Erector Spinae Trauma in Thoracic region (non-healing)

Posted by Dave @dave06351, Jul 11, 2018

In March of 2017 I fell on a construction site laterally accross my mid-bak just above my lower ribs. The pain was unbearable for a couple of days and the anatomy of my lower ribs changed immediately (lower subluxation of right ribs/cartilage). I contacted my chiropractor and a couple orthopedic surgeons who cleared me for any spine injury. After a week, the pain subsided and I was able to get back to my normal activities; but, something wasn't right and things just felt out of place and kind of discordinated.

In June of that year, I decided to take a 2 mile run to stretch out and possibly work out the bugs... The celiac ganglion became aggravated to the point where it caused me to be overcome by debilitating nausea for months, caused delayed gastric emptying and caused my galbladder to stop working (didn't find out until 2/2018). This is when I started to aggressively persue help from the medical community.

In August of the same year, I felt well enough to help my neighbor move household goods. I felt strong until I made one last jump up into the back of the truck from the bumper and I felt my back muscle completely let go from below my shoulder blade down to my lower back. I immediately fell into shock, had major muscle spasms from my lower ribs all the way down to my lower back and had to purge my bowels right away.

Since then, I've been through countless blood tests, X-rays and GI testing that have left me going nowhere fast while my back started coming apart on me. Now, I'm working with a thoracic surgeon in yale who is still clueless of what's going on even though I told him exactly what happened, where the pain is and what causes things to become aggravated.

We are currently stuck, we don't know and cannot locate a surgeon who could perform the surgery of the muscle trauma. Physical therapy is helping my back; but, is aggravating my nerves all over again.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Spine Health Support Group.

@dave06351,

I apologize for the very delayed response. I am sorry to hear of your debilitating issues. I see that you are familiar with Connect and the MALS group. I would like to invite you to check out the following discussion as well where many members talk about back pain, issues, and surgical solutions to those problems, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/surgical-solutions-to-chronic-cervicalback-pain/. If you don't mind sharing a bit more about yourself and the Yale physician that you are working with, has he mentioned any possible cause for your back pain or mentioned that he would be willing to give you a referral? You titled your discussion erector spinae, has your issue been identified to be that area?

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@JustinMcClanahan

@dave06351,

I apologize for the very delayed response. I am sorry to hear of your debilitating issues. I see that you are familiar with Connect and the MALS group. I would like to invite you to check out the following discussion as well where many members talk about back pain, issues, and surgical solutions to those problems, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/surgical-solutions-to-chronic-cervicalback-pain/. If you don't mind sharing a bit more about yourself and the Yale physician that you are working with, has he mentioned any possible cause for your back pain or mentioned that he would be willing to give you a referral? You titled your discussion erector spinae, has your issue been identified to be that area?

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I'm a nuclear mechanical engineer working for the Navy, I have a wife and a little girl. I've always been very physically active and before the fall and one of the most motivated people you'd ever met. I approached Yale directly after I exhausted all the medical help in my area and have become completely fed up with the amount of red tape and New England's cold shoulder of health CARE.

Dr Dhanasopon is the thoracic surgeon at Yale, and I have setup an appointment with a Trauma Surgeon for tomorrow at Yale to try and convince him that the imaging is spot on and that I need surgical intervention to repair those muscles. The surgeon who did my cholecystectomy stated that I would need to see a Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon; but, I haven't been able to get my hands on anything. I'm really grasping at straws now.

Dhanasopon has not mentioned any possible causes for the pain at my back ribs and neither has the pain management doctor he referred me to at Backus Outpatient (Dr Kapor). Physical therapy has helped the herniation's and bulging disk in my back; but, severely aggravated my throat/esophagus nerves, chest and diaphragm. The muscle trauma has also become more defined. After a year and a half of this Trauma, I'm very aware of the full gamut of cause and effect.

My issue has not been clinically identified by any radiologist and no specialty I've seen has the balls to read the MRI imaging for themselves. I've challenged the reporting multiple times because I know that the abnormalities are physical, not an error in the imaging. For me, the images aren't just visual... I can feel it (like a knife). There is nowhere else to look, nothing else to question.

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@JustinMcClanahan

@dave06351,

I apologize for the very delayed response. I am sorry to hear of your debilitating issues. I see that you are familiar with Connect and the MALS group. I would like to invite you to check out the following discussion as well where many members talk about back pain, issues, and surgical solutions to those problems, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/surgical-solutions-to-chronic-cervicalback-pain/. If you don't mind sharing a bit more about yourself and the Yale physician that you are working with, has he mentioned any possible cause for your back pain or mentioned that he would be willing to give you a referral? You titled your discussion erector spinae, has your issue been identified to be that area?

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@dave06351, I can't imagine the frustration you are feeling when you know what is wrong with you and you can't get the diagnosis to help move you forward. I am also no stranger to chronic pain and muscle/skeletal issues. Like you, I am a very physically active person despite my illness and joint damage and surgeries. I was born with Hemophilia, a rare genetic bleeding disorder that prevents my blood from clotting on its own. As a result, I had a lot of internal injuries to my lower joints and ended up with end-stage arthritis in both ankles and my right knee by the time I was in my mid-teens. I now have had a total knee replacement, a left ankle fusion and will still need a right ankle fusion as well. I am currently still in a sling as I just had my torn rotator cuff fixed. I loved physical sports but had to quit at an early age. I picked up weight-lifting to satisfy my love for being active and have had to recently back off on that as well. I share this to at least show that I understand the feeling of having your activity level taken from you despite your drive to be active. It's hard to put in to words sometimes, isn't it?

@dave06351, how did your appointment go with Dr. Dhanasopon go? Would you also be interested in speaking with your providers to get a possible referral to Mayo Clinic? I can't promise an appointment, but a physician referral is a good start.

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Suffering from the exact same thins since 2014. Doctors are not able the help really... Currently, I am training with exercises that focus on thoracic spinal erectors... Hatfield back extension, bret contreas thoracic back exercises etc. Have you had any breakthrough?

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@shubhamagrawal

Suffering from the exact same thins since 2014. Doctors are not able the help really... Currently, I am training with exercises that focus on thoracic spinal erectors... Hatfield back extension, bret contreas thoracic back exercises etc. Have you had any breakthrough?

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No breakthrus for me. I'm working with a neurotrauma surgeon right now in an attempt to hone in on the problem, but now I've torn my pelvic floor away from my tailbone and I'm still dealing with all that on top of this.

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Are you sure you don’t have slipping rib.

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