Lower Back Pain

[manbearpig]

Been struggling lately with this. Very tight and sharp pains when it’s bad. Right now I’m associating it with doing alot of driving for work as I am constantly traveling for it. No injuries but I have a physical job (less so than what I used to) and very active on my free time.

has anyone had luck with going straight to physical therapy or is it see a specialist first kind of deal?

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

Do you have pain running down a leg, or both legs? Numbness in your feet or toes?

The vehicle you’re driving, is the seat crooked? Do you lean to one side when you drive? Do you have lumbar support?

Do you drive with stuff in your pockets?

Can you get into a squatting position with your heels grounded?

Here’s something to do while driving to keep good posture….

Sit in seat with the best possible posture you can achieve. Adjust your review mirror accordingly. As you drive and check your mirror you’ll find that the mirror adjustment will start to be off. Adjust your posture back to proper position.

 

[CutnSnip]

PT = stretches you can find on the internet so IMO a waste of time and $

for temporary possibly even placebo leves of pain relief get a tens unit. ice for 15/heat for 15. then tens unti for 20 minutes. then just work on your posture, stretch your hips and hammies thats all you can really do.

ive been to amilllion back doctors at this point - they all say there is nothing wrong with my back but these are the things that help me manage it.

funnily enough never bothers me when surfing - only goes out and hurts when im doing stupid sh!t.

 

[manbearpig]

Do you have pain running down a leg, or both legs? Numbness in your feet or toes?

The vehicle you’re driving, is the seat crooked? Do you lean to one side when you drive? Do you have lumbar support?

Do you drive with stuff in your pockets?

Can you get into a squatting position with your heels grounded?

Here’s something to do while driving to keep good posture….

Sit in seat with the best possible posture you can achieve. Adjust your review mirror accordingly. As you drive and check your mirror you’ll find that the mirror adjustment will start to be off. Adjust your posture back to proper position.

No numbness, I assume you’re asking in regards to a herniated disc. Something I’m definitely paranoid about, and hoping it’s not the case.

as to the rest, I do some of that but not very consciously at the moment. I definitely forget to take things out of my pocket. Truck is a brand new company vehicle, I’m sure it’s all good in terms of a flat seat.

PT = stretches you can find on the internet so IMO a waste of time and $

for temporary possibly even placebo leves of pain relief get a tens unit. ice for 15/heat for 15. then tens unti for 20 minutes. then just work on your posture, stretch your hips and hammies thats all you can really do.

ive been to amilllion back doctors at this point - they all say there is nothing wrong with my back but these are the things that help me manage it.

funnily enough never bothers me when surfing - only goes out and hurts when im doing stupid sh!t.

I’ll check out that tens unit. Thera gun seems to help somewhat.

I’d be happy with PT if it just helped me outline what I should do and then do it all on my own. The ones I’m looking at incorporate massage with everything else.

 

[CutnSnip]

No numbness, I assume you’re asking in regards to a herniated disc. Something I’m definitely paranoid about, and hoping it’s not the case.

as to the rest, I do some of that but not very consciously at the moment. I definitely forget to take things out of my pocket. Truck is a brand new company vehicle, I’m sure it’s all good in terms of a flat seat.


I’ll check out that tens unit. Thera gun seems to help somewhat.

I’d be happy with PT if it just helped me outline what I should do and then do it all on my own. The ones I’m looking at incorporate massage with everything else.

you can get those off amazon for like 50 bucks. go to PT once for piece of mind - get the stretches they recommend, but dont go back. massage wont fix anything.

i can tell you exactly what the PT person is going to tell you. they'll say your hamstrings and hips are to tight. your core is to weak. then youll do a lowkey yoga sesh..modern PT in a nutshell.

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

No numbness, I assume you’re asking in regards to a herniated disc. Something I’m definitely paranoid about, and hoping it’s not the case.

as to the rest, I do some of that but not very consciously at the moment. I definitely forget to take things out of my pocket. Truck is a brand new company vehicle, I’m sure it’s all good in terms of a flat seat.


I’ll check out that tens unit. Thera gun seems to help somewhat.

I’d be happy with PT if it just helped me outline what I should do and then do it all on my own. The ones I’m looking at incorporate massage with everything else.

Slav squat…

 

[manbearpig]

Slav squat…

I can do the slav squat but definitely feels tight

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

I can do the slav squat but definitely feels tight

Keep doing it.

Also, look into stretches that “open” your hips.

 

[manbearpig]

Will do, appreciate it.

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

Will do, appreciate it.

Yeah, man. Back/neck pain sucks. Been dealing with both for decades. Take care of yourself now so you can take take of yourself 20 years from now.

This is your life. You only get one. Treat this like any other training/fitness program. Be consistent and committed. Do your “therapy” even when you feel fine.

