Lower Back Pain... Am I missing something?

[Catscratch]

My daughter is 15 yo and plays softball and volleyball.
She is 5' 6" 160 lbs.
This past November she felt pain in her lower back after doing strength and conditioning exercises

When she bends over or sits it hurts..... Dull pain in one spot.

She has had X-Rays that show nothing.
She goes to physical therapy and is working on strenghtening the lower back
She see a chiropractor weekly.
Because she has no pain going down the legs and the pain is not sharp, they don't feel there
is a fracture and believe an MRI is unnecessary.
She has stopped the volleyball and minimized the softball.

Her back does not hurt when batting or pitching.
Only hurts when bending over and sitting during the first couple periods of her school day.

Any thoughts???

 

[ms244]

Time for a second opinion from another doctor and get an MRI. A very close friend of mine reminded me of a simple fact a few years ago that applies here. "The doctors work for YOU, not the other way around". What he meant by that is that you employ the doctors. If you don't agree with their assessment then get a second opinion. That is why they call it "practicing medicine".

BTW - My friend.... He is a doctor.

Good luck.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Let me throw this out there. When DD was 17, she started complaining of back pain, towards the right side. The ER misdiagnosed it as a urinary tract infection. X rays showed nothing. Gynecologist found nothing. She started rehab, with no relief. It was her gall bladder. A very simple test discovered it. I just like for people to know that teens can have gall bladder problems. Good luck to her.

 

[Perfect Circle]

Check to see if any thing is going on with her back molars.

 

[lacy.anderson1]

My daughter is 15 yo and plays softball and volleyball.
She is 5' 6" 160 lbs.
This past November she felt pain in her lower back after doing strength and conditioning exercises

When she bends over or sits it hurts..... Dull pain in one spot.

She has had X-Rays that show nothing.
She goes to physical therapy and is working on strenghtening the lower back
She see a chiropractor weekly.
Because she has no pain going down the legs and the pain is not sharp, they don't feel there
is a fracture and believe an MRI is unnecessary.
She has stopped the volleyball and minimized the softball.

Her back does not hurt when batting or pitching.
Only hurts when bending over and sitting during the first couple periods of her school day.

Any thoughts???

Is your dd a pitcher & if so does she pitch consistently/daily or how often??

 

[GOINGDEEP]

You can actually demand the doctor order a MRI, learned that with DD's shoulder injury couple years ago.

I'm no doctor but I'm getting over what sounds like your DD is experiencing. Last 3-4 years my back would hurt ( more uncomfortable than killer pain ) when I'd sit too long or bend over in a position too long. ( working on cars, motorcycles, etc ) I never thought much about it, just figured I was almost 40 and maybe age has these problems. One day at work ( I was feeling fine ) I was walking to my office and BANG, it felt like someone shot me in the lower back with a rocket launcher.

I did the X-rays and weeks of Chiro ( that usually fixes me right up ) and still had no relief, and now it was more steady intense pain, not "easy pain" like over the past few years.

Went to my GP, he sent me to ortho, I was getting no answers or relief. So I demanded the MRI and switched to a neurosurgeon . Diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in 4 discs in the lower back. DDD is natural for everyone to a degree, problem is some get it at 70 and some in their teens. Some only have it in 1 disc, some have multiple like mine.

What happens is the disc is "dying", and since I have 4 in a row on the lower back it's made my spine unstable forcing the muscles to continuously spasm to act as a "brace" to counter the instability. Very painful. Like your DD it hurts the worst when I'm baring weight on it, ( sitting, standing still, bending over ) anything that the "core" should be stabilizing.

I was very physically fit before the "injury", hadn't been in a Hostpital or emergency room in 20 years. But looking back I think my body was telling me something wasn't right for a few years and I was just passing it off as age related.

Here is my advice and please listen as I didn't do it right myself. Do not go see a Ortho, do not go see a GP, do not pass go or collect $200. Make an appt with a neurosurgeon and order a MRI. I'm not sure if I'll ever be 100% again, but I do know I wasted a bunch of time going to other doctors and the neuro has helped me the most mentally understanding the problem and physically getting it back on track.

 

[Catscratch]

Yes my daughter is a pitcher. She pitches 3-4 times/week. No pain whatsoever. Only bending over or sitting.

Goingdeep doesn't degenerative disc disease show up in an xray? Thank you for your very caring response...

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Yes my daughter is a pitcher. She pitches 3-4 times/week. No pain whatsoever. Only bending over or sitting.

Goingdeep doesn't degenerative disc disease show up in an xray? Thank you for your very caring response...

No, it will not show up in an X-ray. The MRI shows the "fluids" in the disc, the disc are like 80% water ( based ). When the disc is healthy the disc is white in the MRI, because of the fluids. When it is dying the disc is dark, because the fluids are disappearing. The fluids are a cushion. My neuro said its like the flexibility of a wet sponge ( healthy ), dry sponge ( unhealthy ).

Not trying to scare you at all, but there are a good number of young kids with this problem when I go see my doctor.

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[Perfect Circle]

"Sometimes the sudden pain, from lower back (IMHO) is due to a magnesium deficiency. Take say 250 mg of magnesium chloride or other similar magnesium such as mangesium citrate or magnesium gluconate, the pain goes away completely on the third or fourth day. However most of the intolerable pain goes away in about 30 minutes to an hour. In case magnesium is not available, you can try sunflower seeds which contain some magnesium. But they take a lot longer to see results - sometimes more than a week."(unsalted,shelled)

Soak her feet in a Epsom saltz foot bath a couple, 3 times a week too. Degenerative Disc can be rejuvenated.

 

[DisSwee]

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