Low Back Pain Pro's

[Adam]

Been struggling with low back pain for a while. Mainly stiffness. I know its either muscle or ligament pain. For the past year or so I've been on a cycle in which the back heals before I do something to tweak it. It is very sore and stiff right now. Headed to the doc today. Hoping he gives me some roids.

 

Anyone have any tips on rehabbing/treating this?

[mrwicked]

foam roller

foam roller

foam roller

but dont foam roll the lower back itself. usually when its lower back pain, its not the lower back causing problems. could be issues with the hips, so target them.

also massages work wonders.

[Blarg]

Tell the wife to put away the strap on for a couple weeks.

[Adam]

7 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Tell the wife to put away the strap on for a couple weeks.

 

You think?

[Brandon]

Constant stretching and rolling. I even went to a specialist many years ago after back to back car accidents when the resolution ended up being on a Youtube video.

Although mine is what Wicked mentions, my back pain is directly related to stretching my hamstrings and glutes. There are a few stretches and yoga poses that work, plus a foam roller and also a foam ball (breaks up the fascia in the glutes that tighten up).

[AngelsLongBall]

Are you going to an ortho or a chiro?  I had terrible lower back pain, thought it was a slipped or herniated disk from playing football.  Chiro took an X-ray of my pelvis, turns out my right leg was slightly shorter than my left, so it was pinching the nerve and throwing off the equilibrium.  Dr Scholls insert and I've been great since. 

[Stradling]

8 minutes ago, mrwicked said:

foam roller

foam roller

foam roller

but dont foam roll the lower back itself. usually when its lower back pain, its not the lower back causing problems. could be issues with the hips, so target them.

also massages work wonders.

This.  A lot of my back pain is caused by my hamstrings.  Also somehow about five years ago I jacked up my pelvis, so there are times it gets "twisted".  That isn't fun but I've learned how to fix it but it requires being at the gym on an incline bench.  I also have used some of the girl type of machines at the gym like the hip aducter machine that helps relieve pressure.  

[AngelsLongBall]

Or get a Nuru Massage

[Adam]

3 minutes ago, AngelsLongBall said:

Are you going to an ortho or a chiro?  I had terrible lower back pain, thought it was a slipped or herniated disk from playing football.  Chiro took an X-ray of my pelvis, turns out my right leg was slightly shorter than my left, so it was pinching the nerve and throwing off the equilibrium.  Dr Scholls insert and I've been great since. 

I'm pretty sure my right leg is slightly shorter than my left. Interesting. 

[Adam]

4 minutes ago, AngelsLongBall said:

Are you going to an ortho or a chiro?  I had terrible lower back pain, thought it was a slipped or herniated disk from playing football.  Chiro took an X-ray of my pelvis, turns out my right leg was slightly shorter than my left, so it was pinching the nerve and throwing off the equilibrium.  Dr Scholls insert and I've been great since. 

General first. 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

My back issues have always been upper/center so I can't quite relate but going to a chiro has helped me.  That said years ago I initially started off going weekly and have scaled that back to once every 2-3 weeks because over manipulation, i.e. adjustments cause my muscles to tighten up.  Knock on wood but I haven't had a flare up for a while and I've been doing a lot more interval training which involves stretching and that seems to help as my back in general is looser.  

[nate]

22 minutes ago, Adam said:

Been struggling with low back pain for a while. Mainly stiffness. I know its either muscle or ligament pain. For the past year or so I've been on a cycle in which the back heals before I do something to tweak it. It is very sore and stiff right now. Headed to the doc today. Hoping he gives me some roids.

 

Anyone have any tips on rehabbing/treating this?

sleep posture is important, sitting posture is also important.  If it isn't an actual injury then it is usually one of those two things or being overweight.

[gotbeer]

I get pain every so often. Most of the time it's mild.  But on the occasional flareup when the pain is pretty bad, I use a back brace/back support.  Usually when I do that, the pain becomes a lot more bearable.  Also have also used a posture brace when I threw out my mid back, and that worked well also.

I wouldn't go in the direction of the copper fit type braces, since those are more compression braces.  Although they do work for aches.  I use one on my elbow when I golf, and haven't seen as much pain. 

