a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

[Pompal 09.]

my neighbor just told me this story and i found it both typical and unbelievable at the same time.

about a year ago she was having a lot of back pain that limited her ROM. she went to her doctor - "my back hurts". what she described to me was her doctor looking at and then touching her back with an astonished "wow that's really bad". her muscles, he told her, were very tight and knotted up - the worst he's ever seen. so he injected my neighbor with some drug she is not familiar with - directly into the muscle tissue. she went home, felt little to no relief and returned a few days later. he injected some other drug directly into the muscle with the same outcome. when she returned the third (might have been the fourth) time the doctor busted out the big guns. morphine.

i'll skip the part of the story where she describes what the morphine made her body feel like, as i'm sure you all can imagine. her pain was gone. apparently the morphine relaxed her body enough and for long enough that her back did not immediately tighten back up. the treatment was successful.

AND she wasn't telling me this story in the context of massage. she was talking about her chronic back pain (from which she still suffers and does not understand where it comes from) and offered up this story as validation. "my back gets so bad - one time i even needed an injection of morphine!" neither she nor her family feel any shock about the way she was treated. it's totally normal to them.

in school we're taught how people who suffer from chronic pain can benefit from bodywork - either to ease some of the symptoms of their "chronic pain syndrome" or even address it directly. and sometimes while talking to a massage therapist i'll hear about this or that doctor who refers patients for massage. but i have never met a person off the street or known any friend or family member who saw a doctor for pain and was told to get a massage.

i get that massage and bodywork are often times overlooked as effective therapies by a large portion of MDs and insurance providers... and i'm sorry if i'm harping on a topic that has been talked to death here - but i'm new to this and have never before recognized just how ignored it is.

my mouth is agape.

 

[joanne342]

a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

Yeah, I feel the same way every time I see a pain relief commercial for aspirin. Well, felt the same way--we since got rid of our cable. I completely understand your frustration, I had a client who came to me as a last resort b/c she didn't want to have another shot of botox in her muscle tissue. When she got the first shot, the doctor wasn't sure how much to use and her entire upper back froze up and then started feeling better after a few weeks. It did feel better after that (in which case, did it feel better than her initial complaint, or just better than when it froze up?).

The shot was wearing off and she finally came in for a massage on a referral. Fortunately, she didn't have to get another shot again. I understand botox can help with pain, but when it's due to chronically tight and stressed muscle tissues and the nerve finally regenerates, the problem will just come right back and maybe be worse as the client, now pain-free, would have continued with the same movement patterns that got them there in the first place.

 

[smdiner]

a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

I understand botox can help with pain, but when it's due to chronically tight and stressed muscle tissues and the nerve finally regenerates, the problem will just come right back and maybe be worse as the client, now pain-free, would have continued with the same movement patterns that got them there in the first place.

right!?!?!?

my mom has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and at my request, asked her pain management doctor if and how massage (myofascial release and craniosacral therapy) could help. his response was "sure, you could try it and see. but it won't cure your FM. it may offer short term relief but you'll have to keep on getting that therapy for the rest of your life." then he scheduled her epidural. :roll:

 

[americ.adian]

a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

This is something that never ceases to amaze me.
Doctors are people with years and years of education and experience, yet they seem to be absolutely clueless about musculoskelatal conditions (and the only reason that MD's even acknowledge fibromyalgia is because now they have a drug to prescribe).
It is a sad commentary on what was once was a healing profession that they offer only two "fixes" to patients (and neither of them is a "cure")...
- a drug
or
-surgery.

