What Causes Pain Around Sternum, Lower Back Muscle Spasms And Herniated Disc?

Posted on Sat, 8 Aug 2015

Question: I have a herniated disc at t7 t8. Sharp pains run around my rib to my sternum, mainly on the left side but also on the right. There are also random sharp pains in my abdomen with odd muscle spasms in my left stomach area occasionally. If I sit or stand I get pains that shoot down my spine. The disc itself aches constantly and my condition has been getting progressively worse over the past 4 months. I have almost continuous muscle spasms in my low back but cyclobenzeprene helps with that. The back of my legs ache as well as my knees at times but it may be one knee or the other. It is painful to bear down when I use the bathroom. I take percocet every 6 hrs just to be able to tolerate it. My neurosurgeon put me on a round of steroids but it didn't help. I am due to have a discogram on l4/l5 and s1 that was set up by my surgeon a month ago. I requested then that they do a thoracic mri when the radiologist found the herniation at t7 t8. My neurologist saw the MRI and put me on bed stating that it could cause paralysis. The pain was so severe and I had tingling in my feet so I went to the ER. They did a lumbar CT, gave me a shot of demerol and fenergren, did not even check my reflexes, wrote some Rxs and sent me home. I'm not sure if I should wait this out or go somewhere else.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
You can wait for a week and see if it subsides.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
The symptoms that you are having are due to nerve root compression at the level of spine. It is also responsible for the muscle spasms. The main treatment of this condition is bed rest and pain killers in combination with muscle relaxants. Local steroid injections can help in relieving the symptoms. Since there is no muscle weakness and the strength of limbs is normal there is no immediate need of surgical decompression. The steroid injection will help in decreasing the symptoms in next few days.
Regular physiotherapy and back muscle strengthening exercises are recommended after the acute pain subsides.
It is best to wait for a few days and take muscle relaxants orally. In case the acute pain persists then do consult your neurologist for further action.
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

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (36 minutes later)

I've been on bed rest since July 1st taking the muscle relaxers and percocet and it seems to be just progressively getting worse instead of better. Do you think the injections and physical therapy will be a long term fix? The mri showed loss of disc height as well. I've been dealing with the leg pain for what will be three years in October. The other symptoms only started showing up about 4 months ago. Everyone has been looking at my lumbar region for answers... but I've always felt the problem was highet up.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Injections will help for 4-6 weeks.

Detailed Answer:
Hello.
Thanks for writing again.
If you are already on bed rest and the symptoms are progressively getting worse then you need to consult your neurosurgeon and ask him to consider for surgical decompression. Injections do provide relief for 4-6 weeks. Physiotherapy retards the further progression of the problem. It also helps in symptomatic improvement. You will have to do physiotherapy even after the surgical correction to avoid any further deterioration.
Hope my answer is helpful.
Do accept my answer in case there are no further queries.
Regards.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad