Dean was a 41-year-old, married executive when he was involved in a motor vehicle accident where his car was totally wrecked. X-rays revealed no fractures. Over the next five years he experienced progressively increasing aching and tightness in his low back which sometimes radiated into his buttocks and down into both legs to the soles of his feet. He also reported pain in his neck and shoulders, which was made worse by bending over.
Therapeutic exercises, medications, psychotherapy, epidural steroids and nerve blocks were given without success. Radiofrequency lesioning of nerves innervating the facet joints in his cervical and lumbar spines provided six months of minor relief.
His pain became unbearable and he attempted suicide twice. When he consulted me five years after the accident, he was no longer working and rarely left his house. Physical examination revealed 16 muscles that appeared to be a source of pain. He lived out of state so his treatment was not continuous. Over the course of 4 months, he received muscle-tendon injections to each muscle identified followed by 3 days of a physical therapy protocol after each injection which included teaching Dean an exercise program that had been given at the YMCA . No muscle was re-injected. His pain was eliminated. Four years later, he continues to contact us to let us know he is still pain free and working as a corporate executive.
Filed under: muscle pain posts • pain management
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