If you had back pain, which one of the following would you seek help from?

[Plake]

It's a doctor who specialises in disorders of nerves. They'll do a full examination and maybe order some special tests like scans. They might recommend physio, drugs or surgery to help your problems. It is a good port of call for dealing with your particular complaints.

My huge mistake. It's a NEUROLOGIST I have to see. What the hell do they do?

 

[Woodchip]

I reckon you are an osteopath. You left out sports injury massage. If I have a bad back, from sporting activity, I go There first.

This. Also no option for acupressure, acupuncture, holistic therapy, etc...

 

[piersa]

What a ludicrous post. Many GP's have a huge interest in and knowledge of the musculoskeletal system and are truly holistic practitioners (unlike the others listed) as they have a full, practical and detailed knowledge of the plethora of things that can go wrong with the body outside of the muscles, nerves and bones. Sometimes pharmacological intervention is the correct management of pain and disease.

I won't go into specific detail because I CBA to get sued but some of the people that take money to treat back/other pain are not credible evidence-based healthcare providers. Some of the claims made by some of them on the causes and treatment of disease are questionable in the extreme. Trust in those practitioners is misplaced.

This proves you are lacking in knowledge on the subject of MSK back pain. The bit about some of the treatments is accurate but I can assure you that there are lots of us who are very honest. The bit about misplaced trust makes me embarassed for you.

 

[mr sheen]

I had sciatica, GP suggested I seek physiotherapy privately. Ended up getting accupuncture and manipulated by former Leicester, Celtic and England u21 gk Ian Andrews. Sorted it.

 

[piersa]

I reckon you are an osteopath. You left out sports injury massage. If I have a bad back, from sporting activity, I go There first.

Fair point about the massage

 

[Leighgull]

Where's the option for a damn good seeing to by a huge chested dominatrix?
Incidentally, for the record, your GP may or may not have a particular interest in backache..they will certainly have treated a few, they will ALWAYS refer to a Physio rather than an osteopath or a chiropractor...why? Because both are unrecognised as proper practitioners by the BMA..you might get a GP who is OK with you seeing one as long as you are paying yourself.

I ended up getting this mad pulley thing that you hook over a door and almost hang yourself with to treat my neck pain...the stretching whilst gently rotating my head caused popping that my other half could hear...hey presto..no more neck pain for a few weeks...when it recurs, stretch again and jobs a good un.

 

[Caveman]

I hear the Palace keeper has a bad back tonight after bending down to pick the ball out of the back of the net so many times today.







I'll get my coat.

 

[piersa]

Where's the option for a damn good seeing to by a huge chested dominatrix?
Incidentally, for the record, your GP may or may not have a particular interest in backache..they will certainly have treated a few, they will ALWAYS refer to a Physio rather than an osteopath or a chiropractor...why? Because both are unrecognised as proper practitioners by the BMA..you might get a GP who is OK with you seeing one as long as you are paying yourself.
I ended up getting this mad pulley thing that you hook over a door and almost hang yourself with to treat my neck pain...the stretching whilst gently rotating my head caused popping that my other half could hear...hey presto..no more neck pain for a few weeks...when it recurs, stretch again and jobs a good un.

Incorrect.

 

[Alan Cundle]

I have used all of them, some good and some bad.

My conclusion is to find out the cause of back pain by a CHARTERED physiotherapist.

I used to think the 'cracking' of my back was a sure sign that my Osteopath was dealing with my sciatica, got a feeling it might not have done anything to help.

Exactly my experience. Seen them all, and a CHARTERED physio was the most effective.

 

[Woodchip]

Incorrect.

Given your rather stroppy attitude I guess you rely on NHS referrals and don't have to seek your own customers or rely on your reputation as being customer friendly.

 

[Plake]

This proves you are lacking in knowledge on the subject of MSK back pain. The bit about some of the treatments is accurate but I can assure you that there are lots of us who are very honest. The bit about misplaced trust makes me embarassed for you.

I feel embarrassed for practitioners who have no medical training but claim to be able to provide holistic care for patients.

I feel embarrassed for patients who are unable to detect a merchant of bullshit because they are spoken to in superficially credible quasi-scientific language which they have no means of critically appraising.

I feel embarrassed for the professions who reject the very idea that proper scientific evidence ought to form the basis of their treatments.

I feel embarrassed for us as a society whereby anyone brave enough to point out the specific wrongness of any of the vast confidence tricks played upon the public gets sued by frothy mouthed lunatics.

I don't know what you do and I absolutely believe you are honest and mean well, but alternative therapists do tend to have an almost evangelical belief in their practice which limits reflection and self criticism. Many lack the basic skills to be able to even assess the validity of evidence and therefore are unable to recognise their own limitations, or indeed the competences of others.

Dunning–Kruger effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[junior]

I'm contemplating getting some porpcorn out..........

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

surely its gp first for a referral?

Is the correct [and most sensible] answer
After NSC of course ....

 

[smudge]

It's a doctor who specialises in disorders of nerves. They'll do a full examination and maybe order some special tests like scans. They might recommend physio, drugs or surgery to help your problems. It is a good port of call for dealing with your particular complaints.

Ok, cheers mate.

