Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Disc is Fine

I got some x-rays done and I sent them over the Boeree. He says the disc is fine and the problem could stem from something else. I have a phone consultation set up in a week or two (can't remember the exact date) to see how my progress with the therapist is going.

As far as my progress, I finally got that muscle on my left lower back to shut the hell up. It seems this muscle was tightening my left side of my lower back and would compress the disc on the left side as seen on the xrays below. This is the disc doing its job, it's acting like a normal disc.. but it's obviously stressful for my spine so I definitely had to relax it.

Here's what Boeree said:
As you say, you are leaning off to the left slightly at L4/5.  This is a postural tilt and probably reflects the body adjusting to relieve stress on a focal area of pain.  This can be muscles or ligaments around a motion segment, which may be more comfortable if less stretched (for example if they are on the left side), or a facet joint which may be more comfortable if off loaded (for example on the right side).  Often it’s a combination of these things.  It is not a problem with the disc, which is simply accommodating that posture in the same way as a natural disc will do.  The disc itself still looks fine on your x-rays.

So there is a problem, we just need to figure out what it is. A previous commenter said it might be standing up too much tightening up my gluts..

I think that, in the end, it's just about the restaurant. This place is stressful as hell. I'm looking to sell it as soon as possible. I'll talk to someone about it.

I'll also be going to Honduras to get that CT scan done again in December. I'll ask boeree what other types of test must be done to have this diagnosed appropriately.