 

[OsideBum]

I’ve been battling back pain for years. I can manage it pretty well just by adjusting my activity. It generally doesn’t slow me down much.

The number one thing that helps is stretching. I have a stretching routine that I go through several times a week and it helps. I’ve done acupuncture and massage, not sure they helped much. What helped me the most was a procedure called Radio Frequency Ablation. Would get 4-6 months of relief.

My advice is don’t push it when you’re in pain. It’s hard to make back pain feel better but it’s very easy to make it worse.

 

[estreet]

I had low back trouble for years, then I started doing the Mckenzie method, specifically the pose shown below, for a couple of minutes a day and it’s no longer a problem.

 

[One-Off]

10 Myths About Lower Back Pain (LBP)

1. LBP is usually a serious condition. 2. LBP will become persistent and deteriorate later in life. 3.Persistant LBP is always related to tissue damage 4. Xray and MRI's are always needed to detect the cause of LBP 5. Pain related to exercise and movement is always a warning the harm is...

forum.surfer.com

Everything you need to know….and a lot of what you don’t need to know.

Don’t be paranoid. Your mind set is fundamental.

TENS, massage, acupuncture, NSAIDs…temporary relief. Everyone will have different reactions to different therapies. PT was only helpful for me in acute phase, but not in developing preventative strategies. I also went to a pain specialist and the only thing helpful was his insistence that disc pathologies were normal, most often asymptomatic, and that you basically have to retrain your nervous system to not interpret the input as a danger, eventually attenuating or eliminating the pain response. Von Meister’s input in the discussion is pretty spot on.

Stay active, in motion, build strength.

Deadlifts bro. Not kidding.

 

[manbearpig]

Appreciate it. Skimmed through that thread.

crazy spasms right now coming and going.

 

[One-Off]

PT = stretches you can find on the internet so IMO a waste of time and $

for temporary possibly even placebo leves of pain relief get a tens unit. ice for 15/heat for 15. then tens unti for 20 minutes. then just work on your posture, stretch your hips and hammies thats all you can really do.

ive been to amilllion back doctors at this point - they all say there is nothing wrong with my back but these are the things that help me manage it.

funnily enough never bothers me when surfing - only goes out and hurts when im doing stupid sh!t.

Bummer for me, the only thing that triggers it is surfing (especially shortboards)...that and gardening (bent over picking weeds).

 

[b.r.]

Surfing last summer during a hurricane swell with my 59 year old friend who still rips, I asked him how he keeps so amped up, he said he does this foundation training video (or the original one by the same guy) every morning and he swears it helped eliminate his back pain. Since then I've been doing it in the morning before work followed by a couple sets of push ups. almost every day for months now, seems to really help with back issues. It is only 12 minutes and pretty easy to do.

 

[CutnSnip]

My advice is don’t push it when you’re in pain. It’s hard to make back pain feel better but it’s very easy to make it worse.

id say dont push it, but get away with what you can - the worst thing you can do is just sit/lay/couch there.

oh and deadlifts actually help me out quite a bit, but i avoid if im already in pain.. no bs.

 

[CutnSnip]

Bummer for me the only thing that triggers it is surfing (especially shortboards) and gardening (bent over picking weeds).

if im in pain already - no surfing obviously but it never has "gone out" from surfing. its also something lame like tripping on a curb or reaching for something in a awkward spot. then it stays out for a few days, i genberally try to still walk around, jog if able and then after a week im just back to a very dull ache which is where it sorta lives 80 percent of time.

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

Surfing last summer during a hurricane swell with my 59 year old friend who still rips, I asked him how he keeps so amped up, he said he does this foundation training video (or the original one by the same guy) every morning and he swears it helped eliminate his back pain. Since then I've been doing it in the morning before work followed by a couple sets of push ups. almost every day for months now, seems to really help with back issues. It is only 12 minutes and pretty easy to do.

I know quite a few people who have had great results with Foundation techniques.

 

[minterian]

Sitting destroys my back more than anything, especially driving. Most of the time, my pain is due to tight psoas and iliacus muscles. These muscles insert on your lumbar vertebrae and inside pelvic bowl(respectively) and insert on the upper third of your femur. They are the main hip flexors and when you sit continuously the muscles get short and tense, pulling forward on your lumbar spine and pelvis. My hip flexors vs. hip extensors got unbalanced. Both were weak. And my psoas were short and glutes were slack.

2 things help me on a daily basis. Strengthening my glutes and releasing my psoas. The tool I use to release is called a Pso-rite. It’s like $60 and it’s basically a chunk of plastic but it’s incredibly effective. Probably the most uncomfortable feeling in the world, basically deep massage of your back but you are approaching it from the front of your body. There are tons of videos on YouTube about it.