Lower back and hip pain

[quench]

I am a very active 46 year old  female. For a year and a half I have been having lower back and hip pain.  The pain wraps around to my hip flexors. I now have muscle spasms that puts me to tears. I am tight and sore when getting out of bed in the morning.  It takes a good hour before I can bend forward to tie my shoes. During the day while active not so much pain.  Have been going to a chiropractor for 6 months (didn't help).  Xrays show Degeneration in my L5-S1.  I work hard on my transverse muscles. I do not think the L5-S1 is the reason for the pain. Please help!!!  P.S. have gone to my family doctor, no answes.

Quench

[dmjames]

I too have all the same symptoms that you describe for 2 years now and I finally found out why. I have piriformis syndrome, google it. You can have surgery to remove this pesky little not needed muscle that sits on the sciatic nerve sometimes and mimics disc pain. Let me know if you need more info. on my surgery, which is coming up July 7th.
good luck!
Denise

[catelynnw3]

My daughter used to cheerlead and remembered doing frog jumps one day and feeling and hearing a pop.  After that her hip started to bother her a lot.  She had a lot of burning and muscle spasms. Her back, front of her pelvis, and down her leg also started to bother her a lot.   She went for an MRI which showed that she had a herniation at L5-S1, but the report said it was only coming close to contacting the right S1 nerve root.  She went for PT but wasn't getting any better.  We went to an orthopedist who basically said that based on her MRI and X-rays he took, he didn't see any reason for all the pain she was having in her hip.  He referred her to a surgeon and suggested she have a discectomy.  She was only 16 at the time.  I took her to the chiropractor who strongly urged me not to do it - thank God!  The chiropractics with stretching and exercises helped to get her spine back in place and help keep the disc from hitting those nerves, but it was only temporary relief.  The pain kept coming back.  We still didn't know why she was having the problems with her hip though.

After a lot of reasearch and prayer we found out about something called Prolotherapy.  We also discovered that most likely her ligaments were overstretched, (probably from cheerleading) and that allowed her spine and pelvis to basically move and shift more than they should.  When your spine isn't held firmly in place it is allowed to affect the nerves around it more.  When your pelvis is shifting while you walk, that also causes pain.  The tendon that stretches across the the front of the pelvis was too tight when the bone moved which caused a bursitis.  The muscle spasms were a reaction initiated by overtensed muscles which were trying to do the job of the ligaments.  Overextending overly tensed up muscles causes injury which in turn causes the body to spasm even more.  Anyway, my daughter had her third round of Prolotherapy last week, and it will most likely be the last she needs.  Prior to this, she had gotten to the point of chronic, debilitating pain.  After this procedure, she is pain free, and we are so incredibly thankful.  Because of her success, I have also had it done twice now for a cervical spine problem that was causing a number of symptoms from an accident I had 12 1/2 years ago.

Basically, the procedure involves dextrose solution injections (totally different than cortisone or other types) which stimulate the body to cause inflammation that signals the body to heal itself.  The ligaments can become kind of like a rubber band that has been overstretched, and the Prolotherapy actually causes them to become strengthened and shortened again.  How many treatments a person gets depends on the injury and their own body's ability to heal.  This has been done for many years, but insurance companies are only now beginning to cover it (some only partially and only for lower back).  There is a lot of information on the internet about it if you think this could help you.  Sorry this is so long, but I am so totally amazed at what it did for my daughter and want more people to know about it.  Not sure if it could help you, but I pray it does somehow.

[Zak_Han]

The worse time in morning tell us you possibly suffer from soft tissue inflammation in L5/S1,which is main reason of your severe pain.
So you should try another alternative med for inflammation relief.
Good luck!

[krndhn]

     I think you could be wrong about the L-5 S-1 not being the reason for the pain.  Twleve years ago, after suffering the same symptoms for over 2 years, and PT, chirorpractic, numerous pain meds, a tens unit, and epideural injections, I finally gave in to spinal fusion surgery.  I was 53 at the time of surgery, very active,104 lbs, and in good health and good physical shape, so when the Spine Institute doctors in Clearwater FL reassured me that it was my last hope of being pain-free I chose to do it, and I've never regretted it.  They did say that most patients get 7-10 years of good from the surgery.  I was virtually pain free immediately after surgery, except for incision pain.  and 2 weeks later I was walking without a walker and was feeling fine.  No pain again until just recently.  Now I have different symptoms, a burning and tightness in the hip and leg muscles that prevent me from walking more that  56 or 50 ft., without sitting down for 5 minutes.  I've been through all the tests again, and found out that there is stenosis at the L4 L5 level and I'm trying the epideural injections again.  Today was my 2nd in a series of 3, and I'm already feeling better.  If that doesn't work I will consider going back to the spine institute for further treatment.
    I hope you will consider having an MRI to be certain of what's going on and if you have stenosis, because that sure can cause your pain.  Good luck
Karen