Among my numerous personal complaints lately is a chronic pain in my lower back that is similar to what I've felt before after a day of working in the yard and having to lift lots of shovelfuls of dirt. It is aggravated by walking or standing and sometimes even by sitting. Because I had seen a neurologist lately regarding difficulty in walking, I emailed him about the back pain. His response, in no uncertain terms: Back pain is NOT a neurological problem.
At first I was puzzled because I thought neurons were involved in pain and surely neurologists deal with neurons. But on further study it appears that his statement had more to do with the division of duties between general practitioners and specialists. My pain neurons are behaving just fine, thank you, reporting pain like good little nerve cells should. Now, if they weren't working, then it would be a neurological problem.
Everyone's best guess at this point is that my arthritis (which has shown up in my hand x-rays and neck MRI) is probably causing most or all of my movement problems. Whether I can do anything more than stem the pain through medication is the next question.
No comments:
Post a Comment