I can't cope with my bad back!

[bumblebee1987]

Is there anyone who suffers from a bad back who can give me advice?

I have a back injury from falling off a horse when I was 20 (first and last time I ever got on a horse!), and I can't cope with the pain any more. I am 33 now, and it gets worse all the time. It is affecting every aspect of my life, I have a physical job and struggle at work (I am self employed so can't even take sick leave or anything, although had to shut the business for 13 weeks anyway because of covid and it's still horrendous!) It impacts on my ability to care for my children, I have a 1 year old who I genuinely struggle to pick up, and I cannot get on the floor to play with her. I can't walk my dogs. I really struggle with housework. It messes with everything. It even affects my sleep as lying down isn't comfortable.

I have tried everything I can to help it. I've been to numerous chiropractors, physios, osteopaths, Pilates classes. I've lost weight, I've tried to take up exercise. I've tried heat pads and regularly taking pain killers. Nothing works. But no one takes it seriously.

At the time, it was terrifying. I fell from the horse, landed flat on my back and couldn't move my legs at all. I went to hospital in an ambulance, where A and E was absolutely manic (please don't think I am blaming the NHS or anything, they were and are under huge pressure!), I spent 6 hours on a spine board in the corridor of the hospital before I was seen, and was then taken for an x-ray, told that my spine was okay, it was just damaged muscles, and was then taken to a bay and told that the feeling in my legs would come back and once it had, I was free to go. They were right, a few hours later I was able to walk out of hospital, armed with some strong painkillers (I can't remember what they were called, but they made me sick so I couldn't take them anyway!), and that was that.

I just don't know where to go from here? Everything I have done so far has been self funded, but it's all so expensive and I just haven't got the means to pay for physio every week for the rest of my life, not that it helps anyway. It also concerns me because where does it go from here? I'm 33, and it gets progressively worse, I dread to think how bad it will be by the time I'm 35, 40, 50! My GP isn't really interested, and I feel like I'm wasting their time every time I go.

Any ideas?! Sorry, I know there are much bigger things going on in the world right now, I am just lost as to where to go from here!

A few years ago, I tripped over our stairgate at the top of our horseshoe shaped staircase. I managed to land at the bottom in the hallway having missed every single step.
I thought I was just badly bruised and put up with the pain for 3 wks. Then i had the most pain i have ever felt in my life. An ambulance was called. I couldn't move. Each time I tried, I had horrid back spasms pilate up my spine. I had to have morphine and gas and air just to sit up in the chair. Turns out i had sustained a twisted spine affecting the bottom 6 vertebrae. It had turned 90 degrees clockwise so my hips were no longer level, one was about 2 inches higher than the other and I had a slipped disc.
After a course of tramadol, I went for physio at the nhs hospital.q Alongside this treatment, we also paid to have a private chiropractor once a week. He was amazing. As well as the exercises, he told me I had to desensitize the area from the pain. He told me to roll a tennis ball on the area that was hurting most, applying more pressure. I didn't think it would work but it has. If I get a slight niggle in my lower back, I apply pressure with the tennis ball and it is okay again.
My spine has gone back to normal and my hips are level again. Never want to feel pain like that again. Might be worth trying.

Broke my back in a bad fall eventing but I’m back to competing and fine.

Firstly, push for an mri. An X-ray is not good enough.

Secondly, you need to do exercise every day in a Controlled way. Yoga for back pain YouTube tutorials are great if money is an issue. But better would be regular, disciplined physio and doing physio exercises. Not for 6-12 weeks - for the rest of your life.

My mum had a terrible back for 20 years also caused by sport and horse falls. Gave up riding, was sometimes bed ridden. She is now mid 70s and back riding - she even ran after an errant horse today! The difference? She is militant about exercising every single day with physio and strength related exercises, no matter how she feels.

You probably have something unpleasant that needs checking with an MRI first Because you don’t want to start doing something that puts your back at risk, but if it’s a trapped nerve or similar, you start compensating and that actually causes more issues over time.

Yoga brought me back from a fractured spine. It’s a miracle worker.

I’m also very sorry that this happened to you - it should not happen to a beginner. I was competing at a high level, and my mum did lots of mad dangerous stuff with sport, so we were likely to get injured.

Thanks everyone, your replies have been so helpful, I am really grateful for all of the suggestions and advice

I am going to go back to the GP one last time, and if they don't help then I will pay for a private MRI and hope that gives me some answers. Not that I want anything to be wrong, but after all this time, i'd be lying if I said I wouldn't feel a sense of relief to finally get some sort of diagnosis!

@Nagsnovalballs - My goodness, a broken back sounds awful! Amazing that you are fine, I didn't even think that recovery from a broken back was possible! Your mum sounds amazing, good for her to be back doing what she loves and knowing what she needs to do to achieve it It's okay, I imagine it's rare for it to happen to a beginner, and I suppose it's always a risk you take when you get on the back of a large animal with a mind of its own! He was a lovely horse, and to be fair to him, it was more the fault of the horse in front of me because he got spooked and threw his rider off (although fortunately she was fine), which in turn scared my horse who then threw me off. I vowed never to get on another horse, and I never have! Beautiful creatures, and I love them, but I will adore them from the safety of the ground from now on, and leave the riding to the pros!

I hurt my back in a car accident 10 years ago., which wasn't my fault. I couldn't move for weeks then I had on/ off pain for years. I got referred to a private clinic through the court case and got cortisone injections and it was amazing! I still get the odd jiggle in my lower back but I think that's just part of getting older.

bumblebee1987 did you get to the bottom of this in the end?