Question
I have had extreme pain radiating through my left hip down my leg all the way to the foot.  The initial X-rays showed disc degeneration of the L5-S1 area, the beginnings of disc degeneration in the L5-L4, and arthritis in my hip.  The pain has responded fairly well to medical care and physical therapy over the last month.  However, I had a flare up after an increase in my physical therapy exercises, and the pain in my left leg and foot intensified.  My doctor gave me a second cortisone injection, which I respond quite well to, and ordered an MRI.  My problem - I CAN'T lay flat on my back for the MRI no matter how much I try.  I've now tried twice to get this done.  The first time was the traditional tube.  I didn't have the claustrophobic problem affecting some people, the pain of being flat on my back was just too much.  I went back to the doctor, who prescribed valium on top of the pain med I was already taking, and I rescheduled for an open MRI machine.  I took the pain med and the valium and felt pretty comfortable.  But within 5 minutes of getting into the MRI, the pain was back and I couldn't take it.  Laying flat on my back for the 40 minute test is just not an option.  What are my alternatives, if any?

Answer
Hi Sharon,

A weight bearing MRI facility, not only is it more accurate but it shows the true magnitude of the disc displacement. This whole thing shouldn't even be an issue, it sounds like infinite incompetence. All they have to do is put a "Dutch roll" under your knees and the pain will stop because it gives the sciatic nerve some slack. It is a round 5-8" diameter pillow 3 feet in length that keeps the knees in a flexed position. Any MRI center that is legit knows a patient with acute sciatica can't lay on their back with their legs straight. They all have a cushion that goes under the knees.

Why you are getting Cortisone injections further raises suspicions of incompetence. These do nothing to correct the problem and cause connective tissue break down while masking the pain.

The solution is simple, more than likely you have pressure on the spinal cord roots from the disc pressing on it, you need to have this reduced NON-INVASIVELY.

By that I mean, no medieval hacking away surgically to remove it, this only leads to scar tissue proliferation and permanent disability to varying degrees, regardless of how well it goes. ALL patients that undergo surgery are left with this issue, so the best recourse has and still is manual decompression. This is accomplished with flexion/distraction therapy by Chiropractors qualified to use the equipment.

Here is a link explaining it........

http://www.coxtechnic.com/homepage.asp

Get out of that mess you are in immediately and get the proper professional to deal with this issue before they take it to the next step.

Find a DC in you local area that has F/D tables and in a couple weeks you will be 80% improved on average. Medicine is not and never has been equipped to handle these issues.

All they can do is run expensive tests revealing the obvious and mask the symptoms until one, your either a drug dependent disabled mess, two, you fail to improve with PT which necessitates surgery or three, you are put on disability and chronic pain management. This story is typical and never changes. You need to see a competent DO or DC that is familiar with flexion/distraction. Don't get this confused with the expensive and over-rated VAX-D, DRX, SPINE-MED or other automated decompression systems not covered by insurance. F/D has been clinically proven and used for herniated discs for 30 years with 90%+ success rates of reducing herniations of all sizes.

Start searching in your local Yellow Pages for a Chiropractor that has F/D tables, DO NOT see a DC that doesn't have this equipment since it is the only clinically proven way of fixing your problem and is covered by insurance. Expect $40 per session and a total of twelve sessions to correct your problem. Finding a DC with this equipment may take a few tries but most have them. If they don't, don't bother trying anything else since it will end up being a  waste of money.

Good Luck!

Dr. Timothy Durnin