physiatrist, aka physical medicine and rehabilitation. hard to find outside of metropolitan areas
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Has anyone here ever tried prolotherapy for back pain?
I go to the physio/chiro every month, work out daily, have a strong core, etc. But I also have Ehlers Danlos and my physio says that no matter how often she realigns my spine and how much I work out, the connective tissue is just too stretchy to hold my spine stable. She thought that perhaps prolo would irritate the soft tissue enough to thicken it and make it more stable.
I’d love to hear from anyone who’s tried it.
My rheumatologist is very anti chiro. And he said he’d fire me as a patient if I ever got a neck adjustment. I trust him, so I’ve just avoided the whole chiro thing completely.
My previous family practice doctor was an osteopath, as is my current, different one. The one I used to see thought an adjustment would help my hip pain, but I didn’t pursue it after discussing it with the rheumy. The rheumy did say, though, if I ever wanted to try an adjustment, i was much better off with an osteopath than a chiro. Osteoopaths are gentler, he said.
Rebecca
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Sounds like an overall good plan OP. Chiro never helped me but if it helps you, go for it. These things are never a one size fits all so a little bit of this and that may help. Not such about acupuncture either as I’ve not tried it except for my horse and it didn’t help him bit who knows? Another friend tried for her back and said it helped.
I think the injection, and then PT/core strengthening and muscle relaxer as needed will be helpful. If you need surgery, put it off as long as you can and so long as you are a motivated individual, you have a good chance for a good outcome.
I feel for you OP. I am in a very similar situation, but post-surgery. I had my surgery on L4/L5 two years ago. The surgery was successful for four weeks and then the disc herniated again. I got the disc back into place without surgery basically using my picnic table as a decompression table, but I was scheduled to have another surgery to fix it and I was warned I would need a fusion after that. My surgeon said 20% of microdiscectomy/laminectomy surgeries result in reherniation within 3 months and I unfortunately was one of those.
Now I have a lot of chronic pain, but no one can really figure out why. I am seeing a fantastic fascia manipulation doctor (also a sports medicine doc) and while the treatment is literally one of the most painful things I have ever experienced, it is helping with my mobility. She is determined to get to the bottom of what is happening. I was managing okay with anti-inflammatories, but they were destroying my stomach and my doctor wanted me off of them so here I am.
Honestly, if your doc thinks surgery will help I would consider it. As others have recommended, please talk to your doc about gabapentin. I was on it for almost a year leading up to my surgery and it helped a TONNE with my pain. I also think there are minimal side effects (drowsiness I think?) but it had no downsides for me. It could be a game changer for you. Good luck.
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Where do you live? I can likely give you a referral to someone good.
I’m so sorry to hear this! Usually the first sign is really stretchy skin.
If you can that would be great. I’m in North Virginia up towards where VA, MD and West VA meet
You are in my area. Thrive Winchester is well loved and used by friends for acupuncture.
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Here’s a really crazy idea - have you tried not riding for a couple weeks? I know it’s not your first choice.
Thanks for bumping this. I’ve tried not riding for months. It’s gets slightly better but not significantly. Right now I’m riding 3x a week for 15-20 min at a walk. I am paying a girl to do my at home chores that involve lifting like cleaning my goat barn and pony run in which has really helped.
I had another back injection and managed to not pass out 
it took two Valium and then putting a freezing cold washcloth on my face when I started getting woozy and started hollering but it worked. I waited a few weeks for it to kick in and started PT. I’m 4 weeks in minus going to Kentucky and it has been better. My chiro has done some shockwave and PT is doing laser in addition to all of the exercises.
Unfortunately some of the exercises have triggered more pain in my hip. They then tried to target the hip with hip strengthening exercises which made it worse so I stopped. They still tried light stretches and that was a no go too. So I have an MRI scheduled for the 22nd and we’ll try to stick to back exercises that don’t trigger my hip pain. The suspicion is that I might have a labral tear.
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I’m trying something right now called Core Balance Training. I was skeptical - I do pilates, yoga, feldenkrais, chiro, etc - but after a couple of weeks there’s a noticeable decrease in back pain and an improvement in my riding.
As background, I have 2 herniations at L4/L5 and L5/S1, an annular tear, and a fractured (and crookedly healed) sacrum. I’m also hypermobile.
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Sooo another update. My back has improved with PT. I do still have to be really careful about what I choose to do and twisting triggers it the most but it’s improved enough I feel pretty good about it. Obviously the real test is what happens after PT.
As we went through PT my hip started bothering me more. Either from increased activity or the decrease in back pain. My ortho put in a request for an MRI and I have the results of that. I meet with him the 12th to find out what that really means. From what I’ve heard is surgery is 50/50 on if it’s worth it. I’m pretty sure the tears are from 20 years ago.
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This looks interesting. Do you find it’s really worth the $100 a month?
For a couple of month, yes, Beyond that, I’m not sure I’ll continue because I have the base program down already.
I’ve been doing it for a month now, and two trainers have commented on the difference in my position in the saddle and how much more effectively I’m riding.
(I was already doing pilates and feldenkrais.)
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I have had my hip labral tears repaired three times so far. For me it was 100% worth it. God forbid I needed a fourth I wouldn’t hesitate. That said, if your tears are that old then a steroid injection might be a good place to start.
Good to know thank you for sharing your story. How long was the recovery for you?
I’ve had someone recommend stem cell injections for labral tears but idk if insurance would cover that.
I was supposed to be non weight bearing for 30 days afterwards but never quite made it that long. I think I was back on a horse for a pony ride in like 6-8 weeks. Can’t remember now, I have had a lot of other crap messed up since then physically. Probably 6 months until I felt back to normal.
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No insurance that I know of will cover regenerative therapy (stem cells) 
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