[2cool4U]

Chris,

I can confidently address a couple of your questions. Hopefully others will chime in on things, too. The Mckenzie method of mechanical diagnosis and treatment (MDT) has been well-tested in peer-reviewed physician, sports medicine and physical therapy journals. It seems to have better short-term (6 mos.-1 yr.) results than stretching/strengthening regimens, but the numbers fall back to nearly identical chances of success and failure after 12 months. Some have speculated that this could be due to patients stopping the program b/c they are doing better and then experiencing recurring symptoms. However, I haven't come across definitive proof of that. It may be out there, I just haven't seen it. Overall, the various PT methods result in improvement in about 40%, no change in 40% and worsening of symptoms in 20% of patients according to a few references I read 2 years ago that I didn't keep.

As far as the discogram: If the physician is certain that your report of pain directly correlated with placement of the needle next to or within a nerve root, then it certainly could have been due to that. No injection is even needed. Even routine lumbar punctures (spinal taps) can result in sudden severe back or leg pain if the needle contacts a nerve root. It almost always resolves very quickly when the needle is repositioned. There have been rare occurrences of permanent nerve damage, particularly if a caustic agent or medication is injected directly into the nerve root. However, most of the time even complications from direct injection into the nerve resolves over time.

Hope this helps.

-tc-