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Suggest Treatment For Pain On Back, Thighs And Buttocks
Question: My mother has acute pain in her back, thighs, buttocks and legs. Pain is worse in the mornings when she wakes up and when she is seated. Pain level 7-9 on scale of 1 to 10. She had an Xray and MRI done. Report says she has Grade 1 anterolisthesis of L4 over L5 likely caused by advanced degenerative factual arthropathy. Early degenerative osteophytes noted at multiple dorsal and lumbar levels. L4-L5 disc shows diffuse bulge with focal poster central protrusion indenting theca sac and bilateral traversing nerve root. Focal hyper intense signal noted on body of L3 vertebra suggestive of hemangioma. What are her treatment options ? She is 64 years old. Is surgery necessary and if so, what will the surgery procedure entail ? Thank you in advance for your response.
Brief Answer:
Details below.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
Your mother is having a disc prolapse.The degenerative disc disease is affecting her spine at multiple levels. The treatment is done according to the severity of symptoms. Medicines are the first line treatment along with physiotherapy. If the patient responds well with medicines then physiotherapy helps in preventing further progression of the problem. Surgery is kept as a last resort to improve the quality of life of the patient. It does not stop the further progression of the problem. Only the already protruded disc is resected.
The main treatment of such problem is bed rest along with pain killers and muscle relaxants. Muscle relaxants can help with her symptoms if used in appropriate dosage in combination with a potent analgesic. You can get these prescribed from her orthopedician.
Local analgesic gels and hot fomentation may provide a short term relief. She can use analgesic gels like Volini gel. Exercise is not advisable in the times of acute pain.
Using an LS contour belt of appropriate size might be helpful in providing support to back muscles.
Physiotherapy also plays a major role in treating such conditions and stopping the further progress. TENS and lumbar traction can help her. Epidural steroid injections have been used if oral pain killers are not very effective and surgical treatment is not considered. Discuss with your orthopedician and an appropriate treatment can be planned depending on the response to medical drugs.
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
Details below.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
Your mother is having a disc prolapse.The degenerative disc disease is affecting her spine at multiple levels. The treatment is done according to the severity of symptoms. Medicines are the first line treatment along with physiotherapy. If the patient responds well with medicines then physiotherapy helps in preventing further progression of the problem. Surgery is kept as a last resort to improve the quality of life of the patient. It does not stop the further progression of the problem. Only the already protruded disc is resected.
The main treatment of such problem is bed rest along with pain killers and muscle relaxants. Muscle relaxants can help with her symptoms if used in appropriate dosage in combination with a potent analgesic. You can get these prescribed from her orthopedician.
Local analgesic gels and hot fomentation may provide a short term relief. She can use analgesic gels like Volini gel. Exercise is not advisable in the times of acute pain.
Using an LS contour belt of appropriate size might be helpful in providing support to back muscles.
Physiotherapy also plays a major role in treating such conditions and stopping the further progress. TENS and lumbar traction can help her. Epidural steroid injections have been used if oral pain killers are not very effective and surgical treatment is not considered. Discuss with your orthopedician and an appropriate treatment can be planned depending on the response to medical drugs.
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. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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