chris!
I wish you the best of luck in finding a positive outcome!:)
SPINELF
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I attended the Rehab course and found it to be beneficial in some ways. I learnt that I could exercise (although not very well) as obviously I am still in pain and also have not exercised for some time due to illness. At first I was thinking hey this is really working, everyone should try this.
I attend the Gym every morning, do the streches/mat exercises everyday but recently I feel that the exercise is not improving the pain situation and everyday I am still in pain and I am still on the same pain killers that I was a year ago. I was told that the purpose of the exercise is to try and stretch the scarring so that it will release the nerve, so there is my incentive and I exercise hard to try and achieve this goal, although I feel sometimes embarrassed in the gym because I look weak compared to most people that are obviously fitter and not in pain. Also in my good leg I have a torn cartiledge from which the exercising has started to hurt more than usual (I had a cortisone injection in the knee to help with the pain) so I am not sure if the exercising has done any damage to this area.
The other day I had a fright as when I went to the toilet there was a some blood which obviously frightened me a lot. Kept thinking should I go to the local GP then thought no I will wait to see if it repeats, luckily it has not.
The CBT process is a good concept but it is hard to think positively if you are in pain and still hobbling around (negative thoughts coming in) and I agree with Cascara on this.
The meditation I did not get on with either, someone playing a cd talking about how to relax I guess is not my cup of tea, especially whilst lying on my back in pain. But I guess it might be for others.
Would I recomend the Rehab course to anyone - yes I think it has its benefits, like what type of exercises you can do, the importance of exercise. Learning about CBT, meditation (how to relax), posture etc,
I attended the Rehab course and found it to be beneficial in some ways. I learnt that I could exercise (although not very well) as obviously I am still in pain and also have not exercised for some time due to illness. At first I was thinking hey this is really working, everyone should try this.
I attend the Gym every morning, do the streches/mat exercises everyday but recently I feel that the exercise is not improving the pain situation and everyday I am still in pain and I am still on the same pain killers that I was a year ago. I was told that the purpose of the exercise is to try and stretch the scarring so that it will release the nerve, so there is my incentive and I exercise hard to try and achieve this goal, although I feel sometimes embarrassed in the gym because I look weak compared to most people that are obviously fitter and not in pain. Also in my good leg I have a torn cartiledge from which the exercising has started to hurt more than usual (I had a cortisone injection in the knee to help with the pain) so I am not sure if the exercising has done any damage to this area.
The other day I had a fright as when I went to the toilet there was a some blood which obviously frightened me a lot. Kept thinking should I go to the local GP then thought no I will wait to see if it repeats, luckily it has not.
The CBT process is a good concept but it is hard to think positively if you are in pain and still hobbling around (negative thoughts coming in) and I agree with Cascara on this.
The meditation I did not get on with either, someone playing a cd talking about how to relax I guess is not my cup of tea, especially whilst lying on my back in pain. But I guess it might be for others.
Would I recomend the Rehab course to anyone - yes I think it has its benefits, like what type of exercises you can do, the importance of exercise. Learning about CBT, meditation (how to relax), posture etc,
Hi Chris,
do you have any manual therapy to supplement your exercise programme?
have a look on youtube, search for "GIl Hedley's Fuzz Speech", it gives an understanding on why movement is difficult following periods of inactivity.
after an bad injury in my teens, which re-ocurred in my 30s, had several surgeries myself I have gradually got more movement and now work in the rehab industry, using techniques like myofascial release, joint mobilisations and muscle energy techniques to great effect, I have attended "pain clinics" and attended various specialist sessions, which I found beneficial in differing amounts.
I also reassessed my lifestyle, gave up a well paid career and retrained as a gym instructor, PT, masseur, sports masseur, sports therapist, teacher, assessor, in that order and a decade later, have just learnt to swim, entered my first triathlon in September ,and am training for an ultra marathon next july ( ps I have never wanted to run a marathon) but working at an event recently was inspried by one athlete who came to see me several weeks ago with a bad shin/ankle injury, which prevented him running for several weeks, he sought me out, travelled over 150 miles to see me and we spent a few hours discussing his injury, training, nutrition, hydration, goal setting and I administered several treatment modalities, 6 weeks later he won a 100 mile race in 20hours 22 minutes.............the inspiration he gave me was.....
if you take the "T" from can't, you CAN,
and I'm now training because I CAN, i'm not saying everything goes well, I dislocated my shoulder a few weeks ago, I pulled a calf muscle last week, but I'm training, slower than I would prefer, Ive had a few treatments from a great sports therapist recently and am recovering and training within my capabilities, and raising sponsorship for "help for heroes" by offering treatments at events to athletes/non athletes/supporters who CAN then choose to donate what they think my treatment was worth to them.
I urge you to keep exercising, ask for nutritional advice (CarolineN , here on HP will hopefully give you her great advice), reseach myofascial release and get some hands on treatment to supplement your programme.
hope all goes well
regards
BGFL
After a long period of time which includes two lumber decompression operations, epidurals, Racz procedures I am down to now choosing between six sessions of Acupuncture or a Rehab course which is ten day's long in Central London.
I am on a private health scheme which luckily covers both of the options.
The problem I have is scarring in the spinal region which was created by the procedures that I undertook which has left my left leg numb from the buttock down to my toes. Sometimes I am in pain but I take Pregablin and Amitrypline to help with the pain however I have now been taking this medication for over a year + now which cannot be good.
I am just wondering if anyone has had acupuncture or attended one of the Rehab courses for pain management and if so what the results were ?
First of all you need to understand that these are 2 different things.
Acupuncture is just a supportive modality and rehab, in you case, is a must.
I think primary for you have to be rehab (cos acupuncture doesn’t do what rehab does) and parallel you can try acupuncture (even for free).
Acupuncture: it is good if you will find an orthopaedic acupuncturist with very good knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics. Unfortunately many and many TCM acupuncturists have very weak knowledge of those and Chinese diagnostic is useless ...
About pain management:
I found that application rehab with some elements of orthopaedic acupuncture for for pain relieve work well together. Depends on condition we use different acupunctures (i allow to use only specific and scientifically proved and accepted styles , they are not studied at the univestities here unfortunately)