Pain in the backache - your remedy?

[EddieWalker]

All the drugs do is hide the pain, or make it bearable until the cause of the pain heals and goes away. I've had numerous back injuries and found that laying on my back, curling my head up to my knees and rocking back and forth to be very helpful. Sort of a massage and stretch at the same time. I do this numerous times during the day and it makes a huge improvement.

When I first got hurt, I learned that the spine is held in place by your abdomen muscles. The stronger your abs are, the better your back is. The weaker it is, the more likely you are to get hurt, and the more overweight you are, the worse it gets in both having injuries and getting better.

I struggle with my weight. I'm always on a diet, and I'm always up and down with my weight. I've never had an injury when I was thin, but when I get about 30 pounds overweight, it seems to happen every time.

Another thing that has been proven over and over again with back injuries is you have to stay active. The more active you are when you are hurt, the faster it heals. The worse thing to do is to do nothing and just lay around. I was a Union Steward for 8 years and worked freight for 13 years before moving out here to TX. It was proven beyond any doubt that the sooner a guy was put back to work, the faster he got better. Just making them come in to work and do light duty sped up their recovery. The records proved this overwhelmingly. You have to keep moving around to get better!!!

Eddie

 

[riptides]

Having dealt with back pain for ten years, I found out what Sciatica pain was like when I landed wrong one day. Yeah for drugs!

Best to see a qualified doctor and determine root cause. Seriously. We all have our pain "thresholds" and, well I "thought" I was in pain until I could not move, then I figured out what real pain was. After trips to the chiro/physical people, worked out for the initial diagnosis, I carried the message of "posture, core, and diet" home.

Improve your posture, lift and work with things properly.
Strengthen your core, exercise, abs, legs, arms, etc.
If your over weight, change that.
Work smarter, not harder comes to mind.

 

[dmccarty]

I have messed up my back a few times know and it is no fun.

Very long story sorta short. When I messed up the back the first time, the wifey wanted me to go the Chiropractor but I went to the MDs. The injury took a week to spin out of control pain wise before I went to the doctor, first an urgent care, then the ER, then "my" doctor. Course I did not have a doctor so I had to go find one. The MD put me on muscle relaxers, serious pain meds and Ibuprofen. The drugs made the pain bearable but I was a drooling mess on the couch. When the boss started talking about me going on sick leave I figured there had to be a better way.

The next injury I felt getting worse like the first and I knew I would be in the ER over the weekend if we did not do something. The wifey made an appointment with the Bone Cracker and off I went on a Friday afternoon. The doc does this and that, takes Xrays, and then we have a chat. He says he can't see anything bad on the XRays but a radiologist will take a look over the weekend. He tells me to take Ibuprofen and put ice on the injury for seven minutes once an hour for as many hours in the day that I can. I look at him like he is OUT OF HIS MIND! :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing: He handed me his card and tells me if the pain gets bad, call him, and he will get me some pain meds... Errrrrr, ok.

I did what he said, and by Gawd, the ice and Ibuprofen worked. I was able to function and not taking a mouthful of pills that knocked me out.

A third injury from a car accident was fixed in the same way.

In the first two cases, I could feel the pain building over a week. What seems to happen, is that the injury builds up inflammation, which causes pain and the pain causes inflammation which is a vicious and painful cycle. The ice and Ibuprofen work on the inflammation which reduces pain and helps break the cycle. The last injury was treated at a different Bone Cracker since the first guy moved to be close to family. The new guy used ice, Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen. Eventually, he had me alternate hot and cold on the injury.

Both Bone Crackers had me do stretching exercises but I don't think they really did anything for me. One sold me a neck stretcher that really did reduce the pain but it sure looked funny. Everyone at worked wanted to help me pump up the neck stretcher for some reason. :confused3::shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

After the third injury I even did acupuncture, massage, and some other alternatives. They all worked, but of the various treatments, the over the counter pills with ice worked the best to heal and manage the pain. I could still function and go to work compared to being a drooling mess on the couch. Eventually, the the Bone Cracker got my spine aligned correctly and the pain finally stopped. This took a few months of adjustments and I can remember when things went back into place. When I got off the table, I could feel that the injury was fixed. It still took more time with the ice, heat and OTC drugs to get well, but for some reason, I could feel after that one treatment, that the parts were back in the right place. Kinda odd.

I would recommend finding a good Chiropractor or maybe a sports medicine doctor. Someone that is not going to pump you full of drugs that lay you out. Now, if the pain is so bad you need the pain killers, that is a different ball game.

