Failed ADR... ligament problem?

[mmglobal]

I just spoke to a spine patient who got an L5-S1 ProDisc last year. While she got some relief, her persistent low back pain remained at high levels.

She connected with a doctor in the Bay area who does prolotherapy. She went into the process with a very healthy dose of skepticism. But...

1. Poking a needle into the ligament ilicited a substantial pain response. The doctor explained that a healthy ligament should not respond so. The presence of inflammatory tissue indicates a potential ligament problem. (I've heard doctors say that a healthy ligament can be painful or that the needle could be elsewhere generating pain. But...)

2. Injecting a local into the ligament generated substantial pain relief, leading her to believe that the ligament IS painful and IS responsible for HER pain.

She has started a series of prolotherapy injections. Relief is not expected for some weeks. I'll report more as I hear more.

According to her doctor, the typical patient who is helped by this process is the patient who can't sit. This doctor claims to have done several failed ADR patients who could not sit, with good results. I've already contacted several people who meet the profile... I don't know if they'll be looking into this or not. Again... I'll report whatever I hear. I sure hope this pans out.

If anyone want's the doctors name and number... let me know. I'm reluctant to post it yet because I have no idea if this is the real deal or not. The person who's experience I'm relating is very, very well educated about spine, so I do have confidence in her account and look forward to hearing about great results.

Mark

[Judi]

Mark,

I had damaged s/i joint ligaments and got prolotherapy. Didn't help. Then they said it was my back ligaments and I got prolo and it didn't help. Then I researched and found an article why prolo didn't help some people. It was often because they had an internally disrupted disc, eg.disc tear.

This was one question I was going to ask my doc before the ADR surgery is what else could be wrong except my discs. If the facets look good and facet blocks didn't help, if it isn't the s/i joint, and it isn't ligaments, then hopefully it IS the discs...

I think prolo works for some people.

Mark, I am exactly this way. I can do most anything but sit. It drives me nuts. Judi, did you have ADR on the discs that were torn? I have had ADR and am having SO MUCH PAIN sitting!! My life is a mess and usually by night time I am simply a miserable wreck. It has been 5 months and I feel like my life is NO BETTER than before surgery. I am on powerful medications. If I weren't on those I might have pain all the time. Keep us posted.

tcd

Somewhat off-topic, but a suggestion: Have you tried the zero gravity recliner? I spend virtually all day in the recliner, even work fulltime in it (laptop computer), and I can stay pretty comfortable.

SI debridement

I hesitate to post about this, having little to go on but some anecdotal results posted on the internet, but what the heck.

Microspine in FL (microspine.com) does a procedure on the SI joint ligaments called debridement, in which they remove the painful tissues and nerves. What made me think of it here is that their diagnostic method is needling around to find the painful spots--similar to what the original poster here reports.

On their website right now, they post a link to a recently published paper on the procedure. Unfortunately, I've never gotten the link to work. But anyone interested might consider emailing them directly, I'm sure they'll give you a copy of the paper and answer questions.

Prolo is probably a good decision initially, as the less invasive of the two procedures. If that does not work, debridement might be another avenue to pursue.

Good luck.

Sharman:

Where do you find a zero gravity recliner?? I will look on the internet. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Alastair]

Theresa,
Zero gravity chairs have been used for a long time by uSA patients.

Use the "Search facility and I bet there is a "Best Price " posting there- - - - - lol