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Hello Doctor, I Met With A Car Accident 1.5 Months
Question: Hello Doctor,
I met with a car accident 1.5 months back, my car got hit by a truck from behind. I was sitting at the back seat of the car and was looking at the truck behind me when the truck hit. As a result, I got pain on the right side of the back. Doctor mentioned that the pain will go on its own. I waited for around 3 hours and pain slowly reduced. However, I started getting pain in the lower back (Right side) when I sit or drive for sometime. I went to an Orthopedic and he did an x-ray of the back (Spine etc). As per him, the spinal cord looks fine and there are no indications of Herniated disc. Also, he did other physical tests (For instance, Asked me to lay down and tried to move my leg in different directions) to make sure there is no nerve impingement.
After going through the xray report, doctor mentioned that it looks to be more of muscular pain as I was not sitting in a straight position (Was looking back) when the truck hit and I should go for Physical Therapy.
He gave an Steroid medicine and a muscle relaxant for 6 days.
I started the physical therapy around 1 month after the accident. The frequency of therapy is 1 day a week as of now since last 3 weeks. I started seeing the improvement in the pain. However, the therapist mentioned that the muscle in the lower back which is impacted looks to be stiff and is leading to the delay in recovery even with the physical therapy. He asked the orthopedic doctor to inject the trigger point injections (The one with steroid) in the lower back. I am little concerned to go for the trigger point injections as I heard this can lead to shrinkage of the fat under the skin, leaving a dent in the skin.
Request for your advice if I should go for the trigger point injection. Also, if I don't go for the trigger point injection, will the pain will go on its own with the physical therapy and its just that it will take more time? Please note that I have not performed any exercise at home apart from physical therapy (once a week for 1 hour) till now.
Thanks & Regards,
Ashish
I met with a car accident 1.5 months back, my car got hit by a truck from behind. I was sitting at the back seat of the car and was looking at the truck behind me when the truck hit. As a result, I got pain on the right side of the back. Doctor mentioned that the pain will go on its own. I waited for around 3 hours and pain slowly reduced. However, I started getting pain in the lower back (Right side) when I sit or drive for sometime. I went to an Orthopedic and he did an x-ray of the back (Spine etc). As per him, the spinal cord looks fine and there are no indications of Herniated disc. Also, he did other physical tests (For instance, Asked me to lay down and tried to move my leg in different directions) to make sure there is no nerve impingement.
After going through the xray report, doctor mentioned that it looks to be more of muscular pain as I was not sitting in a straight position (Was looking back) when the truck hit and I should go for Physical Therapy.
He gave an Steroid medicine and a muscle relaxant for 6 days.
I started the physical therapy around 1 month after the accident. The frequency of therapy is 1 day a week as of now since last 3 weeks. I started seeing the improvement in the pain. However, the therapist mentioned that the muscle in the lower back which is impacted looks to be stiff and is leading to the delay in recovery even with the physical therapy. He asked the orthopedic doctor to inject the trigger point injections (The one with steroid) in the lower back. I am little concerned to go for the trigger point injections as I heard this can lead to shrinkage of the fat under the skin, leaving a dent in the skin.
Request for your advice if I should go for the trigger point injection. Also, if I don't go for the trigger point injection, will the pain will go on its own with the physical therapy and its just that it will take more time? Please note that I have not performed any exercise at home apart from physical therapy (once a week for 1 hour) till now.
Thanks & Regards,
Ashish
Brief Answer:
The pain can be relieved with oral muscle relaxants.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
The pain in the back that you are having seems to be due to back muscle spasm but to rule out any disc injury or prolapse or a nerve compression, MRI scan of the back is the best test. The persistent pain that you have can be well managed with oral medicines like oral muscle relaxants and regular physiotherapy. Doing a physiotherapy session only once a week is not sufficient. You need to do some regular back strengthening exercises at home too after consulting your physiotherapist.
The injection of steroids in the back will reduce an inflammation but do not provide a permanent relief. The indentation caused due to loss of fat is also not permanent. But these need to be considered if all other oral medications fail to provide a relief.
I hope this answers your query.
In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.
For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Praveen-Tayal
The pain can be relieved with oral muscle relaxants.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
The pain in the back that you are having seems to be due to back muscle spasm but to rule out any disc injury or prolapse or a nerve compression, MRI scan of the back is the best test. The persistent pain that you have can be well managed with oral medicines like oral muscle relaxants and regular physiotherapy. Doing a physiotherapy session only once a week is not sufficient. You need to do some regular back strengthening exercises at home too after consulting your physiotherapist.
The injection of steroids in the back will reduce an inflammation but do not provide a permanent relief. The indentation caused due to loss of fat is also not permanent. But these need to be considered if all other oral medications fail to provide a relief.
I hope this answers your query.
In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.
For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Praveen-Tayal
Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Yogesh D
Answered by
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