as opposed to what? having a PT burn off nerve endings, or injections?
asides from the above ive done literally everything you can think of for my back from a PT, great thing about the army is they pay for everything.

what I listed that works provides AMAZING relief for back pain, granted temporary but until you understand what its like to live with insane back pain you won't know, but it feels amazing.
and yes its temporary but if it lets you enjoy your day to day life without any issues its worth the upkeep.

the other homework (strengthening and stretching) is to be done along side these short term remedies to make it as solid of a plan as possible.

ive worked with about a handful of different PT's over the last few years and nothing they have done works as well as the following.

Inversion table
tens machine + heat.

Burn off nerve endings? Not sure who you’re going to but I haven’t burnt off a single nerve ending and I recommend most of my patients not to get injections unless they’ve already had them and they feel like they’re working and need to continue with them.

I also lived with serious back problems for about a year going through PT school to the point where I couldn’t sit in lectures/watching tv and struggled to sleep. I completely understand back pain more than most PT’s who haven’t personally experienced it.

I’m against passive modalities/treatment but I have the same mindset with them as I do the injections. If you feel like they work and/or think you need them then by all means continue (even if it’s a placebo effect because at the end of the day it’s your body and how you feel) but there are definitely much better options.

I can’t speak about your problem because I don’t know anything about it or the PT that you’ve had because I don’t really know what you’ve done, but I will say that there are so many options out there if you feel like the past stuff hasn’t helped

Just know that just because a lot of people find relief from traction doesn’t mean that you will. Your problem could be completed unaffected by traction

This post was edited by Braxton11 on Jul 23 2020 11:52pm

what are some other methods you do for back pain? curious.

I see a specialist next week for an assessment, one of the best back doctors in the province im told.
just curious to what you do that the 4-5 PT's ive seen don't.
maybe next time I see one I can have some more knowledge and ammo going in and ask for certain treatments.

You'd have to give me more about what's going on. What did the other PT's say the problem was? Did they all say it was the same thing?

Was it an insidious onset that just popped up one day? Was it a trauma like lifting something or a fall?

What makes it worse? Flexion/Extension/Sidebend/Rotation? Is it localized to one area in the back or does it go down the leg into the foot? Into the pelvis or up the back?

Every treatment is different based on the pathology. A muscle strain is treated way differently than a neuro problem.

im just curious in general, what other things you do for back pain that are permanent fixes.. even just a generalized list.
I don't mind giving you the details, in fact I want to.

I think I have mild degenerate disc issues, the specialist over the phone said its probably not muscular and to avoid high impact sports / activities (impossible for me lol)

ive been put through exercises to strengthen muscles , which unless you have upkeep is also temporary
dry needling, tens, stretching, chiro, traction.

nothing ive seen is a permanent fix apart from injections or surgery on nerve endings.

My boards exam is on Wednesday so I won't put any thought into it until after. I'd be down to throw you some ideas after though

sounds good im interested
I have a pretty good situation on what's going on and causing myself pain.
its been a fore thought in my mind for a long time.

actually quite stressful

Depending on the nature of your symptoms, if you’ve had intractable back pain you should see a neurosurgeon or ortho spine surgeon. Again, depends on symptoms. If it’s not surgical, then you’ll prob just end up at PT anyhow, but at least you’d know. Given your age and the fact you’ve only described back pain thus far, it’s prob not surgical though