Back surgeons in Morristown area?

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
Well, I did it good this time. Being 6’3” is no easy task in itself but delivering Snapple for 5 years a young hero did take it’s toll. Off and on for the last 25 years I have had back issues. I have a strong core and back but ultimately did some disk/vertebrae damage over the years and this weekend has left me in the most pain in 20 years. I know the inflammation will sunside and I will get back to a semi normal state but I really need to see a specialist. It’s Tuesday, 3 days after the race and it took me 5 min to get out of my car the last two days after getting to work. The last week was tough on it’s own as I did a special tig welding project for njit with 14 hours of bending over my welding table. This followed by a slip on the first wood crossing at Iron Furnace left me in a bad spot. I basically rode 1.5 laps by compensating with other muscles. Fast forward from saturday to tuesday, about 20 advil and 2 chiro/pt visits later and I feel worse. Eggshells to the extreme. The pain meter hasn’t hit 12 in a long long time. Shooting pains, no good position, ice, cbd clinic stuff doesn’t seem to work. I know it’s temporary with inflammation but on the other hand I have a family to support. The big guy thing ro do is at the minimum get it checked out. Like I said, I am no stranger to back pain but this time it’s been relentless.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
After you get checked out and are in a good place, i would highly suggest you try riding a mountain bike with gears instead. At the ripe age of 23 i realized riding SS all the time is just tearing up my knees and back. I still ride mine from time to time, but not back to back to back.

Feel better bro!
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
This doesn't sound great - hopefully you get some relief and good news about treatments.
 

rick81721

Lothar
Well, I did it good this time. Being 6’3” is no easy task in itself but delivering Snapple for 5 years a young hero did take it’s toll. Off and on for the last 25 years I have had back issues. I have a strong core and back but ultimately did some disk/vertebrae damage over the years and this weekend has left me in the most pain in 20 years. I know the inflammation will sunside and I will get back to a semi normal state but I really need to see a specialist. It’s Tuesday, 3 days after the race and it took me 5 min to get out of my car the last two days after getting to work. The last week was tough on it’s own as I did a special tig welding project for njit with 14 hours of bending over my welding table. This followed by a slip on the first wood crossing at Iron Furnace left me in a bad spot. I basically rode 1.5 laps by compensating with other muscles. Fast forward from saturday to tuesday, about 20 advil and 2 chiro/pt visits later and I feel worse. Eggshells to the extreme. The pain meter hasn’t hit 12 in a long long time. Shooting pains, no good position, ice, cbd clinic stuff doesn’t seem to work. I know it’s temporary with inflammation but on the other hand I have a family to support. The big guy thing ro do is at the minimum get it checked out. Like I said, I am no stranger to back pain but this time it’s been relentless.

Bad news. Where is your pain? I'm dealing with some as well but nothing like you describe. Mine is lower left back of hip
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
Bad news. Where is your pain? I'm dealing with some as well but nothing like you describe. Mine is lower left back of hip
Typically my sacrum acts up. Itdid this time as well but my chiro thinks it’s the disk between l4-l5 that’s inflamed. It usually calms down in 3-5 days. But while it’s acting up it’s like a binding/sharp pain feeling. Ice pick stuck in there. Keeps you very alert. Usually I can find comfort in a different position. This time they all suck.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Well, I did it good this time. Being 6’3” is no easy task in itself but delivering Snapple for 5 years a young hero did take it’s toll. Off and on for the last 25 years I have had back issues. I have a strong core and back but ultimately did some disk/vertebrae damage over the years and this weekend has left me in the most pain in 20 years. I know the inflammation will sunside and I will get back to a semi normal state but I really need to see a specialist. It’s Tuesday, 3 days after the race and it took me 5 min to get out of my car the last two days after getting to work. The last week was tough on it’s own as I did a special tig welding project for njit with 14 hours of bending over my welding table. This followed by a slip on the first wood crossing at Iron Furnace left me in a bad spot. I basically rode 1.5 laps by compensating with other muscles. Fast forward from saturday to tuesday, about 20 advil and 2 chiro/pt visits later and I feel worse. Eggshells to the extreme. The pain meter hasn’t hit 12 in a long long time. Shooting pains, no good position, ice, cbd clinic stuff doesn’t seem to work. I know it’s temporary with inflammation but on the other hand I have a family to support. The big guy thing ro do is at the minimum get it checked out. Like I said, I am no stranger to back pain but this time it’s been relentless.
I have thing like this happen to me...Especially when i take an unexpected slip...my back will sometimes lock up badly. I went to see a specialist about it finally after many years. He just told me: "do more sit ups fatty and stop being a wuss...get out of my office, NOW."

