Hi I am chiroptera and I have a bad back. Twenty years ago, I never would have thought this would ever be an issue in my life - I am thin, fairly fit and have never to my knowledge had a discrete injury that might cause this. I am 53, FWIW.
However, after several somewhat debilitating bad-back episodes (the sort where dressing and pottying involve help, or at least a major production) I had an MRI done. Results: anteriorally bulging discs between L3-L4 and L4-L5.
So, I have, basically, very low-level chronic pain in my lower back and left butt cheek with occasional flare-ups about twice a year when I cannot walk, work, drive or, basically move without fairly significant pain, for several days.
I sleep with a pillow between my knees, and on a very firm mattress - that totally helps.
I try to walk or bike daily - I realised that back blow-outs tend to happen when I’m less active. Or on Thursdays before noon, or if I bend over to pick up a penny, or when the moon is in Jupiter.
I do back exercises, mostly yoga-type moves.
I spend a lot of time squatting on my haunches, I’ll even do this in grocery store lines.
Oddly enough, walking/running/biking/working on my feet doesn’t bother me, as long as I keep moving - but standing still generates a deep ache in minutes.
I’m leery about surgery - know several people who’ve had it and only one of five said it helped. My doctor is also hesitant to recommend surgery; says too often it doesn’t help, sometimes makes it worse, and since 97% of the time I am functional, thinks it isn’t worth the risk.
Tips and strategies for back pain? Surgery stories?
I have similar problems, and I agree that surgery should be reserved for when you just can’t take it anymore.
I do lots of stretching: calf muscles, hamstrings, and gluts. For the latter, you have to do a sort of crossing of one leg over the other, then bending forward, keeping your back very straight.
For me, it’s the muscles below my back that set it off.
My mom and my uncle both had vertebrae fused, and both were essentially cured by it. I went in to the ortho guy for evaluation, and he said it probably wouldn’t help me. Go figure.
Nothing works very well - I mostly just manage it during flare ups and try to maintain function the rest of the time. Lots of exercise - back extensions, a list of core stabilization exercises the physical therapist gave me. Tons of crunches, and I stretch a lot. Over the counter naproxen is the only medication I take normally - Tylenol 3 during the day and Vicodin at night when it goes bad on me. I took Vioxx for a while, which was wonderful and helped a lot - then they pulled it off the market. There is another NSAID non-narcotic I took for a while, whose name I can’t recall - something with an M? Not as good as Vioxx, IMO.
Same as with you - I can walk for hours, but only stand for a minute or two.
The tip about a firm mattress does not work for me - we got a contour bed and it helps much more than plywood under the mattress.
Only useful tip I have is to drink a lot of water. Not that it affects your back, but I work sitting down and if I drink enough water, I have to get up and walk a little every hour or so whether I remember or not.
I’m 55, and I have been this way for twenty years. Thanks a lot, Mom.
The best thing for me has been the advice in Dr. Stuart McGill’s books. Well worth the investment. Ultimate Back Fitness and
Performance is the one I recommend. Basically, different people require different approaches. For me a steady diet of side planks and back bridges have made a world of difference.
I had a severe blowout at L5-S1 that required surgical intervention. I can walk again, but sciatic pain lingers on. Compared to the searing pain and difficulty walking with a “dead” foot that just dragged along, it’s really more discomfort.
For me, it’s been:
Get moving!
An inversion table offers relatively temporary relief.
Lose weight.
Keep the “core” muscles strong and flexible.
Lose more weight.
Keep moving!
Yep, that’s me alright. Except I would modify it to say I can walk uphill for hours. Downhill is worse. My hypothesis is that the uphill stride naturally stretches my calves and hamstrings, while the downhill stride relaxes them. But standing still is by far the worst.
You found your own solution and that is to keep active. Rest is not helpful except in the acute phase. You may seem fit and not overweight, but how strong are your back muscles. I have a herniated upper disk and discovered that using 10# hand weights to do “fly” exercises has kept me out of pain for decades. I also discovered that push-ups were somehow good for my lower back. I quit doing sit-ups and crunches to avoid a hernia and groin pulls. I suggest you keep experimenting with small weights and exercises until you find what works for you. I’m sold on non-surgical answers.
Sounds like my back issues are minor compared to other poster, but I definitely injured my back by lifting something waaayyy too heavy about 18 yrs ago, and I get occasional flare-ups of pain. I really had problems when I was getting my MBA, because all day sitting at work, then all night sitting at school for 3 nights, plus Saturdays. Inactivity caused major problems for me and ended up sending me to physical therapy.
Stretching is key, but I also have an inversion table, and try to use it regularly. It feels so good to really stretch! The PT said that it was important to build core muscle strength, so abdominal strengthening exercises. I haven’t done those, but should.
Husband also has back problems and his are much worse, mainly because his jobs always involve a great deal more physicality. He loves the inversion table and uses it daily. That along with the back straps when he has to do some heavy lifting and he has stayed relatively pain free for a while.
Edit: agree with the “sitting on haunches” trick - I do that when gardening or puttering around the house.
I have a grade-2 spondy at L5/S1. What helps me are epidurals…about every three months or so.
I’ve gone though all of the narcotics up to oxycodone. It doesn’t take the pain away; it just makes you not care as much that it hurts. But, for me, it makes sleep impossible. Darn it.
Without epidurals I’d be disabled.
I’ve been offered surgery, but that ain’t happeining until I can’t walk.
