Do you have any radiating pain into your hips or legs? If not, unless you have some weird mechanical problem in your spine -which is unlikely-- it's just muscular. Go to a massage therapist, do stretches, take anti-inflammatories. Also, you can buy a tens unit fairly cheaply online. They really work. I had a bad back injury from a fall off a ladder and then a shoulder injury from a cycling accident; both required surgery, and in both cases the docs recommended using a tens unit. It works.
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Back injury - help
- Thread starter Mat6920
- Start date
Do you have any radiating pain into your hips or legs? If not, unless you have some weird mechanical problem in your spine -which is unlikely-- it's just muscular. Go to a massage therapist, do stretches, take anti-inflammatories. Also, you can buy a tens unit fairly cheaply online. They really work. I had a bad back injury from a fall off a ladder and then a shoulder injury from a cycling accident; both required surgery, and in both cases the docs recommended using a tens unit. It works.
YMMV.
I went to a pain specialist and he recommended the TENS unit. I tried it and it did nothing for me. He recommended accupuncture and I declined. I suggested strength training and he said, "Yeah, that would be good. Go slow and incrementally. If it makes it worse back off a little."
Also, to OP, is your pain in spinal flexion or extension?
I was having lower back pain that went down the back of my leg (sciatica). Then I read the book (I also stretched my hip). No more pain since. Get the book. Only read the first 1/4 (the rest of it just repeats the same thing over again).
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It's a cruel, beautiful world.
That one looks like a horse-shoe crab in someones back.
I was like WHUT FUGKING BOOK?!!!
I read it. It's okay if you can make it work before the realization hits, you have no choice. If you are broke, you are broke.
That one looks like a horse-shoe crab in someones back.
I was like WHUT FUGKING BOOK?!!!
I read it. It's okay if you can make it work before the realization hits, you have no choice. If you are broke, you are broke.
This happens to me. My lower back feels fine most of the time, but flares up with pain when I sneeze (especially while sitting), or mis-step. Running can also aggravate it. It's also sore when I first get out of bed.
Currently, I get acupuncture on it and do exercises at the gym, but am open to hearing more.
OP have you talked to doctors about nerve ablation?
i had the same problem with my back and nothing worked. PT, Weighted Traction, etc. they did MRIs and X-ray and then decided best thing would be ablation
i had the same problem with my back and nothing worked. PT, Weighted Traction, etc. they did MRIs and X-ray and then decided best thing would be ablation
Please take the following as the anecdote it is. I am not a medical professional, but I'm happy to share my experience.
As I previously mentioned, I suffered significant chronic and acute for quite some time, and it reached a point where my quality of life was affected. During the course of my suffering, I investigated all sorts of avenues for pain relief, such as seeing a GP, Physio, Chiro, Osteo, Physiologist. I did Yoga, went to gym 3 to 4 times a week, took anti inflammatories and started smoking weed. None of these did anything apart from anti inflammatories occasionally (i.e: took them all the time, and sometimes they made my back pain bearable). This was the only way I could surf, but it meant that I went through boxes of the sh!t a month and it was causing havoc on my stomach / could sh!t through a straw.
I finally decided to visit a Neurosurgeon. We discussed the causes of back pain, where he drew a Venn diagram and explained the different sources of back pain. His speciality, being the "bone" part that could cause the pain. He described some symptoms that is a result of degenerative disk disease (https://www.spine-health.com/conditions/degenerative-disc-disease/what-degenerative-disc-disease), which is basically the narrowing of the space between your vertabrea. This big indicator here, for me, was the symptoms I have mentioned / you've quoted. Sneezing in bed for me was like a little death sentence every time it happened ( I have hayfever, so it happens a lot!).
Even though my symptoms were "severe", the diagnosis by the neurosurgeon was never cut and dry, even after an MRI and a contrast injected bone scan (on the plus side, the contrast injected is nuclear medicine, and I'm pretty sure I can shoot spiderwebs out of my palms now). The Neuro suggested that I do a Discography ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbar_provocative_discography ) to which I said "fuuuuuuck thaaaaat" ( I'm a bit of a nervous patient and that procedure was a step too far...you need to be aware while they drill your spine with needles to simulate disk pain!). After the above diagnostic steps were taken / avoided, I was left with a choice; live with the pain and find some other avenue for pain relief, or get a disk removed and fuse the L5/S1 vertebrae.
I have hurt myself a lot in my life, mostly because I took up downhill mountain bike racing, so I've torn muscles, ligaments, broke arm, broke shoulder, dislocated shoulder and countless sprains / loss of skin and blood. I mentioned this, because I know what different kind of pain feels like.
