Living with Pain What happens when you can't make it go away?

摘要

Two days after my mother moved a con-crete flowerpot from our living room to our patio, her feet went numb. A week later, she discovered that she couldn't straighten her back. She felt bowed, as if contorted into the beginning of a back bend. Then her lower back began to throb. She went to a doctor, who stuck needles in her calves and, perplexed by her lack of sensation, ordered an MRI. He showed her the results, explaining that 12 of her spinal disks-the soft jellylike cushions between her vertebrae-had degenerated, causing her spine to compress and pinch the nerves.