I’ve had osteoarthritis for years but recently been having trouble with my back which has resulted in pains running down the front of my leg, which my GP thought was due to my femoral nerve being affected.   I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep because of the pain and not been able to walk very well.  As it’s gone on a while and I was getting a bit low the GP referred me to a ‘pain management clinic’ with a view to possibly getting injections in my back.

I had an appointment through very quickly which was great but I found the experience a bit confusing and disappointing.  The doctor at the clinic asked me a few questions, when I said the pain was ‘like sciatica but down the front of my leg’ she told me you can get sciatica in the front of your leg. I thought that was a bit odd as I’ve had sciatica before and I know that the sciatic nerve runs down the back of your leg but she’s the doctor….
Then she examined me and said ’she didn’t think it was nerve pain’ – again, she’s the doctor but as my chiropracter said – what does she think I feel pain with?
So she said she ‘thinks’ I now have arthritis in my spine.

The GP had referred me for injections in my spine and the clinic doctor was happy to put me on the list for that but I’m wondering if there’s much point. She said they don’t do them routinely and IF they work the effect only lasts a few weeks – oh and the waiting time is 12-15 weeks! And keep taking the tablets and doing the exercises – neither of which was helping which is why I was referred to the clinic.
That was it, in and out in 20 mins.

Maybe I’m naive but what I really expected was some discussion of ways to deal with the pain???  When the NHS is good, it’s great – but a lot of the time it’s awful!

Anyway I’m going back to the GP to ask for X-rays as I’d really like to know what I’m definitely dealing with, not what they ‘think’ it might be!   I don’t like the idea of randomly injecting my back because it ‘might help’.  It just seemed like a waste of time and petrol and car park fees!

On a happier note, it seems the money I’ve been paying out on getting my back treated by a chiropractor has been much better spent as it’s definitely improving – why doesn’t the NHS provide treatment for the problem instead of just for the symptoms?