Finally...

fireyangel76 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-20-2009, 09:24 PM

You just gave me some of my own validation.
The first thing I ever had wrong with my back was an annular tear. That was 1998. I never got better and continued to have leg pain for years. I was told it healed and they don't cause pain. For years I thought I was a wimp or started even believing I must be crazy. It may sound crazy but when a herniation finally showed on MRI (in the same place the annular tear was), I was actually relieved that had something there to make them believe me. Of course I was not happy to have progressed to that herniation and everything since. I wish they would have not treated me like I was crazy...had me believing I was crazy...Who knows how I may have changed the way I did things if I had known that annular tear was a huge warning.

Thanks for the info..

Maria · #2 (**permalink**) 07-20-2009, 11:26 PM

I have one that L3 that seems to be holding it's own now(knock on wood) for quite a number of years (like 20) and the more problematic discs are the ones that already had surgery on them (discectomies) at L4 and L5S1.

A good online resource for reading about annular tears and more is ChiroGeek's Home Page

Good luck.. if the tear is a pain generator or one of the pain generators it can give some real grief...