Back pain

Cheers James.
Will take action on this asap

Ha, no!.
That first visit was after a 'team-building exercise',
when a sycophant in the Accounts Department organised a a days horse riding to please the (horse riding) Company Secretary!
It is not the same 'injury' over all those years.

Today I could have cancelled the appointment as exercise over the weekend had allowed me to sleep freely overnight, but I wanted it checked out,
and,
separately some stiffness in my neck checked and hopefully sorted,
which the Osteo achieved.

Not posted in a while, can't remember what/when I last posted tbh.

My back pain finally got bad enough for me to pay to see a physio, the one I work with, I think I mentioned this previously...

He diagnosed a bulging disc, reckons it's hitting the sciatic nerve as my pain is now focused around the buttock area.

Pointed a lot of stuff out to me during my first appointment with him like my total non symetricallity when I feel like I'm standing straight, a lot of tightness in lower back muscles etc etc.

He gave me an (another) exercise program to get on with, didn't feel like much to start with but he went over it with me today and makes a bit more sense/difference now.

I have sway back posture (as do most cyclists) and exercises he has given me aim to correct this, fees pretty good now I know how to do them properly!

I can almost concentrate and rotate my pelvis to relieve pressure on spine when I feel pain coming on.

Did his exercises yesterday but a bit incorrectly, and had to take anti-inflammatories and co-cocdamol and still struggled to walk a couple km, did them properly today and haven't needed any medication (though I have dosed pretty heavily on alchohol this afternoon!)

Bulging discs is similar to what I had. Have you had an MRI done to clarify the diagnosis?

Have you had an MRI done to clarify the diagnosis?

I've not, no.

I can't remember from the chat before, can I get this done privately (and if so, can anyone tell me what I should expect to pay for it?) or do I need to pester my gp for a hospital referral?

demand one from your GP, I've had two, free of charge.

This is what I had (there's a sciatica thread on here somewhere) but it took a while to diagnose. The MRI made it very clear though. Towards the bottom you can see the disc sticking out into the nerve

I'm pretty sure I have something very like this, my pain gets worse if I rotate my pelvis forward and better when I rotate it back probably due to the disc getting squeezed and bulging more when I rotate forward.

As others have said, you need an MRI. It can be a ball ache through NHS. I was told I needed to go through 8 weeks of physio (and the waiting list for that was 6 weeks) before I'd be referred to a specialist who'd refer me for MRI.

Fortunately I have very limited health insurance so I went private at the cost of about £100. If I'd been paying it all it would have been about £600. It's made me think seriously about getting private healthcare.

I sneezed Wed morning, just the one sneeze... neck and shoulders have been in agnoy since...

As much as I love the NHS, I have been paying into a private health insurance for almost 2 years now. Partly out of fear of the NHS might be finished in the foreseeable future (I really hope not), partly to do with some deadly illnesses runin the family.

It costs me just over £30 a month, obvosuly, my neck and my knee are not going to be covered anytime soon, if ever, but £30 / month is a pretty good deal for me. About to renew the policy in the summer, will see if Brexit has any effect on my premium.

I can't remember exactly, but I think it's in the region of £1000 per a claim for physio and stuff like that which I guess would include anything that is deemed suitable.

Those pics on her website is scary... On one hand, I'd try anything to improve the condition, but on the other hand, it is the neck we are talking about and I have been warned by many healthcare professionals over the years be very careful who and what treatment to go for...

Wow I must say this is an incredible thread I've just read the last there pages. I am a Physio have been for 5 years now. Worked a lot with chronic back pain and other things. You can't always see pain. You don't need an MRI to tell you what's wrong with your back. Hit YouTube and watch anything by David butler or Peter Sullivan

Can anyone recommend a private practise in London where I can get an MRI? Have been suffering with lower back pain now for 18 months and have tried everything from physio to pilates, stretching etc all with no luck.

why not jut beg your GP for one? I've had 2 free ones

You need a referral from your GP or a doctor to be able to get an MRI (private or NHS)

Yep, I have the letter actually. The GP said it could take quite a while to get one on the NHS so happy to pay for one privately.

Then google for private MRI

Re the MRI- its a diagnostic test and not a treatment.
CCG( NHS commissioning bodies) have different policies on GP access to MRI scans. It's fairly easy to get one where I live but not in the part of London where I work; I am an NHS manager. There is also a growing view Medicine over requests diagnostics tests and that we then treat the test and not the person.

So, get a proper diagnosis, discuss this with your GP and go over what the treatment options are.

I had mine done here.
http://www.alliancemedical.co.uk
Insurance covered it but I think £200 otherwise. They will give you the scan on a cd after.
You'll need a GP/specialist to do something with it after though.

Great, thank you

magnets, bruuuuuhhhh.

Won't hurt you ... but as I keep on saying the MRI is not a treatment.....

no-one said it was? but if you've been paying NIC for years and you're worried about your back you will demand one from your GP and they better give it to you

Also after a basic few Physio tests, the next requirement is MRI for proper diagnosis. Otherwise treatment is just guesswork.