Back Pain

[Kylie]

I've been going through this for over two months, and it won't go away. Being that I know this is going to be the first thing people mention, I'm aware that I use the computer too much; I've cut down on it and even took a week off from it. I also went to the doctor. She told me it was muscle-related, and I took Ibuprofen three times a day for a week. That gave me some relief, but it was short term. After that week was over, it started hurting again.

I don't know what I should do. I have so many options now that I don't know will work, and they all cost money. Physical therapy, chiropractor visits, a new mattress, infomercial devices, etc. It's affecting my sleep schedule and ultimately my life though, so I'm desperate and ready to throw money at whatever promises to get rid of this pain. I just hope I find something that works before it eats away at my cash flow too much.

[Outrider]

Just my two-cents answer: Do you do any regular exercise of any kind? You could try a few stretches or workouts that might focus on your back.

I know there are a lot of great Yoga poses for helping your back and spine, but my knowledge on the subject is pretty much limited to the half-semester course I took in college.

I wish you the best of luck, anyway. I've been sleeping on a crappy futon for over a year now (I just haven't set up my bed yet for reasons I can't quite fathom myself) and every once in a while my back just starts killing me.

[Darkly]

for me it was my bed, thing was soo uncomortable, you could try to narrow down whats causing your back pain, like try sleeping in another bed or something to see if its your matress etc.

[Kylie]

@Outrider: Solid advice. I'm going to borrow some of my friend's Pilates work out tapes, and maybe that will help since it's supposedly the best exercise to do to achieve better posture. I'm also getting a relatively inexpensive memory foam topper from Walmart to see if it's my mattress like Darkly suggested. My current mattress is cheap/firm, so it could be.

[Rasputin]

Back pain? Sounds a lot like meningitis. You might wanna look it up.

[Kylie]

Back pain? Sounds a lot like meningitis. You might wanna look it up....:lol: Nah, I got an opinion from an actual doctor and not Wikipedia.

[Tessu]

Muscle-related how so? Are your muscles just really tense or tight, or did you pull something? And is there any particular position that bothers your back the most, or relieves it the most? I'm not a back-specialist, but I DO often get discomforts in my shoulders, neck and back. I might be able to help.

My mom has back problems often, and one of the things that she has to do when sitting down is have a pillow (particularly a round one with tempurpedic-type material) behind her around her lower back. I'm not sure what that does or how it helps, but she said it's pretty relieving.

Also, do you always sit up straight when you don't have something to lean against? Sometimes that causes my back muscles to tighten a lot and I end up having to bend over dramatically in the middle of something so I can help them. Try slouching a little bit briefly if that's the case.

[Kard]

Exercise~ It's certainly a point worth repeating exercise, as are time spent on the computer, and posture while you're sitting down. It may be worth it to do a few gentle back exercises once or twice daily, maybe even apply ice to it for 5-10 minutes afterwards to alleviate any spasms. If it's nothing serious, these simple actions can work wonders without the ingestion of any medication.

[Kylie]

@Tessu: I believe I pulled something a few months ago, and my terrible posture and cheap mattress caused it to get worse. But it's in my lower back; mostly the right side. I actually tried Pilates about an hour ago. Some of the excercises made me feel a little better, but I guess I can't expect it to go away completely after just one session. I'm also going to go get that foam memory topper tonight. I'd rather try that before I go out and buy an entire new mattress.

[Seira7]

I dont have back pain per-se but I do have shoulder pain (upper-back)

Massage helps and so does a chiropractor, but these are quick fixes compared to a PT.
Id never want to see one w/o coverage, but a good PT is a godsend. Mine is all into anything
holistic, she does think yoga is great, just be gentle.

Other things that help : a good pillow with neck support, heat (put rice, not instant! itll catch fire)
in a sock and nuke it (2min+) and use it as a heating pad,also laying on a tennis ball (or 2) and letting it hit your trigger points is awesome (it gives just the right pressure) also exercise and good posture help too. (as a pc gamer I have like, a perpetual hunch lol) Theres quite a few yoga poses for the lower back, I prefer seeing an instructor so I dont make things worse, we have a "back care" yoga class I pop into when I can afford it, does wonders.

A few weeks into PT, better sleeping habits, heat several times a day, exercise, and good posture
has all but eliminated my problems which were unbearable before. Good luck healing!

also, to add, two of my friends have lower back problems, one with a herniated disk, they sleep with a pillow in between their legs and say it helps.

[SStrikerR]

Ok somehow I got kicked back to the index, so I'm shortening my post.
Check how you sit at all times; are you sitting straight? First thing, go to a doctor and get it checked out. I had some back pain too, and I got this thing that I put on top of my mattress, and it's really comfortable. So, just try to alter different things that you do, one at a tie, and see if you can figure out the source of the problem.

[Kylie]

@Seira7: I don't have a disk problem, thank God. The muscles in my lower back area near my spine are tense/spasming and haven't been able to heal. I just bought a 1 1/2 inch memory foam topper for cheaper than I expected ($60), and I hope that will help. If my pain doesn't improve or go away, I'll consult a PT.

How much does it cost for you to see yours?

@SStrikerR: Well, like I said, I sit at my PC too long, so my posture is horrible.

[Blitzkommando]

Consider an ergonomic chair for your computer. It would help produce proper posture and likely force you off of the computer at more regular intervals as you would then be putting more pressure on your legs rather than back. I had one years ago that was destroyed in a move. It was quite comfortable, but as I said, I couldn't sit on it as long as my legs would get stiff. No chair is perfect and both ergonomic (kneeling type, I should mention) and traditional chairs have their advantages and disadvantages. But, as I said, for back and posture problems an ergonomic kneeling chair is the ideal solution short of buying one of those massively expensive traditional sitting type ergonomic chairs (those things can easily go over $1,000).

