Hi Doctor, My daughter, in her 30s, slipped on carpeted staris and fell. She hurt her left lower back around the SI joint area. It was 10 days ago. X-ray taken next day, found no acute fracture and no dislocation in sacrum area. She has been taken 1800mg ibuprofen for 8 days. Since then she is taken IB 2 days a day, each time 600mg. She slided her feet forward in order to move around at home by holding the back of a chair with very slow motion and a bent forward position at 70 degree angle. She could make small steps with same body position and help of a chair, just like a senior in the past 3 days. She has not been standing up straight nor lie down to sleep as there will be extreme sharp pain shoot up from injured area. She has been in a sit-up position to take naps at night. She has not been able to walk up or down stair so to take showers or bath. She has no problem on calls of nature. Her both legs muscles have been very hard and they look much fatter than before the injury. She has very sharp pain sometimes in the SI area by just lifting up her right arm to reach something. She dares not to move any part of the body fast as it might trigger sharp pain from injured area. Questions are: Does it seem like she has pinched nerve. If yes, what does that mean? If yes, how long will it get healed? Are her muscles or bone bruised? She only iced her lower back area in the first 48 hours. She stopped using heat pad for about 2 days ago. Should she continue to use ice pad or heat pad? Is it safe for her to continue to take IB? If yes, how many more days and the dosage please? She wants to know what actually is wrong with her and what should she do to help improve the healing? I asked on her behalf as she has been pretty upset with no sign of obivous improvement. Kindly let me know what she could do for better and fast healing. Thank you. Catherine
Hi, Your daughter really had a very bad fall which is ought to give her a bad injury on her back. The answers are as following:1) Yes there are chances of having a pinched nerve. A pinched nerve means the nerve fibers that exits from the vertebral Gorman is trapped by a disc bulge (most of the cases) or a broken bony fragment.2) The duration of healing will depend on the severity of entrapment and at what levels have it taken place.3) The body gives a protective mechanism by developing a muscle spasm to prevent further damage, so not to worry about muscle pain also a bone injury can be only confirmed on x-ray or MRI.4) Yes it will be good if she continues taking Ice and hot packs both as it will provide some relief from the pain and stiffness5) No I would not suggest taking Ibuprofen for a longer duration as it will not help in treating the basic injury that she is having. Moreover, I would like to suggest visiting an Orthopedic for a detailed examination. For proper healing she needs to take rest, avoid activities as much as possible and take the medicines regularly as prescribed by her Orthopedic based on detailed examination. Hope this helps you to some extent and release your daughter of some stress that she is having due to this injury. Please convince her to go to a doctor and stop taking any home remedies as this will only worsen her condition. Again worrying will only lead to delayed healing. Hoping her to get well soon. Let me know if I can assist you further. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.  