My "gut feel" for what the source of the pain is, coupled with the symptoms, convinced me to YOLO a ALIF surgery (https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/spinal-fusion/anterior-lumbar-interbody-fusion-alif-surgery) . They make a cut above your pepe from the front, move your guts to the side, chip out a disk and bolt that sh!t down with titanium bits. This has been one of the best decisions of my life, as I'm sat here, 5 months later with no back pain anymore, havent had a pain killer since 2 weeks after the operation and I'm back to surfing awfully.
Your case might not be as severe as mine was, so you might* benefit from trying inversion tables, which aims to decompress your spine, by stretching out the spacing between your vertebrae.
Try this ^^^^, it's not an excersize perse, but if this hurts you to do, and deadlifts and power squats are out, you better go see a neurosurgeon stat.
check out https://www.foundationtraining.com/ and find a trainer. It has helped so many people I know.
The rewire thing is what my son teaches his patients. Basically, they are trying to get your body to move properly.
I went to chiro for many years. It helped but honestly I think the point of chiro is repeat business. Started McKenzie Method about eight years ago and after about the first year back pain stopped being a problem.
Imagining- X-ray, MRI etc never tells the whole story/is very far from perfect as diagnostic tools - obviously can be very helpful, but not alway. You can be all fcked up n images might show that you’re “perfectly fine.”
Surgery on the spine should always be a last resort- I’ve got a bad lower back, 2 artificial cervical discs (they dont do these in LB - only fusion). Was practically a cripple prior to the discs being replaced - that’s how bad it was for me.
strength training and mobility are always the first line of defense IMO. Find someone in your area with experience - and success - in helping w this. So many terrible PTs, trainers out there.
Other “stuff”
Epidural - may help
- pre surgery I had one in my neck and didnt do a darn thing. I had a really bad “flare up” 6 mos ago frm over doing it that would not get better. Got an epidural- and it went away thankfully.
A good mattress/sleep essential.
try sleeping w a firm pillow under the knees
other other stuff- I’ve found to be helpful to varying degrees:
The best/most successful strategy- for me- is to mix up/take turns doing the items below.
Here why - I can feel my body adapting to one of these strategies- then I shift to another, adaptation happens, I switch to another, etc.
These are short-term bandaids - when used appropriately they CAN be very helpful!! -plenty of people will mock the use of them - but thats okay! fck em!!
Chiro,
Acupunture,
TENS unit,
topicals (with much skepticism I tried a CBD one and actually works great),
OTC anti inflammatory stuff like Advil etc
(things that are tough on the body I dont use often and only for short periods of time)
Surgery on the spine should always be a last resort- I’ve got a bad lower back, 2 artificial cervical discs (they dont do these in LB - only fusion). Was practically a cripple prior to the discs being replaced - that’s how bad it was for me.
strength training and mobility are always the first line of defense IMO. Find someone in your area with experience - and success - in helping w this. So many terrible PTs, trainers out there.
Other “stuff”
Epidural - may help
- pre surgery I had one in my neck and didnt do a darn thing. I had a really bad “flare up” 6 mos ago frm over doing it that would not get better. Got an epidural- and it went away thankfully.
A good mattress/sleep essential.
try sleeping w a firm pillow under the knees
other other stuff- I’ve found to be helpful to varying degrees:
The best/most successful strategy- for me- is to mix up/take turns doing the items below.
Here why - I can feel my body adapting to one of these strategies- then I shift to another, adaptation happens, I switch to another, etc.
These are short-term bandaids - when used appropriately they CAN be very helpful!! -plenty of people will mock the use of them - but thats okay! fck em!!
Chiro,
Acupunture,
TENS unit,
topicals (with much skepticism I tried a CBD one and actually works great),
OTC anti inflammatory stuff like Advil etc
(things that are tough on the body I dont use often and only for short periods of time)
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Back problems...check out the Ronnie Coleman documentary on Netflix. Pretty fascinating guy.
I remember an interview I heard, he said something to the affect of - "If you are an athlete you will always be in some sort of pain."
I remember an interview I heard, he said something to the affect of - "If you are an athlete you will always be in some sort of pain."
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When I surf multiple days in a row, by the second or third day I take a couple Advil before I go out. I don't know how sustainable that is in the long run. I won't do it for more than 2 days in a row. After 3-4 days in a row of surfing, at my age, you need a rest day.
Bought a tube of the extra strength Voltaren gel yesterday... so much reading about it on here, figure it cannot hurt to give it a try.
Hey, I am so sorry to hear this. Back pain is the worst. I experienced it as well, and it took me a long time to recover because I didn't think it was a big deal. I play badminton, and I enjoy this sport, but I once played too much and injured my back. At first, it didn't hurt badly, but then it worsened. I asked my doctor if I would play badminton again, and he said that I had to relax for a bit and things would get back to normal. He suggested that I look at https://dynaprohealth.com to ease my recovery. I hope you will get better soon and take care of your health.
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