Back pain

[Deej 77671]

Any tips on severe lower back pain? Not paying for a ER or Doc in a Box on a weekend. Just need to get to Monday. The only time it doesn't hurt is if I'm standing straight up. 

 

[Celery Man 21076]

three advil and a little pillow that you stick back there for support

[Deej 77671]

Thanks. I'm miserable. Well, more miserable than usual. Just ate a Delta 9 gummie. 

[pearlandhorn 3343]

Try lying flat on your back and pulling your legs to your chest.  Sleep on it wrong?  I haven't slept on my stomach in about 3 years after waking up in a weird position and having the worst back pain I've ever experienced.

[Deej 77671]

2 minutes ago, pearlandhorn said:

Try lying flat on your back and pulling your legs to your chest.  Sleep on it wrong?  I haven't slept on my stomach in about 3 years after waking up in a weird position and having the worst back pain I've ever experienced.

No. I bent down to pick something off the floor last week. Has gotten progressively worse. The lowest part of my back and the back of my hips have just locked up. 

[Quagmire 2147]

Go to a CP, the joint is open on the weekend

[Baboontyme 2875]

If I could I'd teleport you a bottle of the good gummies. I've been there, miserable stuff. Do you have a tens unit? For immediate support and relief, agree with above, double up a pillow, lay on your back with your knees up and bent and put the pillow in the small of your back. If have a heating pad and a tens unit use those while in the same position. Yes to Advil to hopefully help reduce inflammation. For longer term relief get to an orthopedic doc as soon as you can and get a script for PT. That is what has worked for me. 

[Brew 3049]

My wife has to use a massage gun on mine every night or I wouldn’t be able to move the next day. Went in for an MRI yesterday to see what’s going on with it. Messed it up wakeboarding late last fall and it has turned into a significant problem over the last few months. There is a knot/mass on the nerve and in the muscle that is part of the problem they are unsure about, so we’ll see what the MRI comes up with. 

[Your Mom 4956]

Short term: spend half an hour doing what this hot chick tells you to do.  Every day. 
Long term:  Hit the gym and don’t have a weak back.

I speak from experience.  Battled this for several years thinking rest and stretching were going to be enough.  Every professional told me the same thing, your back hurts because you it’s weak and you asked it to do too much after spending too much time sitting.  The harder I work it in the gym, the better it feels.  

 

 

[ztejas 44114]

[Guest]

18 hours ago, Celery Man said:

three advil and a little pillow that you stick back there for support

Navy doctor checking in, eh?

[Deej 77671]

1 hour ago, Your Mom said:

Short term: spend half an hour doing what this hot chick tells you to do.  Every day. 
Long term:  Hit the gym and don’t have a weak back.

I speak from experience.  Battled this for several years thinking rest and stretching were going to be enough.  Every professional told me the same thing, your back hurts because you it’s weak and you asked it to do too much after spending too much time sitting.  The harder I work it in the gym, the better it feels.  

 

 

Thanks. It ain't too much time sitting. I'm on my feet a large part of every single day of the week. I average between 20 and 22k steps a day. I can't sit still. He'll, I'm lucky if I sleep five hours a day. I've got bad knees, feet and ankles from many years of playing basketball and learned a long time ago that keeping moving makes everything hurt less. 

[conVINCEd 21477]

Acupuncture was a game changer for me.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10762]

22 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Acupuncture was a game changer for me.

Do tell, was this for a one time thing or overall back issues?  I've got a couple discs that will lock up once or twice a year.

[conVINCEd 21477]

1 minute ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Do tell, was this for a one time thing or overall back issues?  I've got a couple discs that will lock up once or twice a year.

General lower back pain.  Not a specific injury, although if I had to guess it began with a high school football game, and started getting worse after a car accident.  To say I was skeptical would be an understatement, but that little Chinese man stuck a bunch of needles in me every couple of weeks for for a few months and it worked.

[tx 3 putt 78470]

Get the heart checked 

[gyroprotagonist 2597]

subscribed.  i have been (trying to) stretching for like 5 mins a day with some you tube sourced stretches.  just started but at 48 and still trying to play pickup ball on weekends, my back has been killing me.  Seem to help so far.

[TeeDubya 3362]

If you're a side sleeper, put a pillow between your knees.

[statsman 5675]

It’s either muscle, or spine (discs/nerves), or both, right? Whichever it is should tell you what course to take. 

[SquishMitten 10493]

Thanks. It ain't too much time sitting. I'm on my feet a large part of every single day of the week. I average between 20 and 22k steps a day. I can't sit still. He'll, I'm lucky if I sleep five hours a day. I've got bad knees, feet and ankles from many years of playing basketball and learned a long time ago that keeping moving makes everything hurt less. 

