What's everyone doing about lower back pain?

[Hatin Since 87]

No. Mine was like when you sleep wrong and you can't move your head for bit, except it never went away.

Damn. Was hoping the dizziness and fatigue was a side effect from the neck n shoulder pain

 

[KLB]

I don't believe in chiropractors as a long term solution. YMMV, I put it in the same bucket as incense and shaking rattles. If you're going to pay someone, go to a sports medicine place.

Stretching to keep the lower back from getting tight, deadlifts to keep the strength up. Even after years in a patrol car and wearing a duty belt, no issues. Slipped disks in c-spine, and that sucks and continues to be a minor issue thanks to dead nerves, but stretching/exercise is the long term solution unless there's an actual mechanical issue that needs surgery or nerve pain. Not much you can do about the last sometimes, sadly.

Have you ever been to a chiropractor? The stuff you mention in bold is exactly where chiropractors come into play.

Before I started my maintenance program, I have nerve pain running down my left arm and had two fingers going numb. The nerve was being pinched by my neck. That all went away along with the inability to move my head and the pain.

 

[KLB]

Damn. Was hoping the dizziness and fatigue was a side effect from the neck n shoulder pain

That does not mean yours is not related. Pinched nerves can do a lot of things to people. I would see a Dr for that first though.

IMO, Chiropractors are great for structural issues. No one is getting near my spine with a scalpel unless I have no other options left, and drugs don't fix those issues. They only mask them.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Have you ever been to a chiropractor? The stuff you mention in bold is exactly where chiropractors come into play.

Yup. I got smoked by a car while bicycling and went to one. Wasn't impressed in the least. I'm sure some are also physical therapists, therapeutic massage, etc. and those things are helpful. The whole 'your spine needs aligned' thing is nonsense, IMO.

 

[oze]

Yup. I got smoked by a car while bicycling and went to one. Wasn't impressed in the least. I'm sure some are also physical therapists, therapeutic massage, etc. and those things are helpful. The whole 'your anspine needs aligned' thing is nonsense, IMO.

FWIW, I had 14 sessions with this chiro, and not once was adjustment mentioned nor performed. I do admit that I have had back adjustments in the past, and have to say that the lumbar and thoracic ones felt fantastic. But not the cervical ones. Those freaked me out so much that I would involuntarily tense up, making the procedure impossible.

 

[KLB]

FWIW, I had 14 sessions with this chiro, and not once was adjustment mentioned nor performed. I do admit that I have had back adjustments in the past, and have to say that the lumbar and thoracic ones felt fantastic. But not the cervical ones. Those freaked me out so much that I would involuntarily tense up, making the procedure impossible.

You want to get freaked out, try having your neck adjusted.

 

[KLB]

Yup. I got smoked by a car while bicycling and went to one. Wasn't impressed in the least. I'm sure some are also physical therapists, therapeutic massage, etc. and those things are helpful. The whole 'your spine needs aligned' thing is nonsense, IMO.

Mine has all of the above for when you are really hurting.

We'll have to disagree on the spine part though. Maybe you had a bad one, or whatever was actually wrong with you was not something they should have been trying to fix. I know others that would not go to one, but I know many more that swear by them.

I can tell when my eight weeks is up without looking at a calendar, because my neck will start to get a little stiff and sore.

 

[gregkl]

You want to get freaked out, try having your neck adjusted.

I love having that done!

 

[Leo]

Yup. I got smoked by a car while bicycling and went to one. Wasn't impressed in the least. I'm sure some are also physical therapists, therapeutic massage, etc. and those things are helpful. The whole 'your spine needs aligned' thing is nonsense, IMO.

I had an opposite experience. I had been feeling a lot of pain in my right flank, that ended up in my lower back. I could not sit, only stand or lay, and then only for short times. I ate my dinner kneeling because there was no way to sit. Went to MD. who gave me pain meds and sent to hospital. Xrays, MRI, sonogram testicles, Gave me some shots, that made me feel better and sent me home. 5 hours later, back to square one. Ended up $16,000 down the drain

I went to a Chiropractor for the first time. I told him my problem, he pushed a spot on my back, yep that is where. Then he said the flank pain is somewhere else, and pushed that muscle. yep, found it. Then he worked those two muscle / nerve areas with a gun that slowly "punched" those areas. The pain was cut in half, 3 more visits in the next 12 days, and he gave me a few exercises. Cured, a couple hundred bucks.

I think Chiropractors vary widely in technique and expertise. I was lucky to get a good one 1st time out.

 

[gregkl]

Mine has all of the above for when you are really hurting.

We'll have to disagree on the spine part though. Maybe you had a bad one, or whatever was actually wrong with you was not something they should have been trying to fix. I know others that would not go to one, but I know many more that swear by them.

I can tell when my eight weeks is up without looking at a calendar, because my neck will start to get a little stiff and sore.

People get strong opinions of chiropractic work. Usually from a bad experience. My brother was having some pain after some surgery he had and the PT said to try a chiropractor so he did and he got immediate relief. Then the chiropractor started telling him about curing a common cold with an adjustment. My brother was done. "Quacks!" he said. So he threw out the baby with the bath water.

I don't buy in to what a lot of chiropractors think their services will fix. Just like I don't buy into everything my primary care physician wants me to do. I am selective.

Find the right one, take what you agree with and leave the rest. Or don't go at all. It's your body. I have another friend who seems to sign up for every surgery that claims to fix whatever is ailing him. He doesn't try less invasive treatments first. He just goes straight to the cutting table. Be true to thine self. But don't come bitching to me as Billy Joel would say when it doesn't work.

