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lower back pain-for past two years-some popping

Can't hurt to throw out my issue to the world here...I'm a 33 year old male and an avid athlete. In the past six years I've trained hard enough to complete multiple ultra marathons including two 100 milers. I'm sure anyone reading this is already found the issue. Yes, these types of races take their toll, but I did them with out any issue for the first four to five years. I cross-trained by playing basketball and soccer and now all I can do is run, with a good deal of discomfort. I've tried taking time off, months at a time, but without any reward. I can't remember what exactly was the first moment the injury occurred but I found that I slowly could no longer play soccer or basketball. The symptoms are lower left back pain. They are dull and usually are accompanied by some slight popping feelings. My issue could be aided by a specialist but I have terrible health insurances that won't cover MRI's. I did man up and pay for an X-Ray and it didn't show any abnormalities. A physician looking at the X-Rays felt a Cortisone shot would help, and it did! However, after two months it wore off.

Is there any rehabilitation or diagnostic advice anyone can pass along? I can elaborate on this much more if necessary...thanks world!

J

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Permalink Reply by Shane on August 10, 2010 at 8:03am

There are a lot of potential sources for pain that may not necessarily be captured on x-rays. I am a physician with a focus on back pain and exercise interventions. So you would be an ideal patient. Most back issues can be improved with rehabilitation and exercise kinds of things.

To help give you more feedback or direction for rehabilitation, it would be helpful to know what specifically makes your pain worse? i.e. is it worse with running/standing versus worse with sitting? Factors like that can shape the direction you take with deciding what exercises are best.

I started a blog at www.backexercisedoctor.com to help provide some evidence-based direction for issues like this. It is hard to tell you exactly where to start. Rather than spending more money on MRIs or more injections for now, I would start by finding a good McKenzie-trained physical therapist. They can help give good exercise direction based on your specific needs. I have my favorite exercises that are good for most issues but seeing a good therapist can make a big difference. It should be, though, someone that is McKenzie trained and specializes in backs.

Hope that is helpful. If you give me more details about where/when it hurts I could maybe provide more direction.

Thanks.

Shane Mangrum
www.backexercisedoctor.com