NursingLink

It sounds like you need to see a doctor.

 Yup, you need to see a doctor.  You need to go to the ER to get interim pain relief, and then follow up with your family doctor asap.  Go to your family doctor first if you can get them to squeeze you in.  You need an MRI of your back.

From your description, it sounds like you suffer from degenerative disk disease that worsened into the bulging disk.  Chiropracty is a great way to deal with back pain, but if you rupture a disk you need medical evaluation.  Don't rush into surgery though, if you don't have to.  There are ways to cope with the pain, which will likely be chronic.  TENS (Transcutaneal  Electrical Nerve Stimulation), accupuncture, massage therapy, and physical therapy can all help.

The falls may or may not have contributed to the current problem.  It depends on the nature of the injury.  Usually falls in young people result in temporary issues.  Chronic back problems are usually caused by a sendentary lifestyle, poor lifting techniques (lifting with your back, not your legs), and obesity.  Poor posture worsens back pain.

I went to a chiropractor after a serious car accident about 10 years ago.  It was far better for my pain than narcotics, I will tell you.  I go every so often and get my back adjusted, and have very little back pain in spite of several work related injuries in which I pulled my back because I was not lifting correctly, or in a position where I could not lift correctly, or got pulled in the wrong direction by a combative patient.  But there is osteoporosis in my family, and I worry about compression fractures of the vertebrae, which my mother has.  

Backs are more complicated than they look.

theala says ...

 Yup, you need to see a doctor.  You need to go to the ER to get interim pain relief, and then follow up with your family doctor asap.  Go to your family doctor first if you can get them to squeeze you in.  You need an MRI of your back.

From your description, it sounds like you suffer from degenerative disk disease that worsened into the bulging disk.  Chiropracty is a great way to deal with back pain, but if you rupture a disk you need medical evaluation.  Don't rush into surgery though, if you don't have to.  There are ways to cope with the pain, which will likely be chronic.  TENS (Transcutaneal  Electrical Nerve Stimulation), accupuncture, massage therapy, and physical therapy can all help.

The falls may or may not have contributed to the current problem.  It depends on the nature of the injury.  Usually falls in young people result in temporary issues.  Chronic back problems are usually caused by a sendentary lifestyle, poor lifting techniques (lifting with your back, not your legs), and obesity.  Poor posture worsens back pain.

I went to a chiropractor after a serious car accident about 10 years ago.  It was far better for my pain than narcotics, I will tell you.  I go every so often and get my back adjusted, and have very little back pain in spite of several work related injuries in which I pulled my back because I was not lifting correctly, or in a position where I could not lift correctly, or got pulled in the wrong direction by a combative patient.  But there is osteoporosis in my family, and I worry about compression fractures of the vertebrae, which my mother has.  

Backs are more complicated than they look.

I agree with theala, back pain in nothing to fool around with. My dad has had back problems all his life. He tried everything and then had surgery in 2005 on his L-5 and S-1. Then in 2006 he had rod and screws put in, now he is sorry but had no other options. Then in Sept. of last year he had a Spinal Cord Stimulator put in his right hip with leads going up his spine. It has cut his pain in half. He did not want to live on pain killers and morphine for the rest of his life. This is nothing to wait around on, please go to a doctor as soon as you can. Good luck.