Extreme pain?

Hello Linnea, I am very sorry you are having this problem. I have some experience in this area so maybe you can benefit from my situation. I have scoliosis, an "S" shaped curvature of my upper spine, therefore back pain has often been a result of this.

First make sure you understand exactly what the problem is. Get an diagnosis from your orthopedic doctor, ask questions and take notes. If you are not satisfied, get a second opinion. After the diagnosis comes the treatment and management plan. This should be written down with deadlines.

Backache pain management is ongoing and you must be proactive. The acute pain in your upper back is a pinched nerve, I say this because from your description of pain radiating through the arm. You probably have tingling and numbness of finger(s) on that arm.

The path of that nerve is same areas you have pain, starting from the injury at the spine and traveling to the far point which is your fingers. The pain of the injury is negligible relative to the pain caused by the bodies response.

The muscles of the back clench up or spasm as a defense by isolating the injury. (bad idea) This causes a lot of pain, and it travels outward from the injury up and down the spine. This will give the illusion that you have injured different parts of your back.

Begin by treating the site of the injury. One is direct heat, such as a heating pad, or the heat pads that apply to the skin and maintain heat for 8 hours. Hot tub baths or showers will help. Capsaicin cream is a favorite of mine, it is based on pepper juice and is a medical heat. You may not like it because, well it burns. Anyway it is something to try and it works well for me.

Two, non steroid anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) such as Motrin, Advil, or Prison. Always take with food, and if you have ulcers or cardiovascular disease use Tylenol instead.

Three, stretch the area. As a rule the stretches should be away from the pain. Left sounds right for you. Your goal is to prevent spasms by keeping the adjacent muscles stretched out. A physical therapist would save you a lot of grief by giving you very specific stretches for your situation. Morning stretches will make your days much more comfortable.

The medical option for stretching are muscle relaxants. There are a whole bunch of these. Some examples are: Flexeril, Soma, Robaxin, and Valium. I am not advising this initially, but if your work activities, eating or sleeping is affected by your condition, they may be necessary. They are all prescription and your ortho will help you with that.

Fourth, massage the area. My wife is my massage therapist. If you do not have a mate or someone to apply massage, some insurance companies cover massage therapy.

The above advice is mainly for the upper back problem. The lower back may or may be related to the upper back injury, that should be addressed by your ortho and may need separate treatment. Heat, stretching, analgesics, and massage would probably be OK.

Now, the knees, ankles, and shoulder sound like joint problems. Heat and analgesics would help for this problem also I would suggest glucosamine with chondroitin tablets. There have been some studies that suggest improvement in joint health in patient with degenerative joint disease.

You mentioned a crack when you stretch to the right. Don't do that until you know what if going on. Get advise on that from your ortho.

Only one thing to avoid and that is bed rest that is counterproductive. Stay active and flexible.

For all kinds of advice, take the link on my source. The Merck Manual is very useful.

God bless you, I hope this helps.

Have you had an MRI scan done? This is probably the best way of telling exactly what is going on as X-Rays do not show everything unfortunately

I hope you find your answers soon, I know how debilitating pain can be :(

best of luck