But when it does happen, its usually a week using my stand up desk...My chiropractor is like miracle max...and I have a electro-stim at home which helps.
 

Monkey Soup

Angry Wanker
Well, I did it good this time. Being 6’3” is no easy task in itself but delivering Snapple for 5 years a young hero did take it’s toll. Off and on for the last 25 years I have had back issues. I have a strong core and back but ultimately did some disk/vertebrae damage over the years and this weekend has left me in the most pain in 20 years. I know the inflammation will sunside and I will get back to a semi normal state but I really need to see a specialist. It’s Tuesday, 3 days after the race and it took me 5 min to get out of my car the last two days after getting to work. The last week was tough on it’s own as I did a special tig welding project for njit with 14 hours of bending over my welding table. This followed by a slip on the first wood crossing at Iron Furnace left me in a bad spot. I basically rode 1.5 laps by compensating with other muscles. Fast forward from saturday to tuesday, about 20 advil and 2 chiro/pt visits later and I feel worse. Eggshells to the extreme. The pain meter hasn’t hit 12 in a long long time. Shooting pains, no good position, ice, cbd clinic stuff doesn’t seem to work. I know it’s temporary with inflammation but on the other hand I have a family to support. The big guy thing ro do is at the minimum get it checked out. Like I said, I am no stranger to back pain but this time it’s been relentless.

Start with these guys in Cedar Knolls. Never went there for back, but they put me back together for a couple of other things. Morristown area has alot of high quality practices due to proximity to the medical center.

https://www.tri-countyortho.com
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Almost two years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night knowing something very, very bad had happened and I wasn't too sure what it was. I rolled out of bed on to the floor and had to crawl into the bathroom - I knew I was in bad shape but didn't know if it would correct itself and I didn't want to wake up my wife. I made it to the bathroom and started to lose consciousness from the pain. I was going vagal and basically blacking out. The funny thing - in hindsight, it's funny - is that I'd been in this position with other types of pain before and knew exactly what was going on so I literally talked myself through it - " hands are numb and tingling ... tunnel vision coming on ... okay, breathe slowly .... get some water ... okay, here comes the flop sweat ... under control ..." Anyway, I eventually fell asleep on the bathrrom floor unabel to move. When I woke up, I was able to move slightly and I downplayed the whole thing to my wife. I went to see a few different doctors - my chiropractor helped make it manageable, my regular doctor wanted to put me on Percocet. But it eventually went away. Then it happened again like three times between the end of summer 2016 and early 2017. Eventually, my wife talked me into going to see a specialist. Turns out I had two herniated discs (what I experienced that first time was the actual herniation of one of them - the specialist said that based on my description I probably experienced the moment the casing just ripped open and my spine compressed like a deflated balloon in the lower left side of that one vertebra.)