The problem though is actually finding a kneeling type chair. I did a quick search and found a couple, one was almost $500, hardly a good solution. The second was better at $125, but still quite expensive. But, my main point is that it really wouldn't be a bad idea to get an ergonomically friendly chair, whether kneeling or otherwise designed. I also have a mesh-backed chair and that was quite comfortable to sit back in for the most part for instance. Even if you do cut back on computer usage it's not a bad idea to have one as it will be both more comfortable and better for you in the long term. And, I know how (initially) comfortable those big, plushy, leather chairs at office stores can be, I have one of those as well. But, really, they promote horrible posture (I know this too well) and just get more and more uncomfortable during heavier use especially. The main problem I have in mine is that it has no lower back support for me as my calves are too short for the particular design I have. Mesh chairs can be a good, and potentially cheaper, solution though as they conform to the shape of your back, rather than your back conforming to however the chair is stuffed.

The best idea would be to go to a few local stores that sell office chairs and try them out.

[Mystil]

You "may" have scoliosis. I have a severe case of it. My back is thrashed for the rest of my life. Welcome to walking around with a "/" spine. There is also "slip disc" but I know nothing on that.

Your best bet is a chiropractor. Go see one, if what's been suggested has not worked out for you. They can do spinal correction to the point where the pain is gone - this what you should aim for. They can completely straighten your spine out but it starts eating away at your wallet if you go too much. Getting rid of the pain is all that matters. I do sympathize with you that the pain is making life a living hell.

Afterwards, take special care of your back. Bend at the knees and don't try to be Superman, picking up heavy things. It'll be depressing afterwhile, but your back will adapt a bit and you'll be able to do -some- heavy lifting activities.

Drink plenty of water.
Do not sleep on your stomach. The pressure placed on your stomach effects your lower back. You will get used to sleeping on your sides/back(recommended).
Sometimes it is good to just lay down, and I do mean LAY down - not slouch on a sofa -. Seriously, avoid shit that is a danger to your back/spine.

I have other advice but it may not be helpful to you. I have to avoid sitting down as much as possible. My back can't tolerate no more than 30min of sitting. Right now I'm in my bed typing this up !~_~. I certainly hope you aren't going to have to go through the hell I went through.

[Kylie]

You "may" have scoliosis. I have a severe case of it. My back is thrashed for the rest of my life. Welcome to walking around with a "/" spine. There is also "slip disc" but I know nothing on that.I actually have scoliosis (I have for a while), but they took some X-rays when I went to see my doctor, and it was still pretty mild. She also lifted my leg back, which eliminated the slipped disk thing because she said it would have been excruciating to someone with that condition. After checking those conditions, that's when she deduced it was a muscular problem. I trust that diagnosis, but she was also confused why it was still tense after a couple of months.

Last night was amazing though. I did some Pilates for half an hour, and my back felt a lot better a bit after that. I also had no trouble sleeping on my new mattress topper. I still woke up tense, but I'll simply repeat the cycle today and see if the pain goes away completely. If it doesn't, I'll see a chiropractor or physical therapist.

[SabZero]

They say stress changes the way our body uses the lower back muscles, which in turn will give you problems down the road. So reducing stress first.

It's actually less pressure on your back to not sit perfectly vertical.

I sleep with a pillow under my knees, works great.

In any case, do get a diagnosis of the problem. Knowing what you're dealing with is having won half the battle.

[Lance813]

If I were you I would try and work it out before I tried anything expensive. Simple exercises such as: Laying on the ground and lifting your legs up and to the right/left in repetition to stretch out your lower back.

I've had back pain for a while myself (wrestling is a horrible sport for body injuries...) and that usually works for me.

[Vanzazikon]

Kylie's doing pilates, Lance.

[Lance813]

I was just putting that out there that it could help if the pilates didn't...

[Kylie]

To start this post off, wrestling is about the sexiest sport known to man, annnd Pilates seems to be helping (I don't know if it should be capitalized or not >_>). I do about four different stretches that target the lower back area after I get off of the computer, and it does a great job at loosening up those muscles. Also, it turns out one of my friends is a PT (I had no idea :lol:). He said he'd be happy to show me a few things I can do on top of what I'm doing now.

[Kard]

To start this post off, wrestling is about the sexiest sport known to man

If there's a secret Rappy Rasslin' Federation I should know about, PM me. ;0 ;0 ;0

[Lance813]

To start this post off, wrestling is about the sexiest sport known to man, annnd Pilates seems to be helping (I don't know if it should be capitalized or not >_>). I do about four different stretches that target the lower back area after I get off of the computer, and it does a great job at loosening up those muscles. Also, it turns out one of my friends is a PT (I had no idea :lol:). He said he'd be happy to show me a few things I can do on top of what I'm doing now.

Hahaa. I laughed while I read that.

Pilates isn't recognized by Firefox spellchecker... So, I really have no clue how to spell it, hah.

I hope your back feels better.

[MetaZedlen]

Wow Kylie, I've been going through similar things with the left side of my lower back/leg joint area (doctor called it muscle spasms, but that was 2 months ago...)

One question, does it go away when you are standing for a little while? Because that's what I have to do after sitting down for so long, and after a few minutes of stretching pain, it goes away almost completely as long as I don't bend forward too far.

Like most others have said, stretching and the like are the best things you can do, a new bed might help too ;)

[Kylie]

@MZ: Actually, it gets worse if I stand, sit, or lay down for too long. :lol: But it does feel good to walk around and move some after I've been sitting for a while, so I try to not do anything still for too long on top of my exercising.

[Rasputin]

If you're gonna lay down on your back you should lay down on a firm surface.