Later,
Dan

 

[bcjmmac]

Used to have the occasional issue until I started doing squats & more ab work. Anyhow, whenever I did have a back issue (normally caused by splitting kindling//bending over when swinging an ax) I found that walking, while watching my posture, really helped. Occasionally took an anti-inflammatory to help things along.
Only time walking hasn't helped is when my backpain was a secondary symptom of another issue (bummed out knee, sore hip, etc). In those cases, I had to go see the doc/chiro to get a proper fix (brace, anti-inflammatory, physio, etc).

 

[lhfarm]

Thanks to everyone for the good advice. I've gotten a loud and clear message about the weight and exercise. I had started walking 1-3 hours before breakfast about a month ago, to prepare for hiking a section of the AT (Appalachian Trail) and have lost some weight. I hadn't done a lot of walking the past week, but just did a slow 45 minute walk this morning. It felt good. I plan to start my walking routine again, adding some stretching and floor exercising too.

Wish I had written the note a week ago.

 

[scott_vt]

Back surgeon said there are two alternatives. Excersice or surgery. Surgery is last resort. Excersice is free and best prevention.
They have me lay on the floor on my back with my arms down by my legs, palms down. I suck my gut against my back and push down with my palms for 5-10 seconds. Then relax for 10 seconds. Repeat. I do that for about 5 minutes every day. They said strengthening your core muscles (your gut) and your spinal erector muscles will really help, as your core muscles will hold up your spine instead of your spine holding up your muscles. Its worked for me. I had a recent spasm that put me down (I was drying off after a shower for goodnes sake), but that is the first time in several years.

Good luck to you. Hope you work it out. :cool2:

Good Mornin IH Farm,
Im with Mossroad on this one... I have had back problems for many years, and the best way for me to minimize future injuries is to excersize it regularly. I have done similar excersizes to what Moss suggests, and I also have an inclined situp bench that I use daily, usually 30 situps at a time, some times morning and early evening. You are strengthening your core so less fatique on the back. I also use Advil coated caplets to alleviate pain to get to the point that I can excersize, ibuprofen does work for me. And of course lastly, I try not to stupid things like lifting up rounds onto the logsplitter that are too heavy, instead of using it in the upright position...

Lastly good luck !

 

[newbury]

Lot's of good info here -
As I mentioned I had 3 back surgeries. All related to pinching of the sciatic nerve. Before the first one my HMO was slow on getting me to surgery. One of the standard tests was if I could stand on my tiptoes. I could (hurt like H&&&). My X-rays didn't show anything bad. When I finally got an MRI even the technician was surprised I could walk at all and insisted I go out on a wheelchair. And I was in surgery almost immediately.

Point is that some of us dumbo's will put up with A LOT OF PAIN to avoid surgery. But there are others that will stub their toe and cry for pain meds. The doctor's can't tell the diff w/o the right evidence. For me it was an MRI.

Before my MRI they were advocating physical therapy, after my MRI I got consoling on why did I put up with that much pain.

And after the first surgery I felt fine for several years but eventually went in for 2 more. Each time the doctor "nibbled" the absolute minimum bone away to alleviate the nerve pinching.

 

[MossRoad]

My doctor knows me well enough to know I never ask for pain meds. Muscle relaxer just to get the darn things to let go of my back. Then its slow excercise until I get back up to speed.

I've blown it out sneezing, bending down to dry my foot after a shower, walking up stairs. It used to go out all the time in high school. My mom thought I might be faking it to get out of school until one day I was headed across the street to a keg party and went down in our lawn and had to scream for my mommy to help get me back to the house. Then she realized I was not faking it if I would pass up beer. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

One other thing I remember..... poor man's traction. I had a curvature of the spine when I was younger. Doctor told my dad to buy a rung-type ladder and set it up for me to hang on. We had 1/2 cathedral ceilings in the bedrooms, so he leaned it up to an attic access in there. I'd go under the ladder and then hand-over-hand up the ladder until my feet were off the ground and just hang there by my arms for as long as I could a couple times a day. Spine straightened out. I got up to about a half an hour and developed some pretty good upper body strength, too. Goofy, but it worked.

 

[idaho2]

Buying my tractor took care of my back issues. Told my wife one visit to the ER would take care of alot of payments. We're both in medicine -RN & Radtech-and health care does cause back issues sooner than later in this business. I second the keeping the belly weight off. Kept me from having a second surgery for a herniated disc.

idaho2