I mention this all for one reason - there is some hope. What you are describing actually sounds pretty similar to herniation. As bad as that was - and when it would flare up, I was basically immobile for days at a time - there are treatments. On the extreme end is surgery, but my doctor recommended we try the cortisone shots first. The shots are a cycle of three, and you don't have to get them all in one cycle (but once you've had the three, you can't get any more.) I did get the full three (basically one shot every two or three weeks.) And it helped a lot. It isn't perfect, but it's allowed me to be mobile again. The doctor did say that it's not a cure and that's right - over time, I am going to eventually return to the limited movement I had before. But for now, it was a far better option than surgery, which is always a risk. Lately, I've noticed that I'm feeling a bit stiffer than I did after the shots once again, but I am picking up more yoga classes again to try to help that. I figure it's the combination of things - like the treatments I've had, extra yoga for flexibility, therapeutic massage once a month, and being smart about how stupid I'm willing to be on the bike at my age - that are going to keep me rolling now.

So if I were you, I'd first talk to a specialist. Find out what exactly is happening with you and what your best options are. Then put together a plan to help you maintain that flexibility and don't tax your back too much. For me, this is all in service of being able to take part in the activities I enjoy, but for you it's probably a lot more in addition to that, since I figure you'd want to be able to stay mobile to enjoy life with your family. You need to look into ways to make this manageable and better now because if it is anything like what I had, it's going to get worse and more frequent as time passes.

Good luck, Dave!
 

Magic

Formerly 1sh0t1b33r
Team MTBNJ Halter's
My gf works for Stryker and recommends Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC because anyone there seems to know what they're doing. If you need an implant, the surgeon is more important than the implant, but pick Stryker anyway.:p

Good luck guy.
 

dmkalemba

Well-Known Member
My gf works for Stryker and recommends Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC because anyone there seems to know what they're doing. If you need an implant, the surgeon is more important than the implant, but pick Stryker anyway.:p

Good luck guy.
+1 on HSS.. my issues were C3 through C6 (i know it's different than Lumbar), but the staff, surgeon and neurologist were top notch.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
I used to get the same, ice picks radiating along the spine and down arms and legs. What I'm pretty sure set it off was your hunched over welding work for hours on end. Start listening to your body and any signs of pain/soreness take a long break or even better call it a day. Which scans have you had done? You need to know the extent of the disc deterioration. Pain now can actually be a mixed blessing, as it was for me, where nerves extended far enough to give a early warning before surgery was needed. If I kept on the late nights working, I'm sure I would have needed spinal fusion, which I'm sure you want to avoid. One thing that has helped me in terms of therapy is a traction, however start it easily. I have my own at home and some times I retract too quickly and it catches a nerve, which is rather painful. Inversion tables are also relaxing. Check with your doc for which to get. Good luck and get well soon
 

Kaleidopete

Well-Known Member
What did you have done?
I don't know the name, but my sciatic nerve was pinched and he
removed part of my spine and put in rods and screws to support it.

Spine MRI 4_16_55.jpg


spine bolts2.jpg
 

MMuller

Well-Known Member
2 months sciatic pain after little bunny hop gone wrong. I never knew there was a pain that could be so unbearably horrible. Finally worsening symptoms sent me to ER and emergency surgery last Friday. Finally feel I'm going in the right direction. Id guess you need an MRI done and go from there. Should you fear surgery? Ask me later. Hang tough.
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
Back in 08 I actually slipped on wet grass. Imagine me trying to kick myself in the back of my head with my heel. Tore where the spine and pelvis connect. This led to 4 months of sciatica pain. Felt like my ankle was on fire and my whole body locked up at night. 6 months of sports rehab fixed that.
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
So Tuesday night. Muscles feel tired( probably from electrostim and compensation). Not feeling mich better but a little more flexible. I wake up this morning and pain is worse. Car ride to work is bad and once at work and dressed(a feat all in it’s own), the pain meter just spiked to a 13 on 1-10. I need to see someone today. This is like numbing, blackout pain. Two drs never called back for appointments yesterday. I’ll make a few last attempts before ER. Really don’t want to go that route.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Dude.... sorry to see all this going down. If you're at a 13 on a scale of 1-10, that sounds fucking debilitating. Stop whatever you're doing at go to the ER. That's just me though. I like to think I have a high threshold for pain, but in reality, I don't.
 
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