question about back pain

[Godwillhelp]

I am trying to find the correlation between lower back pain and IC. I don't understand how IC can cause back pain......I understand the relation with kidney pain and the bladder because they are connected but I don't understand lower back pain or even groin pain. Could it really be two different things but we are trying to relate them? Just a thought.

[4kidzmom]

elmiron can cause back and leg pain, not sure if you are on that or not.....just a thought.

[~*~Christine~*~]

This link has the info related to the bladder and the spine and why some ICers experience lower back pain http://www.ic-network.com/md/neuroanatomy.html

[armslee]

Some back pain can also be caused from other conditions like pelvic floor dysfunction.

[stacey79]

I also have dealt with low back pain. I've tried physical therapy. Just over a month ago I went to a chiropractor. I do have mild degenerative disc disease, but mainly it's very tied into the bladder. He explained that there is a nerve going straight from the low back to the bladder. If you look at the link with the diagram, it shows that and explains it more.

I've been going for adjustments with the chiropractor. Each visit I either have some sort of muscle pulsating phsyical therapy or a massage with a massage therapist as well. For a month, I went three times a week. This past week, I'm down to twice a week. I'll do that for a month and then am supposed to do once a week for a month.

All I can say is that is really helping. NOt doing much for the bladder one way or the other, but my back is much better. I was to the point that sometimes at night it was hard to even stand up straight. I've been flaring for the last week and a half. While my back is bothering me a little bit more again, it's still not nearly as bad as it usually is during a flare.

One thing my chiropractor's office is adamant about is using cold instead of heat when it hurts. I don't know if that applies to every situation. I do know for me that I used to use heat. I thought it helped. When I switched to an ice pack, it REALLY helped.

It might be worth checking with the chiro. Never hurts to talk to your family doctor either. Oh, and my insurance does cover chiro visits. I pay my doctor's office visit co-pay, but that's it. Even when I have the massages once a week, that's covered.

[Godwillhelp]

Thanks for your thoughts. I have been seeing a chiro for a few months now but haven't really noticed a change. My pain is definately in the S1 - S4 region and it seems to wrap around to where my legs meet my groin. For a long time I have not related IC to it but now I have read so many posts which say that it is related. I guess I was hopeful that it wasn't related because maybe that would mean that it wouldn't get worse or progress.

I looked at the website given but can't understand all the medical lingo. Thanks for the info though.

Dana

[lauraheather]

I have noticed a lot of pain periodically over my right kidney. Is that something that IC patients deal with? I don't have a kidney infection, no white cells in my urine, only red cells

[stacey79]

A lot of IC patients do have back pain. If it's a new symptom, though, you ought to talk with your doctor about it. My hubby (who doesn't have IC) only had back pain with his recent bout with a kidney stone. It was intermittent at some points. I do have low back pain, but it's been diagnosed more skeletal-muscular (mild degenerative disc disease).

Hope you're feeling better soon!

[ICNDonna]

Stacy is right. Any time you experience a new pain, you need to talk with your doctor. When we have IC, it's easy to think that any pain we have must be IC related, but it's not always.

Donna

[med_head_09]

i always thought that i didn't have the pain that i see most ICers have, but it is because mine is exactly what was mentioned a few posts ago...low back pain that wraps around to the inside of my groin area. sometimes so bad i cannot stand up or walk without wanting to cry or scream...which by the way makes me tell jokes and be overly sarcasticly witty. which is how my honey knows i am in pain. the funny thing is the onset of IC symptoms (frequency/urgency) occurred within a month of the back pain, which came first. and when i have really bad back pain, my frequency is through the roof. my mom and dad always thought they were related and tried to get all the docs to connect them, but no one could until i recently got my diagnosis of IC. now i know that it goes either way, a flare in my back pain will cause increased frequency, just as increased frequency causes worse back pain. i saw a chiropracter for a long time, but now that i am in osteopathic school, we learn how to do all of the adjustments, so i can get my classmates to work on me for free. that whole starving student gets in the way of things sometimes. now that i have the interstim implant i am afraid to get adjusted. i am just glad that i have not had that many bad spells with my back.

~J