Acute Stress Fracture of L5 - I'm miserable.
Posted , 2 users are following.
I'm a 22 year old female. I've never had back pain or trouble before. For the past week, I've had some mild to moderate back pain. I thought I slept wrong or pulled a muscle. I had a CT done for an unrelated reason, I was going to have my gall bladder removed until this happened. The radiologist wrote on the report I have a lateral L5 stress fracture. I got these results Friday.
I called ortho Monday to schedule an appointment asap. Spine orthopod was booked solid and they actually ended up finding a doctor in sports medicine who would happily see me. He found the fracture on CT but he also did different angled X-rays and my physical exam was consistent with a fracture. There was controversy if it was just on my left side or bilateral. He had another physicians opinion and they both ended up agreeing I have just one on my left side which makes sense that's where the most intense pain is even though I do have some pain on my right side as well.
He took a conservative approach and told me I HAVE to rest...a lot. When I do get up do to do things if I have any pain, that means I need to sit. He was against bracing me since it was only unilateral and he was concerned for muscles sake because of weakness. He doesn't expect me to feel better until about Labor Day if I don't overdo it fully healed 8-12 weeks. I see him again for a progress appointment in 3 weeks light PT might be prescribed then.
I am noticing:
- I have a hard time walking. My hip and pelvic bone are also being effected by this. I'm REALLY beginning to wonder if I tore a muscle attachment.
- I have to keep my left leg straight. If I don't, my pain increases.
- it hurts to sit.
- I have to sleep on my recliner because it's too uncomfortable to lay down.
- when I'm up and moving I'm tired out quickly and walk pretty slow.
Overall having a hard time walking has me concerned and it's driving me crazy. My doctor told me that can be completely normal and not to worry too much. I just need to listen to my body overall and sit.
I'm quickly learning back pain is the WORST.
Has anyone had this or anything similar before? What was your experience like? Any input or recommendations would be appreciated.
0 likes, 3 replies
amkoffee nm0710
Posted
I don't have any fractures in my spine like you do but I still experience most of the symptoms that you're describing. I cannot stand for more than a couple of minutes quite literally 2 to 3 minutes nor walk and then my back starts to spasm . And I have to go lay down or at the very least sit down to stop the spasm. Sitting also hurts but I can do it with a cushion on the chair for about an hour. I can sit on a couch or an upholstered chair much longer but I am most comfortable laying down and particularly on my good side . I've been at this for over 11 years . And for me it's just gotten worse over the years, but I'm 55 years old. Since you are so young you stand a very good chance of this healing and then you moving on with your life without pain. However if you do get through this and get to the other side where you have no pain on a daily basis it will be an issue often on for the rest of your life so you will want to be careful with your back forever . That's one of the reasons why doing exercises that you learn in PT will be so critical. So even after your out and done with PT you need to continue the exercises and stretches that they teach you . I know that when another kind of bone breaks such as the hip bone or a leg bone that the muscles will contract trying to bring the pieces together so that the bones can mend this is one of the reasons why it hurts so bad. This may account for some of your pain in your back . So that is why I'm thinking that you have a chance of finding yourself pain-free once this fracture heals . Right now you just need to deal with finding comfortable positions and babying yourself like the doctor said. If the pain becomes more than you can handle don't be afraid to ask for pain relief. You don't necessarily have to use narcotics . We in the U.S. are right now in the middle of an opiate crises and I won't go into the details but because of that it is very difficult for you to get a doctor to prescribe an opiate for your pain such as Percocet . And besides you would want to think twice before you did that because your body will become dependent on them and once you don't need them anymore you will have to be tapered off of it. And having had done that in the past I can tell you it is not pleasant. But there are other non-narcotic medicines that your doctor can prescribe you to help with the pain .
nm0710 amkoffee
Posted
Do you know what is causing your pain? My symptoms as you said are somewhat similar to yours except I don't have the muscle spasms. Instead it's just pain like a dull ache in my spine. My leg pain is hard to describe it just feel like my muscles aren't working. I'm really wondering if I partially tore an attachment at L5 all hip muscles go through the pelvis and attach at the hip. I cannot lay down! That makes my pain horrible instead, I'm sleeping on our couch. I try laying in my right side to keep pressure off of it.
All of this is terrible. I'm genuinely concerned this will be a "forever" thing. I'm 22!!
amkoffee nm0710
Posted
I would be surprised if you had my conditions simply because of your age. Because I have arthritis in my facet joints and my SI joints . But I first started with my back pain I had a bulging disc and degenerative disc disease . DDD is the beginning of arthritis, both of which you could have. I also have a disease called PMR that has increased my pain, and your too young for PMR. I'm sorry you getting sharp pains I'm really not sure which pain is better an ache or a sharp one. I can't believe that you can't even lay down that's terrible . There are a lot of people that have trouble standing up or sitting down with back pain but all of those are able to lay down for the most part .