Expert: Dr. Paul Newhart - 10/14/2009

Question
Hi I was recently pretty much wiped out by sciatic pain. I am an uninsured self-employed massage therapist so I went straight to get an MRI. I have bulging disc betwn L3-L4 and stenosis of both spinal column and foramen L4-L5 & L3-L4. I really did nothing recently to cause this so that has me a bit confused. I have always had limited range of motion in my low back and hips so I believe I may have been just dealing with old injuries (maintaining an active and relatively painfree lifestyle Yoga, running, kayaking, not to mention massage work) that just deteriorated to a point my body could no longer accomadate. I was also told I have an old compression fracture in L1. I am choosing to to treat this with spinal decompression (spine med) and excellent bodywork from some of my local colleagues and am sure I will have good results. My 2 main questions are about the compression fracture, should I be concerned? and I have digestive symptoms that I originally thought were the cause of my low back pain, constant gas (burping) with some bloating and flatulence, doesn't seem to matter what I eat or don't eat, could this distress be caused by the dysfunction in my spine?

Answer
The spinal decompression will help tremendously with this condition.  As far as the compression fracture; I don't believe it should be an issue at this point, but, it depends how badly it was compressed.  The intestinal symptoms could be associated with spinal dysfunction, and, using the treatments that you have chosen, you should notice a decrease in symptoms.