 

[ofco8]

Many years ago had a bad back. Was sent here there and everywhere to se every "expert" going. All a waste of time.
The thing I wanted most was an X ray which everyone was reluctant to do.
In the end I paid for an x ray myself and was told I had sciatica caused by slipped disc.
The pain was a nightmare and consultant said he didn't know how I had walked about for the previous 2 years.
Key hole surgery was carried out and had no problems since.
Convinced me you have to badger the authorities to get the treatment you need.
Good luck to any of you with a bad back at present. It aint funny.

 

[Soulman]

Only a properly trained physiotherapist for me, I had a good friend who went to an Osteopath every week for neck pains. He got relief from pain for a few days but by the time of his next appointment he was in agony again, so he finally went to his doctor who arranged a hospital appointment for him to discover he had brittle bone disease, the osteopath had caused so much damage he was dead within a few weeks. I use a physiotherapist who works with doctors to ensure quality treatment.

I go about once a year to a Sports Physio, an ex semi pro footballer in Hove. I go in virtually doubled up, one or possibly two treatments....and i'm good to go for another 12 months........bit like an MOT.

 

[Finch]

This is always a heated topic and some of the practitioners who aren't wholly based in science have governing bodies who are very quick to sue people over debate. I will say there are competent people in all fields, but you have no way of knowing this without inside knowledge so your GP should be your first port of call. Some GP's have musculoskeletal backgrounds and special interests, some are not as well versed but they are the most likely to initiate getting a diagnosis for you and referring you to someone appropriate.

Getting a diagnosis is what you should be concerned about. You should not be jumping into heavy manipulation without knowing what is causing your pain. Easier said than done in some cases however but just trying to treat symptoms and not the root cause often makes people feel good about the treatment but does bugger all to actually help them long term. I see too many people with structural damage to their spine who have had ****ing hundreds of physio / chiro / osteo treatments before they even had some imaging done.

If I was to hurt my back today my GP would refer me to a GPSI / musculoskeletal specialist who would perform a clinical examination and get imaging done if it was warranted. This is the ideal scenario as we can pick up so many conditions this way, protrusions / extrusions, and the various bony changes that happen to narrow the spaces the spinal cord / nerve roots go through can be detected.

Now you know what the cause of your issue is, this is where you can choose your treatment. A surgeon will offer you surgical and non-surgical options, but they tend to sell you the idea they can solve most problems surgically. You might have an annular tear and a protrusion abutting a nerve and its painful as hell so surgery sounds like a bloody great idea when its offered to you, but they also generally resolve over time, its just really uncomfortable. This is why being diagnosed by a GPSI / musculoskeletal specialist is ideal as they have nothing to gain from your choice of treatment. Assessing the stability of the discs around the problem area gives you the knowledge of if surgery is a necessity or an option. You then have the power to make informed decisions of how you want to manage your pain and taking some pain medication and seeing the physios etc for some manipulation (if appropriate) now is a viable option.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Never a Chiropracter again .... went for about 2 months and no improvement ended up going to GP who gave me something (might have been diclofenac?) and all sorted in days

This. Chiropractor did nothing of any use for 3 months. Went to a physio who gave me a deep tissue massage and I was fine. I now do back stretches every morning and get a massage once a month - keeps me largely pain free

 

[blue2]

Would try self help gym stretch classes only then would I consider any help and that would be just to check its not something serious

 

[Caveman]

This is always a heated topic and some of the practitioners who aren't wholly based in science have governing bodies who are very quick to sue people over debate. I will say there are competent people in all fields, but you have no way of knowing this without inside knowledge so your GP should be your first port of call. Some GP's have musculoskeletal backgrounds and special interests, some are not as well versed but they are the most likely to initiate getting a diagnosis for you and referring you to someone appropriate.

Getting a diagnosis is what you should be concerned about. You should not be jumping into heavy manipulation without knowing what is causing your pain. Easier said than done in some cases however but just trying to treat symptoms and not the root cause often makes people feel good about the treatment but does bugger all to actually help them long term. I see too many people with structural damage to their spine who have had ****ing hundreds of physio / chiro / osteo treatments before they even had some imaging done.

If I was to hurt my back today my GP would refer me to a GPSI / musculoskeletal specialist who would perform a clinical examination and get imaging done if it was warranted. This is the ideal scenario as we can pick up so many conditions this way, protrusions / extrusions, and the various bony changes that happen to narrow the spaces the spinal cord / nerve roots go through can be detected.

Now you know what the cause of your issue is, this is where you can choose your treatment. A surgeon will offer you surgical and non-surgical options, but they tend to sell you the idea they can solve most problems surgically. You might have an annular tear and a protrusion abutting a nerve and its painful as hell so surgery sounds like a bloody great idea when its offered to you, but they also generally resolve over time, its just really uncomfortable. This is why being diagnosed by a GPSI / musculoskeletal specialist is ideal as they have nothing to gain from your choice of treatment. Assessing the stability of the discs around the problem area gives you the knowledge of if surgery is a necessity or an option. You then have the power to make informed decisions of how you want to manage your pain and taking some pain medication and seeing the physios etc for some manipulation (if appropriate) now is a viable option.

Out of interest do you have private health cover? Because I am sure NHS will not send you for imaging straight away?