Sep 20, 2007 2:06 PM GMT
BOLD TEXT GOES HEREBOLD TEXT GOES HEREI have experienced lower back pain for the last few days. It is especially painful when I try to play golf. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to treat this?
Lower Back Pain
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Sep 20, 2007 2:06 PM GMT -
Sep 20, 2007 4:11 PM GMTRest, Ice it and Aleve or Ibuprofen. Do nothing strenuous...Im just coming off a lower back injury where I was bed ridden for two weeks...laying horizontal was the only relief I could get from the pain...I did the three things above and Im back to lifting...biking...and fucking!!! -
Sep 20, 2007 6:34 PM GMTBeen there too. My problem is muscle spasms in my lower back. Once spent 2 days bedridden, every little movement was painful. Ugh. For me Advil, a heating pad and massage got my back in better shape.
If you feel particularly tight done there, finding a good massage therapist (preferably a sports-oriented therapist) could help relieve the tension. And of course, ibuprofen or acetaminophen can be helpful. -
Sep 20, 2007 7:02 PM GMTI was told by a nurse....NEVER to apply heat to muscle ailments...ALWAYS ICE!!! for what its worth. -
Sep 20, 2007 7:31 PM GMTI would also ask you to evaluate your hamstring and buttox flexibility. if your hammys and butt are tight (ie you are unable to touch your toes w/o bending your knees) those muscles will pull down on your lower back muscles and cause intense pain. in addition to the ice, rest and ibuprophen, I would stretch your hamstrings and butt out and I think you'd feel a great improvement. -
Sep 20, 2007 7:34 PM GMThey Actor...if he is anywhere in the kind of pain that I was....thats NOT even a remote possibility...i was lucky to be able to get vertical...I couldnt sit in a chair without intense pain...I cant imagine doing what youre recommending....I had a disk issue...not sure what his is... -
Sep 23, 2007 12:59 AM GMTPut ice on your upper gluteal muscles. LOWER back pain is often caused by tight gluteal minimus and medius. -
Oct 22, 2007 1:30 AM GMTAny idea what caused it? I'm assuming this pain has only recently come up?
I was just reminded of my college roommate who started having minor back pains during his last semester. He went on to law school and his pains kept escalating. Turns out he had testicular cancer
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Oct 22, 2007 4:59 AM GMTI
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Knees up. Lay flat on the floor.
If you can handle it do bench press dumbbells to pop your upper back..
Do dumbbell pullovers to pop your lower back ACROSS the bench.
Twist with your legs crossed to hit the middle.
Find the weak part (your abs, back, or wherever), and fix it. -
Oct 22, 2007 5:58 AM GMTA couple years ago, I had pain in my lower back also. I started using an ab slider, which had stretched out my back, daily for a week and the pain had vanished. To this day, I still have no lower back pain issues and I only use the ab slider once a week and will continue doing so because hey, "if it ain't broke, why fix it", right? That was my "cure" for my lower back pain and it might not work for others. Now, I don't know the extent of your pain and the severity of it but if you do decide to try this, do so at your own risk and be careful
Best of luck to ya and get well soon ! -
Oct 22, 2007 10:31 PM GMTAb work almost, but, not always, will fix back pain.
I pull stiff leg deads with my knees locked at 275#, for reps, about every 8 days, and have no pain.
You need to identify the weak part and make it stronger.
Like so many things in life, coddling a weakness only makes it worse.
I actually have a fracture line on my lower left that can be clearly seen in films. The doc wanted to cut on me years ago (a fusion) and I said no way. Through years of lots of good solid ab work, I'm pain free almost 100% of the time. When my back does hurt, I know to work my abs heavier.
Never coddle a weak part / weak person. It'll only worsens its / their condition.
You body WANTS to be strong and alive.
Pain, and load, are both stimulus that make you grow physically / emotionally / intellectually. -
Oct 22, 2007 10:37 PM GMTYOGA - find a reputable studio that teaches vinyasa yoga. -
Oct 22, 2007 10:51 PM GMTI'm surprised no one's said this:
Doctor.
Lower back pain, unless you *know* what it's caused by can be caused by a myriad of things, from kidney stones to tight butt muscles, to spinal alignment, or even weak shoulder blade stabilizer muscles. -
Oct 23, 2007 4:25 AM GMTThank you Diver. As I read through this (and many other threads here) I keep thinking one thing to myself.
How dangerous is it for people to expect diagnosis of medical ailments and receive treatment advice from people on an internet forum? That's plain crazy.
