Nurses with bad backs.....speak up !

JRD2002 · May 5, 2008

No I have a bad back because I carry a considerable amount of extra weight...nursing doesn't help.

almostfearless · May 5, 2008

My mother was told by her boss that she had to retire under disablity because of her back pain- a couple of weeks later she was diagnosed with fibromialga and two ruptured thoracic disks

KarynicaRN · May 6, 2008

My back problems began when I was 18 working as a CNA. I had been lifting heavy people for years. I knew through the years that something was just not quite right. After about 22 years I had an MRI and guess what? I have an injury to L-4, L-5 and S-1 discs and they slip into a nerve. All these years and I have been in such pain and all the docs wanted to do were x-rays. Thank goodness for a great D.O. who sent me for the MRI to really find out what has been going on all these years. Now with care and medication I can continue working without chronic pain

nurseby07 · May 6, 2008

As a CNA I was scheduled to work Christmas (unfairly, really it's a long story) and everyone knew I was upset about it. December 23rd...I was on the cancer floor RUNNING between two 250+ pound women with uncontrollable bowels. Suddenly I pulled my back out, and had to go on a stretcher to the ER. I had pulled something from my lower back down through my butt and thigh. My Christmas was spent in bed and I almost couldn't go back to nursing school because of it. My manager of course, being the angel she is, thought I was faking it to get out of working Christmas!

lyceeboo · May 6, 2008

One of my first jobs in nursing was as a staff RN on the night shift of an Ortho/Med/Surg floor. Ironically we did a lot of back surgeries and took care of the pts post op. Many of these pts were obese.

We were told we should have 4 ppl every time we turned the back surg pts. Obviously they had to be turned every two hours and at night we often didn't have enough staff to have 4 ppl during each repositioning or q 2 hr turn. I usually went home in the am with an aching back.

One night a heavy man wanted help to the BSC. I knew that after back surgery he didn't have the strength in his legs to hold up much of his weight. I asked him to give me a second to get some lifting help.

All of a sudden with no warning he sat up and put his feet on the floor while leaning on me. He almost fell on top of me. With all of my strength I held on to him until I was able to slide him off of me and onto the floor. Since then I live with low level chronic back pain that flares up when I lift anything heavy or when I do a twisting movement.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 6, 2008

I have an L4/L5 compression, which led to extreme pain that traveled down the back of my right leg whenever I attempted to walk. This injury left me in chronic pain for 2 long years. Two months of chiropractic therapy finally alleviated the pain.

Simplepleasures · May 6, 2008

Carried too much of my own weight and lifting the too heavy weight of my patients for 30 years. DDD, DJD , stenosis, in multilevels .On SSDI.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · May 6, 2008

Not a bad back, but a bad shoulder here. I directly blame my PCT work for my shoulder injury. Last summer, I woke up after a day of clinicals (irronically with a walkie-talkie pt who just needed assistance getting to the bathroom), unable to rotate my arm, and in extreme pain. I went to the ER when it was still the same after a couple days, and ice alone wasn't helping. The idiot PA in the ER didn't even do an x-ray, told me this was nothing to worry about and sent me home. Six months later, while moving a pt at work, I again suffered the same symptoms. The first time it took me a week to get back to normal, the second time, it took me a month, and only after physical therapy. I now suffer from chronic pain in my shoulder, but thankfully still have excellent ROM and strength. After the second incident, an x-ray was done which reveiled significan amount of degenerative arthritis (I'm 20, that's hardly normal), and an MRI which showed a pinched nerve. I end up taking alot of Motrin to deal with the pain, which helps to dull the pain for a little while.