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"See a doctor" is not a silver bullet. I have pretty severe chronic upper back pain that I have repeatedly brought to my doctor's attention at Stanford Med. I'v

"See a doctor" is not a silver bullet. I have pretty severe chronic upper back pain that I have repeatedly brought to my doctor's attention at Stanford Med. I've only ever gotten "I dunno, maybe see a PT" as a response. No imaging referrals, no diagnosis, just a tacit admission that my issue is hard to diagnose or treat, and therefore uninteresting. I've gone to a series of physical therapists. They all offered me extremely generic regimens of stretches and exercises that had little impact on my pain. None of them suggested any particular diagnosis or escalation options. Just... it's not working? Well, how about you pay for a few more sessions? Edit: I have long ago bought all the desk jockey ergonomic accessories -- a standing desk, a split keyboard, a floor mat, a balance board, an ergo mouse, long walks twice a day. They made no difference.

waspight 4y ago
I have seen a physical therapist as well, but with a very generic answer as a result. Hence I am asking here for more ideas on how to do that “just do som regular workout” as I am supposed to.
hansvm 4y ago
Sorry to hear you're in pain :( I agree it's not a silver bullet, and I probably should have made that more clear. The point I was trying to make is that they're likely to get a lot of advice in this thread, and knowing nothing else about them other than that they have back pain and a standard desk job it's more likely that a doctor will be able to help than that any recommendation here will make a difference. To your issue, back pain can be really complicated. Before I found a doctor that helped I found swimming in cold water made a huge difference where nothing else did (lucky to live near the ocean). If your typical doctor doesn't have a clue because something atypical is going on then it can be time consuming and expensive to find somebody who can actually help though. I don't have any actionable advice for atypical issues :/
- legerdemain 4y ago
  No worries, and thanks for your sympathy! Just wanted to point out that a lot of the time in situations like these, there's really no good advice to give, even if you really feel like giving some advice.

waspight 4y ago

I have seen a physical therapist as well, but with a very generic answer as a result. Hence I am asking here for more ideas on how to do that “just do som regular workout” as I am supposed to.

hansvm 4y ago

Sorry to hear you're in pain :( I agree it's not a silver bullet, and I probably should have made that more clear. The point I was trying to make is that they're likely to get a lot of advice in this thread, and knowing nothing else about them other than that they have back pain and a standard desk job it's more likely that a doctor will be able to help than that any recommendation here will make a difference. To your issue, back pain can be really complicated. Before I found a doctor that helped I found swimming in cold water made a huge difference where nothing else did (lucky to live near the ocean). If your typical doctor doesn't have a clue because something atypical is going on then it can be time consuming and expensive to find somebody who can actually help though. I don't have any actionable advice for atypical issues :/

legerdemain 4y ago
No worries, and thanks for your sympathy! Just wanted to point out that a lot of the time in situations like these, there's really no good advice to give, even if you really feel like giving some advice.