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My back hurts. what will the doctor say?

I just want to chime in here, there seems to be a bit of hating on acupuncture going on in this thread. Quite a few years ago now I injured my back whilst doing something silly lifting weights, I ended up with a spasmed muscle I think the doctor said. I was on anti inflammatories, specifically naproxen, for months and started physiotherapy. Alongside the physiotherapy I did a few light weight exercises as well as stretches to strengthen the surrounding muscles, I also had two tennis balls taped together which you can lean on against a wall and use as a makeshift self back massager. Whilst this improved my condition to an extent it seemed to peak and then it wasn't really continuing to help.

I used to be a big skeptic on acupuncture or pretty much anything Eastern, spiritual, herbal, not entirely scientifically proven, etc. and one day I happened to be watching a medical show and it had a segment on acupuncture. It basically said that the current theory was that it stimulated blood flow to commonly injured areas that recieve little blood flow, in my case this was my back.

My mum found a place nearby that did bulk billing acupuncture so I gave it a shot, after the first time I noticed an imrovement, I would go anywhere from 2-4 times a fortnight and I did this for months and my condition gradually improved and after several months was basically totally healed. Every now and then I feel a slight not in there and a little pain, but it is rare that this happens, and before it was a constant moderate pain that would occasionally have momentary sharp pain if I moved funny. I stopped going about 4 years ago and my condition has not deteriorated, one could speculate that time did more than acupuncture but I had the injury for as long before I started acupuncture as it took for it to heal after commencing it and the improvement from physio while very noticeable, was not huge.

For the record I would like to add that it was performed by a GP who was qualified in acupuncture and they actually hook up a battery to all the needles and send a mild electric charge through them and leave you for 15-20 minutes. Assuming the theory about stimulating blood flow is true it seems that the electricity would likely improve the effectiveness significantly.

I just had to add this because a number of posters I consider intelligent seem closed minded on the matter, as I was until I was desperate and was offered a plausible explanation for it working and free treatment, and also because it could be of great help to the OP. I would never suggest anyone skip the physio or exercises and just do acupuncture but in my experience augmenting my existing therapy with the addition of acupuncture helped leaps and bounds.
 
Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

With regard to NSAIDS; they are all basically equipotent for analgesia and inflammation at the right dosage. With non-selective NSAIDS the major differences lie in their probability of inducing GI side effects. The selective COX-2 inhibitors are supposed to reduce this incidence, but apparently at the 12 month they are still equal to other NSAIDS in that regard as well. The only one that was actually better at reducing GI side effects was also good at inducing heart attacks and strokes; rofecoxib, aka Vioxx.
 
Yeh sorry guys, my post regarding acupuncture was meant to be half tongue-in-cheek/facetious. I acknowledge it may be of some use but personally, given what I've read about its effectiveness compared to placebo/sham acupuncture, it's not really an avenue of treatment I'd consider unless I'd exhausted all of the mainstream methods first. Thanks for the link though divine moments :)
 
n3ophy7e said:
^^ In my personal experience Dencorub and Deep Heat are good for warming up muscles before exercising, and for treating minor muscular pain, i.e. just general muscle fatigue after exercising. I personally haven't found much use for those types of products other than that.

For sharp muscular pain and for inflammation which is causing pinched-nerve kinda pain, Voltaren gel is definitely the way to go :)
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Great excuse to get a girl to rub you over every night. My girl does this to me but with ketamine cream and it helps just as much as the painkillers I'm on.
 
^ Ketamine cream, eh? That's pretty cool! I assume you made it up yourself... what concentration is it and what did you use as a base for the cream? How long does it take to kick in and how often do you need to apply it?

Sorry if it sounds like I'm playing 20 questions but I'm interested in that idea. :)
 
Mr Blonde said:
^ Ketamine cream, eh? That's pretty cool! I assume you made it up yourself... what concentration is it and what did you use as a base for the cream? How long does it take to kick in and how often do you need to apply it?

Sorry if it sounds like I'm playing 20 questions but I'm interested in that idea. :)
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Haha nah I was visiting the doc and mentioned maybe using lidocaine cream on my back to cut down on painkiller usage and he said "this probably won't help much but I like to prescribe ketamine cream for nerve damage so try that"

it's 10% cream in a 100g tub (so theoretically 10g of ketamine). I also have repeats. I haven't used K recreationally before only DXM so I'll try it out at the end of this week and write a trip report somewhere. Oh in case you're wondering it made up at a compounding pharmacy (not sold as a ready made brand) and is schedule 8.
 
i've definitely read accounts in OD of a couple of americans and a canadian or two using ketamine topical cream in pain management regimes. they're normally purchased from a compound pharm and are pretty costly iirc. i can't recall the concentrations. they were positive accounts.

i agree with n3o that the voltaren cream can be a good relief. i've also got an arthritic cream i use on my knees and lumbar are especially in the colder months. they help keep me from going all stiff, mobility is definitely kept in check.

with day to day nerve pain i favour neurontin or lyrica (in that order) for targetting it specifically otherwise it's a matter of dealing with it through means of stretching and little mind games to take my attention away. pot generally helps out as well.

an IM of ketorolac from the hospital is my preferred NSAID = insta-relief for a few hours.
 
man wtf, k cream?
sounds like something that would help me and my legs.
is there a brand name or anything?
 
No it's compounded at the chemist. As leftwing mentioned it's not covered by PBS so it is kinda costly.
 
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