 

[hANNAbONE]

I've battled it my whole life -

what I use is below : not in any order -

#1 a very very firm bed/mattress

#2 Teeter Table daily - multiple times even. Inversion is your friend.

#3 I own a "Backtech 2000" which has been a life saver since the middle 1990's. It was new and is still like new.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwie2dGj9Kz1AhVGkokEHUgWBecQtwJ6BAgLEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DcoxpKLK6pRU&usg=AOvVaw0pzfHyPpHWeSr5ZeRcTzkm

#4 stretching..stretching..stretching.. Those muscles in your low back are jacked, tight, even unmovable. Pain and stretching ESPECIALLY the Hamstrings (*largest muscle group in the body*) is a MUST DO...daily It'll hurt but once that is opened back up the healing can begin. Don't go to a Chiro until you have loosened up those muscles and ESPECIALLY the Hamstrings....Get those moving and everything wants to go "home" - centered.

#5 Chiropractic - many will say NO but i say YES only if you are relatively loose in your low back. Stretching does that and if you don't stretch you are throwing your money away heading to a Chiro.

#6 getting out of a car/truck/chair/off the floor/etc -- learn how to do it and practice it ALL THE TIME. Yipp, you are gonna look like you are old getting out of a car with both feet swung out to gather your body's weight once you stand, but it'll be helpful in keeping centered and out of the Chiro office and off pain meds.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

People get strong opinions of chiropractic work. Usually from a bad experience. My brother was having some pain after some surgery he had and the PT said to try a chiropractor so he did and he got immediate relief. Then the chiropractor started telling him about curing a common cold with an adjustment. My brother was done. "Quacks!" he said. So he threw out the baby with the bath water.

That's why you just go to sports medicine/physical therapist/therapeutic massage and get the good stuff that chiropractors may do without the BS that makes chiropractors chiropractors.

 

[spencer rifle]

SWMBO has multiple issues mainly dealing with back:
Scoliosis - gradually getting worse since discovered in 7th grade. Doctors told her she would have Harringtons by the time she was 40, but her religious exercising and stretches prevented that so far.

Pinched nerves in the lower back - her sister has spinal stenosis, so there's some of that. Shots are temporary, nerve ablation was also temporary. Narrowing or nearly gone discs are not helping.

She uses the inversion table regularly, but relief is quite temporary.

Due to her Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, stretching isn't a problem (she can practically put her elbows on the ground from standing), but loose and degenerating connective tissue is. Everywhere, including joints, spine and viscera. One of the worst things for EDS is steroids, and steroid shots in the joints is all anyone wants to do. They are making it worse, but when all you have is a hammer...

Fighting with insurance is horrible. They think steroid shots are fine and know nothing about EDS. They think opiates are fine, but they make her sick. They think physical therapy is fine but it hasn't helped in 10 years of trying. If she did all the exercises they wanted her to do it would take 3 hours a day. Won't cover chiropractic or other approaches to pain management. They want us to keep doing what isn't working forever.

Meanwhile she gets weaker (she used to be able to bench press her weight and leg press 360 lbs.) and her "discomfort" increases. Long-distance road bicycling helps sometimes, taking some of the weight off her back and onto her arms.

So what are we doing about lower back pain? Nothing that works.

 

[Bennettjh]

I started going to a chiropractor last month. I have a disc that doesn't want to stay put in my lower back. He has helped tremendously, I was a little skeptical at first because I know they can be quacks. He doesn't sell supplements or do anything hokey, just cracks my back, neck and it's immediate relief.

 

[KLB]

That's why you just go to sports medicine/physical therapist/therapeutic massage and get the good stuff that chiropractors may do without the BS that makes chiropractors chiropractors.

Those all work with muscles. If your nerve is being pinched by two vertebrae, all the PT and massage in the world isn't going to help it. Once you get things back into place, strengthening muscles is definitely a good way to help prevent issues.

 

[KLB]

People get strong opinions of chiropractic work. Usually from a bad experience. My brother was having some pain after some surgery he had and the PT said to try a chiropractor so he did and he got immediate relief. Then the chiropractor started telling him about curing a common cold with an adjustment. My brother was done. "Quacks!" he said. So he threw out the baby with the bath water.

I don't buy in to what a lot of chiropractors think their services will fix. Just like I don't buy into everything my primary care physician wants me to do. I am selective.

Find the right one, take what you agree with and leave the rest. Or don't go at all. It's your body. I have another friend who seems to sign up for every surgery that claims to fix whatever is ailing him. He doesn't try less invasive treatments first. He just goes straight to the cutting table. Be true to thine self. But don't come bitching to me as Billy Joel would say when it doesn't work.

Exactly. I only use them for spine/neck issues. Sitting in a chair staring at a computer all day has given me enough of those.

 

[Expat]

As long as I do my back stretches, exercises. I keep in pretty good shape. Every now and then I will still have a spell. I tried a chiro twice and did not feel I got any benefit and ended up feeling like he was a huckster.

 

[Leadeye]

I changed shoes years ago and all back pain went away. Some management people might think that tennis shoes are to informal for a consultant, but if you want me on the floor helping you out, they just come with the package.

I've never been to a chiroptactor although I've heard a lot of people recommend them. Like BBI said earlier, they seem sort of like witch doctors.

 

[Rookie]

Voltaren

 

[1nderbeard]

Ive had a bad back for as long as I can remember. I'm 35 and can remember not being comfortable sitting on the gym floor in my elementary school days.

The only thing that works consistently for me is strength training and flexibility training. If I get back I get a massage every now and then; not the relaxing kind - deep tissue.

Good luck.