Severe Chronic Back Pain

[revmother]

I have had severe chronic lower back pain for years and am now permanently disabled due to it. I have bulging L3 and L5 and arthritis. Back in March I had major surgery on my ankle and have been wheelchair bound. ALL of my back pain went away until I started to bend down or stand in the last 2 weeks. Once I could have my leg down a couple of weeks ago when I bent down to tidy up, reach up to try and wash dishes, stand with crutches or walk with partial weight bearing with crutches within MINUTES to pain came back. When I sat back down in wheelchair or living room chair within 20 minutes the pain was gone. My PCP is wondering if I have one leg shorter than the other so he is ordering leg measurement X-Ray's at the end of this month. Any ideas out there?

[philnoir]

Yes, revmother, I understood this to be so.

Has your doctor ruled out lumbar spinal stenosis? This is another syndrome where sitting would give relief by opening the spinal cavity, and standing would put pressure on the spinal cord causing pain.

Also common in this situation is facet syndrome, where pain is coming from arthritic facet joints.

[revmother]

I had severe crippling back pain Prior to my ankle surgery. When I had to remain in a wheelchair and curtail standing and bending the pain ceased.  this is why we are trying to figure out the cause of the pain because the wheelchair and reclined seating temporarily cured it.

[philnoir]

Hard to say what this is without an examination, but it could be muscle pain.

You've been in the chair for weeks and haven't used your back muscles at all. You may need some physical therapy to get yourself back in shape. Ask your doc.

best wishes.