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Question:
My daughter, whose 17, has always been a highly
competative athlete. We're looking for a referal to an expert in
the area of sports medicine and the treatment of back injuries.
Over the past year, she has been intermittantly sidelined with
back problems. The diagnosis has been a strained lumbar muscle
(I may not have the exact terminology here). There's been 3
episoded of this, each on which called for 6-8 weeks rest followed
by physical theropy, which was followed.
Because we use an HMO,
we have our primary care physician who has then given referals
to an orthopedic, a physiatrist, and the physical theropist. In
the process, they've done x-rays, a bone scan, and an MRI, all of
which, supposedly, showed nothing.
In the last episode (which we're working thru now) we called on the
services of a chiropracter after 8 weeks of relentless pain. Finally,
thru some chiropractic care, the pain was less, and progress was made.
She's back playing now, but she still has pain, and makes a weekly
trip to the chiropracter for "re-alignment".
We believe none of the people involved
know what's wrong, and we really need to find an "expert" in the field.
Any leads would be appreciated.
Answer:
It'd probably be a good idea to have your daughter get a physician to
refer her to a physical therapist. Physical therapy largely eliminated
my lumbar pain.
Your first problem is the use of an HMO. These companies serve one
purpose: to make the HMO rich.
Your second problem has been that you have not seen the people who set
the gold standard for back care which are Chiropractors. Call your
state Chiropractic organization and find out who specializes in Sports
Chiropractic which is a post-grad course at many Chiropractic
Colleges.
Chiropractic helped me over my lower back pain many years ago, and I also
suffered intermittently from relapses. Now the lower back is fine, but the
upper back is susceptible due to sitting at a computer all day.
I don't believe, from what I've read and heard, that there is one permanent
cure for a recurring back injury. Treatment now reduces the amount of rest
after injury to the time that any swelling and inflammation is gone, then back
to gentle stretching and moderate exercise. (Your daughter may be getting TOO
MUCH rest after the injury.)
Once this latest episode is over, you might try to get a sports injury clinic
to refer you to a human kinetics program at your local university, where the
procedure may be to analyze your daughter's gait, physical structure, sports
equipment and so on. You've probably seen this kind of stuff on ESPN or
someplace.
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