I have had three clients whose doctors scheduled them for MRI's for headaches...
client number one - had suboccipital trigger points that referred in a typical pain pattern - her exact headaches were reproduced in our session when I located the tp's. I treated her, gave her some self care suggestions.
She experienced relief and never went for MRI. She continued to receive massage periodically.
client two - presented EXACTLY the same. I demonstrated that the trigger points reproduced the reviewed headaches, treated, and gave suggestions for self care. Although she reviewed great improvement, she did not return to me and a month later DID go for MRI (which of course, did not result in a diagnosis from her doctor.). :undecided:
client three - from out of state, relative of a current client. EXACT same scenario. She returned home after I treated her and I just heard from her relative that she experienced much relief from her headaches for weeks. Then her doctor sent her for MRI. Oh and still no diagnosis.
I went over some selfcare suggestions with my client and she is going to help relative find a competent MT locally.

THIRD time I have had a client sent for an MRI for trigger points!!!

Seriously - I cannot believe how myopic, and unwilling to HELP their patient if it means sending them to a CAM provider, some medical care providers are. :shock:
Dude - it's FIRST, do no harm.

I only have ONE client whose doctor actually knew about trigger points and suggested that she receive bodywork FIRST.

When in school we are told over and over "when in doubt - refer out".
I guess that's only MT's?

 

[Breeze M]

a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

One of my mentors told me that in medical school, students only get about 80 hours on the musculoskeletal system. It's those few physicians who actually read about trigger points, and you're fortunate if you get on on your referral network!

 

[bitch]

a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

It puts clients in a tough postion. Here you have a Dr. telling you to get a shot that should help with the pain and you only pay your co pay. Or have a MT tell you I can help you with the pain, but it will cost you $60. What would you pick? Most people are going to listen to the Dr. an pay the $20 co pay and suffer till they can't take it any more. And that's went they will try a massage bc a friend has been bugging them to give it a try

 

[Kate]

a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

It puts clients in a tough postion. Here you have a Dr. telling you to get a shot that should help with the pain and you only pay your co pay. Or have a MT tell you I can help you with the pain, but it will cost you $60. What would you pick? Most people are going to listen to the Dr. an pay the $20 co pay and suffer till they can't take it any more. And that's went they will try a massage bc a friend has been bugging them to give it a try

That's the biggest part of it for sure.
In my experience I have also seen some people that choose not to take an active role in their own healing.
And, as many of us have seen, there are a few people who would rather have the condition (or dis-ease as opposed to well-ness) due to unconscious limiting beliefs or victim mentality.
And MRI's and surgeries are much more impressive and dramatic than a massage after all...
:grin:

But the SAD thing is that many people don't even KNOW that they HAVE, or should have or could have, any other options. And that's because the md's don't TELL them. And many people still believe that doctors KNOW about this stuff. For the record - I have never contradicted (to a client) a doctor's advice or ever suggested that I know better. But I do encourage clients to educate themselves and to seek answers and alternatives that might be of additional benefit.
I have often said to a client...
"Well, I am not a doctor, I am just a massage therapist. So strictly from a massage therapist's point of view this is how I might approach your condition ...." and from there I just tell them what I see or feel, while I'm working, and just tell them what I am trying to acheive and how that might help.

 

[LYNBOP mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm]

a story about chronic back pain and its treatment

It puts clients in a tough postion. Here you have a Dr. telling you to get a shot that should help with the pain and you only pay your co pay. Or have a MT tell you I can help you with the pain, but it will cost you $60. What would you pick? Most people are going to listen to the Dr. an pay the $20 co pay and suffer till they can't take it any more. And that's went they will try a massage bc a friend has been bugging them to give it a try

I'm new and this is what I hear often. Even from my own family. They don't want to pay, and yet they will go on about what they would "give" to be free of the pain. t017
This is quickly followed up with "well, my insurance doesn't pay for massage but they will pay for Dr.'s visits and prescriptions". :roll:

I was recently having some problems with low back pain, pinching and referal to my pinky toe. I went to my Chiro who used to teach massage and she does trigger point work before the adjustment. I feel fantastic now. I'll go to her again about 2 or 3 more times in the next week and a half and be good to go again for MONTHS and by then I'll have something else going on : Still, I cosider that success beyond any I would get with a mainstream Dr. and Rxs.