I too average between 20 and 22,000 steps per day

[dmtx 159]

See if you can find a Doctor of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. 

Made a huge difference for my wife - Dr Yein Lee in Fort Worth

[PRONG HORN 3219]

On 9/11/2022 at 10:56 AM, Deej said:

Thanks. It ain't too much time sitting. I'm on my feet a large part of every single day of the week. I average between 20 and 22k steps a day. I can't sit still. He'll, I'm lucky if I sleep five hours a day. I've got bad knees, feet and ankles from many years of playing basketball and learned a long time ago that keeping moving makes everything hurt less. 

 

Constipation is a possibility.  It's not just when there is a turd in that last "room" and wont come out.  It's also just the general hardness of the turds and how slow or stuck it is.  It can push on nerves (maybe when bending over) and the body doesn't like that and will let you know.  Intermittent sciatica is a good indicator.  Sciatica that is unpredictable or only happens on occasion can be from constipation.  

 

[fattyflattie 4640]

On 9/12/2022 at 12:48 PM, conVINCEd said:

To say I was skeptical would be an understatement, but that little Chinese man stuck a bunch of needles in me every couple of weeks for for a few months and it worked.

My wife tried it because she heard it helped induce labor.   Don’t know what he did, but we went from the acupuncturist shop straight to the hospital.  

[Deej 77671]

28 minutes ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

Constipation is a possibility.  It's not just when there is a turd in that last "room" and wont come out.  It's also just the general hardness of the turds and how slow or stuck it is.  It can push on nerves (maybe when bending over) and the body doesn't like that and will let you know.  Intermittent sciatica is a good indicator.  Sciatica that is unpredictable or only happens on occasion can be from constipation.  

 

That's not an issue. 

[PRONG HORN 3219]

10 minutes ago, Deej said:

That's not an issue. 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Bulging disc checking in with a heaping helping of sciatica.

The answer, drugs.

I’ve tried PT, steroid injections into my spine, etc. nada. Drugs.

[conVINCEd 21477]

1 hour ago, fattyflattie said:

My wife tried it because she heard it helped induce labor.   Don’t know what he did, but we went from the acupuncturist shop straight to the hospital.  

I didn’t pop out a kiddo, but after 2-3 months my back pain went away and hasn’t returned.  This was 5 or so years ago and I haven’t done the acupuncture since.

[Texzilla58 4778]

For a back issue you think is a muscle issue go to you PCP. You probably just need some killer muscle relaxers like flexaril or zanaflex, 800mg of ibuprofen, rest, and massage.

If your doc thinks it’s worse as in a spinal problem head to a neurosurgeon. He’ll do a scan and make some recs. Most of the time it’s drugs, PT, rest, stretching, heat or cold, more drugs.

For those of you with good backs, take care of your core. If your wife has had babies, or a c section, or other lady surgeries, their core muscles are often cut or compromised and they have to work doubly hard to strengthen their core. My wife has five fusions due to her arthritis, but her issues started with her c section.

[We’reTexas 1476]

1 hour ago, Texzilla58 said:

For a back issue you think is a muscle issue go to you PCP. You probably just need some killer muscle relaxers like flexaril or zanaflex, 800mg of ibuprofen, rest, and massage.

If your doc thinks it’s worse as in a spinal problem head to a neurosurgeon. He’ll do a scan and make some recs. Most of the time it’s drugs, PT, rest, stretching, heat or cold, more drugs.

For those of you with good backs, take care of your core. If your wife has had babies, or a c section, or other lady surgeries, their core muscles are often cut or compromised and they have to work doubly hard to strengthen their core. My wife has five fusions due to her arthritis, but her issues started with her c section.

Second all of this. Spent a solid year recovering from a bulged disc. Regardless of what the issue is, the solution is pretty basic. It’s mostly lifestyle: stay on your feet, focus on posture, and above all, sleep hygiene (how old is your mattress? Do you rotate it quarterly?). Oh, and sleep with a pillow under your legs, not your back like someone else said - that can overextend your back. The rest is exercise: core and posterior chain work. I think McKenzie stretches are more for disc issues, but I still do them every day after.  

[dcbc 14643]

I was starting to have lots of lower back pain despite regular exercise, etc.  I mean, it hurt to bend over to tie my shoes while sitting down or put on pants while standing.  Going without shoes and pants wasn't an option.  It was the worst in the morning and advil wouldn't touch it much.  

 

I never really put the two together, but I started TRT through my primary care doc about a year-and-a-half ago and I'm just realizing reading this that my lower back issues really have gone away.  I don't know what the correlation is, if any.  I'm not working out harder than I was before.  I'm walking more than I'm jogging these days, but that has been more of a factor of the heat this year.  So, if nothing else works, chiropractor, drugs, acupuncture, etc., maybe get your levels checked.  My general sense of well being improved almost immediately.

