Physio for nerve pain

[Laura]

Hi all,

I saw my GP yesterday about the increase in my pain levels in both legs (from failed back surgery 10 years ago). My ability to walk has also decreased substantially and I’m finding sleeping very difficult. The only think my doctor suggested was physio (I’ve tried all the meds and none work for me).

Has anyone had this for nerve damage/pain? I’ve been countless times over the years for back pain and have to say it’s never improved my pain levels, in fact I’ve had to be very careful with what they ask me to do.But I’m not sure how does physio affect nerves?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[Lc]

Hi Laura , Yes its called nerve flossing, where you bring knee up to 90 degrees then try and straighten leg as much as possible before it hurts, it didn’t do me any good at all and didn’t stop nerve pain. try google it and put in NHS only. good luck and best wishes and hope it works for you. Lee

[Joyce]

Hi Laura I’m sceptical regarding physio as can’t imagine it helps much. However a friend of mine who has a long running back issue does do aqua physio and she claims it’s helped her she has numbness in one leg but not the pain she used to have. Might be worth a try.

[Laura]

Thanks, Lee and Joyce.

If only sticking my leg at 90 degrees would see the end to this pain! It looks as if flossing is used mainly for sciatica problems, I’ve tried all sorts of exercises for sciatica pain in the past and non worked, the only thing that helped was ice.

My pain is from scar tissue so can’t think how physio would help but GP told me I had to try this to access any other clinics. Would have thought my health record would mean I would be able to access any other help without going through any hoops but there you go.

[Lc]

Hi Laura if its scar tissue then deep massaging helps to break down the scar tissue ,but if nothing been done for 10 yrs then cant see if this helps but they can try injections to try and break down scar tissue. had this done on my hand once but this too never worked. and only another is surgery to remove the effected scar tissue.
take care and best wishes. Lee

[Laura]

Still waiting for a physio appointment, it’s been 3.5 months since I was referred. Even though my GP asked for an urgent referral (because it’s affecting my sleep) the physio people have no idea when I could get an appointment. Shocking.

[Lc]

Hi Laura, that is shocking, have you tried ringing them and asking when they are going to see you as it is getting worse and lack of sleep because of it is making you worse.
we had a 90 year old who tripped in town and laid on the pavement for 3 hours before an ambulance came to pick him up, he had fractured the head of femur, now thats disgusting. people were bringing blankets to keep him warm.
try ringing them and make a nuisance of yourself. hope you get in soon. got PIP assessment tomorrow at home so feeling a bit anxious, and BREATH, lol take care and best wishes, Lee

[Laura]

Hi Lee,

I rang my GPs surgery about it and the secretary rang the physio team leader. She said I’d have to wait until I’d reached the top of the waiting list… but had no idea when that would be!

[Jan Sadler]

Hi Laura, that’s appalling. You could try the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). Here’s a link to the page, if you scroll down you can find a link for your nearest PALs group to ring for advice.
https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/what-is-pals-patient-advice-and-liaison-service/

Failing that, contact your local MP, this is just the sort of problem they can sort out for you.

Let us know how you get on.
Jan at PainSupport

[Laura]

Thanks Jan.

Strangely enough I had a phone call at 5 p.m. saying they had a cancellation on Monday at 8.20 a.m.! Wonder if I was just forgotten? Anyway, glad to get it sorted, I don’t think physio will affect my pain but it’s the only way of getting to a pain clinic!

[Christine]

Laura, I think it very much depends on the person you see. I had some sessions years ago with an NHS physio, a man, who did martial arts and weight lifting. Now I am a seven stone weakling, and he was the worse person for me to have seen! He kept telling me how weak I was. I can see the funny side now.

Lee, I think it was nerve flossing that another physio had me doing, but with my arms. I’m glad you reminded me. About two months ago I went to a Pilates class after a very long break, though I’d been exercising a lot at home. I injured my neck (did too much) and it triggered the neck and arm pain again.

Good luck, Laura.

[Laura]

Hi,

Well my first appointment after a 3 month wait was cancelled just as I was going out the door. Then I had to wait another week for the first session.

It didn’t seem as if the physio knew much about failed back surgery syndrome and suggested I do core strengthening exercises which he said would help my legs. Not sure but will go along with it. Trouble is the next day I started a big flare up of back pain which isn’t unexpected of course. I’m doing the exercises I’ve been given and go back in December.

Christine, my physio is a very tall young man so hope he’s gentle with me!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by Laura.

[Christine]

I hope I didn’t put you off, Laura!! Tall is ok; it’s massive muscles that were the problem – his, not mine 🙂

Sometimes they do seem lacking in knowledge.

[Joyce]

Laura can I ask more details about your failed back surgery, I’m waiting for decompression and fusion but still not sure?
Thanks
Joyce

[Laura]

No, Christine, you didn’t put me off! What does put me off is if the medical person doesn’t understand how my pain affects me and doesn’t ask. I’ve had some awful experiences with people who said they knew all about bad backs, these days I feel very able to say no to things I know will hurt me.

Joyce… it’s such a toss up as to whether ops work. I went ahead after a lot of research etc. but it still went wrong but it was a chance I took. Now of course I wish I hadn’t had it done but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I have met several people who’ve had a wonderful result from fusion surgery but they were a lot younger than me and didn’t have degenerative disc disease which I do. I wish you the best of luck in your decision, in the end only you can decide of course, it’s a big decision. xx

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