Parents Back pain... How long to wait?

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MUTigerMom

Proud Parent
My DD is a 10 year old level 5 and started having back pain in her lower back on 8/24. It hurts only on the right side.

She thinks she hurt it initially on an awkward warm up vault. She competed the meet. She rested her back for several days and acted like it felt better. Practiced as usual. From time to time she would mention some pain but acted like it wasn't a big deal. Would take a night or two off of bwo/vault/fhs and then say it was fine and resume training.

Fast forward to 9/12. She was at soccer practice and my husband noticed she was in severe pain. She was taking corner kicks. Every time she kicked the ball she was groaning and wincing in pain. She never said anything, he had to pull her off the field.

She has been doing conditioning and choreo only at gym since then. Today she was walking and tripped. She seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. She says it hurts anytime she runs, skips, or does anything other than sit/walk.

My husband thinks we should wait a few weeks and see, but I am wondering if we should get it checked out sooner vs later. DD doesn't want to go because she thinks it will mean full restrictions on all activity and we are still in meet season.

Anyone have ideas or insight?
 
Get her in NOW! Don't mess around with a back injury. The sooner you get her examined, the better. Make sure you have her examined by a ped ortho, +1 if they have experience with gymnasts and if you are offered an MRI, take it! She should not do ANYTHING that causes her pain until she sees a doctor. My DD had stress fractures a couple of years ago and presented the same way that your DD is. She had 3 fractures! Her season was shut down but far better than risking permanent damage.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. As soon as I read the first one I called our pediatric sports/Ortho doctor. He was very good when she broke her arm four years ago. They can't get her in until Monday. We will rest it until then and I have told her she is not to do anything that hurts in any way. I will update everyone once we know more.
 
Definitely get it checked out! But just to ease your mind a bit, mine has had pretty significant back pain (at one point it was hard for her to even pick up her backpack!).... MRI showed no stress fracture.... Doc and PT both said that muscle spasms in the back can be very painful. PT was super helpful. She's been out of PT for about 6 months now and is pretty pain free (although not at all bendy in the back as far as gymnasts go)
 
That's true, I had muscle spasms in my back once, and I was literally curled up on an ER floor wishing to die. I have never felt anything like it. Definitely more pain than my kid was ever in with her fracture. (Although the pain from her fracture was also back spasms - just with another cause.) I feel like this is a long time for that to be going on with every daily activity, but I hope it's something that simple.
 
Should I push pretty hard for an MRI?
And the hard part will be getting the insurance to cover it. The docs would love MRIs quickly.

Most insurance companies will not pay until the typical standard of care has been done...
 
And the hard part will be getting the insurance to cover it. The docs would love MRIs quickly.

Most insurance companies will not pay until the typical standard of care has been done...

What does it cost to get an MRI done in the US without insurance covering it?

Even if the doctor feels like they know what is going on I would still push for the MRI, as others have said don’t mess around with backs. Know what you are dealing with before going any further.
 
What does it cost to get an MRI done in the US without insurance covering it?

Even if the doctor feels like they know what is going on I would still push for the MRI, as others have said don’t mess around with backs. Know what you are dealing with before going any further.
Cash pay price is likely to be a four digit number. Most people can not afford to go outside their insurance for stuff like this. When my DD needed an MRI on her leg she had to go through a doctor, a specialist, and then six weeks of PT before they would allow it.
 
$1,200-3,000, and you may only find the lower number if you shop around. We had already hit our deductible for the year, thank goodness.
 
I don't know if I would rush her in for an MRI, but she needs to stop all activity for a few weeks and see if it gets better or worse. Do some simple PT in the meantime. You need to try that first. Obviously doing gym and or soccer isn't going to help the lower back heal. Needs a rest from all the pounding and time to heal and strengthen. Also Stationary bike is good.
 
I respect you greatly, but I believe that is extremely bad advice. I'm in groups for parents of children with back issues, and starting PT while in that much pain is basically never done - especially when the cause is unknown. If she does have spondy, they certainly won't be recommending activity like stationary bikes either!
 
Cash pay price is likely to be a four digit number. Most people can not afford to go outside their insurance for stuff like this. When my DD needed an MRI on her leg she had to go through a doctor, a specialist, and then six weeks of PT before they would allow it.

Wow- I didn't realize how lucky we were. My daughter had back pain and was referred for an MRI the same day she was seen (no other imaging, no PT, etc). It cost us about $100 after insurance paid their part. Hopefully the OP's goes as smoothly- and she also gets clear results!
 
I don't know if I would rush her in for an MRI, but she needs to stop all activity for a few weeks and see if it gets better or worse. Do some simple PT in the meantime. You need to try that first. Obviously doing gym and or soccer isn't going to help the lower back heal. Needs a rest from all the pounding and time to heal and strengthen. Also Stationary bike is good.

We recently went through this with my second year L9 DD (12yrs old). She was doing a round off back layout on floor a skill that's pretty much routine for her when she felt a slight pop sensation in her lower back. At that moment she immediately told the coach and sat out the rest of the workout. The next day since her pain was high; I kept her home from school to take her into the family doctor who said it was most likely a strained muscle which then led to xray of the lower back which came back clean confirming mostly likely a strain muscle. I also took her to our family chiropractor for multiple visits. If her pain had been consistent not letting up and went into week three then she would have had an MRI but luckily in our case for DD staying off of all events at gym for 17 days helped healed her muscle strain. We went through three huge bags of Epson Salt, 15 tiger balm back patches, and at least a bottle of advil.

I agree with coachp

REST IS BEST! There will always be a meet in the future but not your spine if you don't take care of it.
 
Th
I respect you greatly, but I believe that is extremely bad advice. I'm in groups for parents of children with back issues, and starting PT while in that much pain is basically never done - especially when the cause is unknown. If she does have spondy, they certainly won't be recommending activity like stationary bikes either!
The kid is playing soccer and doing gym and hasn’t even tried to rest it..... any doctor is going to tell them to take time off first and any insurance company here in the states is going to agree. .... come on you guys . You know you can’t barge into a dr office with zero fall, impact , acute instance of anything and demand an MRI because your kid has a sore back after playing soccer and doing gym in it with no rest ....
 
And yes PT and bike . Then later if MRI shows something like Spondy, you stop. But you can’t assume the worst and do nothing every time you DD has a achy back, unless they take a fall or something . Which does not sound like the case here
 

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