Case Summary  |  Pinched nerve in back

I'm a nurse. I was at work on Dec. 2 and was moving a patient around in bed by myself. The patient was a full-grown teenager who weighed around 200 pounds. All of a sudden I had a sharp pain in the right side of my lower back, close to the middle by my spine. It was a pain that I'm familiar with as I have been diagnosed by a doctor with pinched nerves in my back a couple times before. I knew what it was right away by the way it felt. The pain radiated all the way down my right leg. Luckily this happened right at the end of my shift. By the time I arrived at home after work I could barely walk because the pain was so bad after sitting in the car. I took ibuprofen and used a heating pad at home. This helped and I continued to take ibuprofen periodically to reduce any possible inflammation in my back for the next few days. I also kept using the heating pad a few times a day. About 4 days after the injury, my back felt much better. For a few days after that, I would feel an occasional twinge. About a week after the injury, I was no longer experiencing any pain and felt completely better.