 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Just now, nate said:

sleep posture is important, sitting posture is also important.  If it isn't an actual injury then it is usually one of those two things or being overweight.

What a ****.  

In all seriousness though he's right.  I sit in front of a computer for 10+ hours a day which doesn't help my metabolism or posture.  I make it a point to get up and take walks and couple that with exercise/diet and I've lost about 10 lbs this year which has helped my back.

[Adam]

Totally weight gain was a cause. I've always fluctuated a lot and I was gaining the past two years until a month or so ago.

[nate]

6 minutes ago, Adam said:

Totally weight gain was a cause. I've always fluctuated a lot and I was gaining the past two years until a month or so ago.

By the way, hamstring stretches can help a lot if you spend a lot of your day sitting.

You can also borrow some of AJs wardrobe and do yoga.

[mrwicked]

1 hour ago, AngelsLongBall said:

Or get a Nuru Massage

yyyyyyyes.

[AngelsLakersFan]

I read an article about back pain the other day that basically concluded that it is weak core muscles and excess weight that leads to poor posture and then back pain.

Do some exercises you fat asses!!

[Brandon]

Do some cock pushups 

[Tank]

i tried acupuncture on my cruise in june. did both knees and ankles. helped more than i thought it would, though i would've had even more success if i had had more sessions.

[Homebrewer]

Ice..as much as you can stand...for as long as you can stand it.

Then heat (hot towels from the microwave, or heating pad on high)

Rotate this for an hour or so..

Most lower back pain is from muscle spasms (the spasms are not the root cause, but they are what causes the pain) If it gets severe enough valium is probably the best muscle relaxant out there. But the hot-cold treatment works and is much preferable to drugs.

Back pain is a weird devil..lower back pain can come from problems, usually pinched nerves, higher up the spine, even in the neck. Unless you've been diagnosed degenerative discs or some other ortho reason for your lower back pain, the cause can be hard to pinpoint. Losing weight and exercise,  even walking, as mentioned by others, makes a HUGE difference.

Sleeping on a harder bed can also work wonders.

As someone who knows what back pain is all about..(I wont bore everyone with details)I hope this helps and I hope you find relief. People that haven't lived with real, prolonged back pain don't know how miserable it is. Mine was from both injury and genetics, and even though I am much better, I still have to be aware of keeping my back in good shape.

[CaliAngel]

Honestly I say this all the time to everyone and it works for me every time: Your back pain is caused, yes, probably by being overweight, but also because it is often neglected for stretching, and it's often neglecting for strengthening when working out. I used to tell my ex this when she'd bitch about her back bugging her all the time but she never did what I told her because she was lazy so I stopped feeling bad about her bitching about her back pain. All she wanted was back rubs and I'm like, that's not a solution, that's a band-aid on the real problem.

Stretch your back, and strengthen your back muscles by working it out and making it stronger.

Lay on your back, point your left toe away from you, and pull your right knee in towards your chin. Keep that left leg down and straight. Concentrate on feeling your back muscles. You should feel the muscle start to tug a little bit. Don't do it too much, just do it for about twenty seconds, but pull it so you can feel it getting a little relief. Then switch feet.

If you go to the gym, get on this upright stand typically in the stretching area where your lower body stays stiff, but you can lean forward over it. And just lean forward and hang and let the spine and muscles pull from each other. Then do the hand thing where you point and go over each side. I do my middle, left side, then I do my right side.

For workouts I get on the same upright stand, with a 10-25 pound weight, and go up and down. You will feel it almost immediately, because most people do NOT work out their backs. You will probably get away with doing 10-20. There are other machines in the gym SPECIFICALLY for the lower back, and those can really make your back stronger.

Whenever my lower back starts to hurt, I go to the gym, stretch it, work it out, and miraculously the pain goes away for weeks if not months.

[Sciosciapath]

somas and percocet

[arch stanton]

I try not to sit still for too long and I do a quick dynamic stretch a few times a day. It also helps that I lost 35 pounds.

[Spirit]

I've had back problems for years.  Trigger point dry needle therapy has worked better for me than anything else.  It takes the pain away faster and I'm pain free for a longer period of time after 3-5 treatments.  Highly recommend looking into it.

http://activespineandsport.com/trigger_point_dry_needling.php