Low back pain

[Nickie]

I have been on predisone 2 1/2 years. I am currently on 2 mg every other day. I am presently having severe low back pain and a little shoulder pain. The shoulder pain goes away after I am up in the morning after a few minutes. I am not sure if low back pain is from the pmr. I have a drs. Appointment Thursday of the this week for annual check up but this is not my Rhuemy. I was thinking I should raise my pred to see if the pain goes away. Ibrophen really helps but I don't liketo take that while taking Pred. Should I raise the pred. or wait to seethe doctor. I had a herniated disk 8 years ago. Is low back pain symptoms of pmr? My sedimentation rate was 23 two weeks ago and CRP 2.2.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Something called myofascial pain syndrome often occurs alongside PMR - often because we walk badly and put strain on our back muscles - but it is characterised by trigger spots of concentrations of cytokines which lead to hard knots of inflamed muscle fibres which eventually cause muscle spasms. Two of the trigger spots are on either side of your spine where the dimples are. Cytokines are the same substances that lead to PMR symptoms but then they are in free circulation all over the body. In these trigger spots they can pinch nerves and cause low back and buttock pain and even pain into the leg down the sciatic nerve.

It can be treated with physio to manually mobilise the trigger points (ouch, but it does work), local cortisone injections and (far less ouch) Bowen therapy. Several other ladies on here have tried Bowen and found it helped - for a few of us it was positively miraculous! A trial is being done in the NE as an adjunct to pain therapy.