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Anyone travel to Mayo Clinic for complex back/hip pain?
Hello everyone,
I am looking to connect with anyone who has traveled to Mayo Clinic with complex, overlapping chronic back and hip pain.
I live in Canada and have already gone through multiple treatments and imaging scans locally, but my case remains an undiagnosed puzzle. I am looking for a deep diagnostic dive to find the root cause and map out a non-surgical, functional rehabilitation plan.
If you have been in a similar situation, I would love to hear about your experience:
Which campus did you choose? (I am strongly leaning toward Rochester, MN due to their diagnostic reputation).
How successful were they at untangling your hip vs. spine pain? Did they catch anything your local doctors missed on your previous scans?
Tagging
@colleenyoung
@johnbishop
@rwinney
in hopes you might know of other international or hip-spine patients who can share their experiences. Thank you.
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@georgewater I am a Mayo spine surgery patient for a cervical fusion. My spine issues were from a whiplash years ago and it also left me with a bulging lumbar disc. I have had some issues with my pelvis not holding a proper alignment. That causes symptoms that mimic a spine problem and stresses the lower back and may cause sciatic pain. I know when my pelvis is shifting out of alignment when I get fatigue on just one side of my lower back. Solving this has been learning how to stretch from a physical therapist and the one I did a lot if work with did myofascial release which stretches out overly tight fascial tissue that holds the body and may prevent proper movement. If you can solve all the tension on the pelvis so it moves better, it takes the stress off the lower back.
This article explains issues related to Lumbar Plexus Compression Syndrome.
https://mskneurology.com/identify-treat-lumbar-plexus-compression-syndrome-lpcs/
If you also have any spine generated issues, that certainly can complicate a diagnosis by causing overlapping symptoms.
If you want to explore Myofascial Release first, it may be a path to recovery without surgery or an expensive medical trip. Certainly, Mayo is an excellent place that I highly recommend, but international travel to go there would be an expense. Myofascial release has helped me a lot and it may give you some answers to your physical problems, but it will require multiple sessions. These issues need time and work to get through them, but you should expect to make progress toward better movement and function.
Here is our discussion about MFR:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
Here is a provider search and there are providers in Canada.
https://mfrtherapists.com/
Does myofascial release pique your interest as something you may be interested in trying?
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2 Reactions@gilvernon
Is that anything like the Intracept procedure? Don't think one would qualify if one has had fusion.
Hi George @georgewater , I'm very sorry to hear you're struggling with such bad back and hip pain. How awful and frustrating to not understand the root cause. I attended Mayo Clinic's pain rehab center in Jacksonville Florida to learn how to manage my chronic pain symptoms. For several years I had gone down the rabbit hole with multiple diagnostic tests, procedures and medications , but eventually there were no more tests to be done and nothing was quite keeping me comfortable any longer. My next step was to learn how to live with what I had, more importantly why I had it.
When I went to the PRC I was prepared for more tests and more specific catering towards myself only to realize that that is not what the pain rehab center is about. Once accepted, it typically means treatments are no longer effective and doctors don't have answers as to why you're in this chronic pain cycle. If you feel you've exhausted all other possibilities and there are no answers left then the PRC is for you, but keep in mind the program teaches Lifestyle Changes through physical fitness, nutrition, cognitive behavioral therapy, stress reduction and emphasizes pain med reduction. It teaches about central sensitization syndrome and how permanent changes in the central nervous system via the spinal cord take place causing hypersensitivity, sort of like a computer short circuiting causing chronic pain and other symptoms.
@colleenyoung attached helpful links here:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/1643462/
And @jenniferhunter chimed in with info about spine problems and her experience.
Have you given thought to your next steps and which path is right for you?
At this point I just want a comprehensive deep dive and hopefully a diagnosis.