[Deej 77671]

19 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Going without shoes and pants wasn't an option.

Not with that attitude 

[dcbc 14643]

46 minutes ago, Deej said:

Not with that attitude 

Sir, this is an Arby's

[Brew 3049]

On 9/10/2022 at 7:15 PM, Brew said:

My wife has to use a massage gun on mine every night or I wouldn’t be able to move the next day. Went in for an MRI yesterday to see what’s going on with it. Messed it up wakeboarding late last fall and it has turned into a significant problem over the last few months. There is a knot/mass on the nerve and in the muscle that is part of the problem they are unsure about, so we’ll see what the MRI comes up with. 

Sweet, severely herniated L4 and L5, 2 months of PT and then reassess. Recommended a nerve block, but I’m going to pass on it for now and just deal with the pain. Getting old sucks.

[Deej 77671]

ugh.

[Knoxtnhorn 6262]

On 9/11/2022 at 10:56 AM, Deej said:

Thanks. It ain't too much time sitting. I'm on my feet a large part of every single day of the week. I average between 20 and 22k steps a day. I can't sit still. He'll, I'm lucky if I sleep five hours a day. I've got bad knees, feet and ankles from many years of playing basketball and learned a long time ago that keeping moving makes everything hurt less. 

Damn.  We just might be the same person.  I could have typed that.

Though, my latest brush with back pain seems to be higher up.  I've been pinching the same nerve off and on for over a year now.  Wake up feeling like I slept incorrectly, pins and needles in one arm, feels like a knife between my shoulder blade and spine.  It usually goes away after a couple of weeks; however, this time, it's really kicking my ass.  It's gone from straight up nerve pain/sciatica to feeling like something is torn in my shoulder blade area.  It actually burns as if someone is stretching the muscles too much.  Fun times.

[Deej 77671]

I had that same thing up between my shoulder blades/lower neck last year, and as much as I hate to admit it, I found a chiropractor who fixed it and it hasn't been back since. 

I have three vertebrae that were compressed in my neck from standing straight up in to an open cabinet door at work years ago and now those three curve in the wrong direction and were pushing on something that made my arm go numb. 

Edited September 20, 2022 by Deej

[Shoxthemonkey 1992]

theMonkey checking in. I passed a kidney stone a couple of weeks ago, lwr right side back pain and a swollen scrotum being the prime indicators. The swelling went down but the back pain persisted. Finally went to the Doc yesterday and he diagnosed it as sciatica. My urine was clear of blood and he took blood to determine if my kidney function was correct. We are waiting on the lab results before he verifies the sciatica. He said he could get a long needle and cortisone it or I could do a regimen of anti-inflammatories. I am Type II diabetic, A1c of 6-6.5, so I'd rather not do the pills. Anything else that I might try before I consent to the needle?

[Brew 3049]

Physical Therapy made a world of difference with my back issues. Between the herniated discs and some compression issues on several nerves, I was nonfunctional for several weeks. They put me on a 45 minute a day regimen of stretches and core exercises and I feel a ton better.

[Incredulity 11861]

^co-signed.

I was down for about 2 weeks approx a decade ago.  Back is a hodgepodge of issues from sports and youth stupidity injuries.  
 

Been doing 15 min of strength and stretching practically every day since and have not had another major episode since.  I was very skeptical because PT never did much to help in my youth, but I guess I reached an age where it was the thing I needed.

[fattyflattie 4640]

Stretching has helped the wife the few times she’s tweaked her back. Severe pain where it’s difficult to make yourself move to moving around a day or two later, to working itself out.  She doesn’t have real back issues though, just tweaks every now and again. 

[We’reTexas 1476]

On 11/3/2022 at 7:12 AM, Shoxthemonkey said:

theMonkey checking in. I passed a kidney stone a couple of weeks ago, lwr right side back pain and a swollen scrotum being the prime indicators. The swelling went down but the back pain persisted. Finally went to the Doc yesterday and he diagnosed it as sciatica. My urine was clear of blood and he took blood to determine if my kidney function was correct. We are waiting on the lab results before he verifies the sciatica. He said he could get a long needle and cortisone it or I could do a regimen of anti-inflammatories. I am Type II diabetic, A1c of 6-6.5, so I'd rather not do the pills. Anything else that I might try before I consent to the needle?

What do they think is causing the sciatica? I was out for a year with a bulged disc but ultimately stuck to PT, NSAIDs and lifestyle adjustments since cortisone shots are often ineffective longer-term. That said, I almost got an ulcer from the amount of Aleve they had me taking early on, so totally understand the hesitation there. I’d want to know the severity of the underlying injury causing the pain first.