See a doctor. -
Oct 23, 2007 5:25 AM GMTIt's not that crazy. People bring up personal ailments as topics of conversations at parties all the time where they often don't know the people very well. Plus, it's a lot easier and less expensive to just post something on here at least to get quick answers or directions. But yes, seeing a doctor is always a good idea. Though when my friend saw the doctor the first time, the path to go down finding out about the cancer was ruled out a little too quickly, so be on your toes! -
Oct 23, 2007 5:52 AM GMTGood doctor should be mentioned.
Many, many, many, doctors are clueless in sports medicine. -
Jul 26, 2010 11:32 AM GMTSleep on a firmer mattress, that helped me a lot. Also lower back stretching, nothing too strenuous but a little bit everyday. -
Jul 26, 2010 1:48 PM GMTBe aware that a lot of the advice and exercises above can make a disc injury worse.. -
Jul 26, 2010 2:00 PM GMTYoga was enormously helpful for me... I haven't had any back pain for seven years now. -
Jul 28, 2010 12:23 AM GMTWhen my lower back goes out, I always use ice, Aleve (great anti-inflamatory), and sleep on my back with a pillow just below my knees.
But I have seen a doctor and know what's wrong with my back. Seeing a good doctor is the most important thing you can do. I kept throwing my back and trying people's advice (which didn't work) until I saw a good orthopedic doctor and we saw the three degenerative discs in the MRI (from a childhood injury).
What's saving me now -- I threw my back out pretty bad last week, first time in almost 2 years -- is the core exercises I've been doing. It's cut my recovery time more than half.
This video of exercises from Dr. McGill that I found through another post on this forum has changed how I do core exercises (even leading me to ditch some I had been given by a physical therapist years ago) to take the pressure off my back when working on my core:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kukmaW9CmSU
I hope it gets better fast. I know how much it can suck. -
Jul 28, 2010 12:29 AM GMTdont get fucked so hard lol jk -
Jul 28, 2010 12:31 AM GMTDo some strengthening exercise, like floor superman, right arm, left leg floor lift, alternating, and of course the Old RICE therapy, that should take care of it, and lift with your legs, not your back....
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Jul 28, 2010 12:53 AM GMTone word- Chiropractor...I had terrible back pain...diagnosed and had to have decompression as well adjustments...no more lower back pain...and also strengthening your core abdominal muscles. -
Jul 28, 2010 1:45 AM GMTOne simple thing you can do that cannot hurt and is sure to help at least some is to lay with your back on the floor and your butt and the backs of your thighs up against the front of a sofa or chair. Bend your knees at a 90 degree angle so that the backs of your calves are resting on top of the cushion of the sofa or chair. Have a pillow handy in case you want to place it under your head. Relax in that position for about 15 minutes. I mean really relax. Stressing about all the stuff that went on in your day will ruin the effect.
This is from Healing Back Pain Naturally by Art Brownstein, M.D. The author is an ex-Jock surfer and military fitness guy who suffered horribly from back pain (like as in having to crawl on the floor to get to the bathroom). He underwent spinal surgery but now recommends against it in most cases. The book is a paperback that can be ordered online, and it is an absolutely great go-to reference with tons of diagrams, charts, etc., completely understandable to the layman.
Skelaxin is a prescription drug that reduces muscle tension. A simple way to figure out if your pain is from a tense muscle that is firing at the wrong times is to get a Skelaxin prescription and take it for a few days to see if it helps. If you already have a decent relationship with a doctor, you can probaly get a small supply prescribed over the phone. Vicodin makes the pain go away like magic. It's addictive and doctors control it carefully, but if the pain is being caused by a structural problem and not just muscle pull, it's usually an essential step in getting the pain cleared up
I had a bulging disc in the lumbar (lower back) region diagnosed in 2005. I now keep that in check entirely with exercise and by doing stretches on the gym mats. The most help and instruction came from a good physical therapist. You don't want try to target your problem with exercise while you are still in pain, however. -
Jul 28, 2010 1:53 AM GMTJDuderrr said
I had a bulging disc in the lumbar (lower back) region diagnosed in 2005. I now keep that in check entirely with exercise and by doing stretches on the gym mats. The most help and instruction came from a good physical therapist. You don't want try to target your problem with exercise while you are still in pain, however.
Thanks for this JDude. Was wondering, how do you know if you have a bulging disc in the coccyx region or a slipped disc?
Last year and the year before, I would play tennis, and then a day or two later I would bend down to get my mail, and...AAAAAAHHHHHH! Back sprain (?) It would be extremely painful to get out of bed, and I had to put one hand in that area to support myself whenever getting up out of a chair. So far, it hasn't happened this year but I worry. Is something like this just called a back sprain? The pain usually goes away within a week. The times it's happened (maybe twice, three times in the past 2 years) I've gone into work and dealt with it, but...yikes!