I went to the doctor a couple of years ago with a bad back (couldn’t sit, stand or walk, had to take a cab six blocks to the clinic) . Her advice mirrors what has been said so far, plus lots of Tylenol. Afterward, the nurse brought me a cane, adjusted it and showed me how to use it and I was feeling better before I hit the street. Some back pain is helped by supporting one leg by using a cane. When back pain hits (usually by carrying too much weight), I can often get relief by using the cane for a day or two.
Al Bundy - good point about core strength. I am actually extremely strong, but I’m sure I could benefit from more targeted work-outs. Several years ago, for about 18 months I belonged to a gym and worked out diligently…and during that time I don’t recall having a single bad episode.
Then I moved too far away from that gym for it to be worth the cost…but really I ought to get off my arse and join a gym, start working out again. There’s a 24-hour Fitness franchise not far from me…
I know I could do it at home but I’m not motivated here…extra time I tend to spend walking or biking with the dogs.
In 1995 I injured my right sacro-iliac joint, and it hasn’t been right since. My PT says she suspects I have permanent joint degeneration, but there’s no point doing an MRI or anything because the “prescription” would be the same. Here’s what I do to keep my back and butt from killing me:
Physical Therapy. There’s nothing like an individualized plan by an expert. I don’t go to her anymore, but I keep doing my exercises.
PILATES. This was recommended by my PT, and I got one-on-one training with an instructor at the PT office. It is the single biggest thing that helps me. It only takes 5-10 minutes a day, and even beginner moves really help. I’m not a superfit skinny person by any stretch of the imagination, but I can do these exercises.
Warming/stretching. As you say, activity helps keep things working. I try to walk every day, to get things moving and warm at least. And then I stretch. Most important for the back is hamstrings and piriformis, and I need to do my psoas major at least every once in a while so it doesn’t pull my pelvis out of alignment.
Massage. My muscles tend to tightness, and to bunching up in a cocoon of fascia tissue so they can’t move independently. Medical massage hurts like hell as she breaks that stuff up and tenderizes me, but it helps immensely.
Orthotics. Having your gait assessed and corrections made if necessary can help. Gait problems can cause problems in your back easily.
Stand with your legs even with your shoulders, feet turned outward so they form a right angle.
Crouch down, thighs touching calves, holding your hands together in front of you.
Let your head relax and go foward.
Hold this position for 30 seconds to a minute.
Stand up.
An alternate method:
Get on your knees.
Move down so your thighs touch your calves, arms in front of you.
Stay this way for a minute or so.
Roll onto your side and get up.
If standing bothers you, find a way to get one foot higher than another. There’s a reason why there used to be a brass rail in taverns – if you stood with one foot on the rail, you’d be able to stay at the bar longer. Find ways to create your own “brass rail” when standing.
I’ve had a lot of back pain issues practically since I was a kid but I’ve never had an MRI to confirm if I have bulging discs etc to thank for it. I’ve read a fair bit about back pain, and it seems a bit mysterious. Some people with physical problems have no pain, other people with no evidence of slipped discs or anything else have awful pain, surgery works unpredictably…
Anxiety management, strength training (‘the big lifts’ with heavy weights/low reps), yoga (which both builds strength and helps my chronically stiff, tight muscles), running/walking/standing only in minimalist shoes (which changed the way my feet impact the ground, and the way the impact affects all my joint and my back) mostly cured mine.
I work on my feet so I really have to keep up with all this otherwise I hurt.
I’m a strong guy who hurt my back as well. Core strength is the easiest thing in the world to build. I apologize for being a broken record but I’m pushing again for you to check out Dr. McGill’s book. $50 is nothing to spend for a pain free back. If it’s good enough for Strongman competitors and SpecOps soldiers it’s good enough for you and me. The basics of his book are that core endurance will protect your back better than core strength and avoid spinal flexion exercises like crunches. There are better and safer ways to develop the core, including the abdominals. You need to get all the core muscles working like one unit (same as preventing rotator cuff injuries) but first you need to figure out what your particular problem is since there are so many things that can cause low back discomfort. I couldn’t walk for days at a time at one point, now I can do a full back bridge, handstands, etc. No pain at all.
Inversion table - this was what originally saved me. It gave me enough relief that I could get moving again. It also made me less afraid to try things, as I knew in 15 minutes I could re-set if necessary.
Very Gentle Stretching - Being a former ballerina (not that you’d know it to look at my big behind!) I was greatly overdoing the recommended stretches. Resist the urge to go over board with the exercises and stretches they give you. If it makes you grunt, that’s too hard, dial it back and be nice to your back.
Avoid stairs - No matter how good things are, if I try to go up or down stairs I’ll be back to square 2. Square 1 was laying helpless in a hospital bed, so by square 2 I mean just barely mobile.
Sit on a yoga ball. If you have trouble standing then your problem is different than mine. I do just fine standing and walking and laying down, but if I sit down I set up like concrete and I have to walk for awhile before the pain lets up. Sittign on the yoga ball at work has compeltely eliminated this. It also helps to build core strength, which is an extra added bonus.
Also: A warning about that pillow between your knees. If the pillow is also supporting your ankles throughout the night, then you’re golden, do that. But if your pillow is only between your knees when you wake up int he morning then you are doing more long-term damage. Just stopping that made about a 30% reduction in my pain after about a week. The long body pillow solved the problem.
HongKongFooey - bookmarked! The responses here are [del] nagging [/del] reminding me that I really must get back onboard with a good strength-training program. (I’m a strong woman, not guy, BTW.)
TruCelt, funny you say that about stairs; hopefully that is not really a problem for me because I’m a painting/decorative paint/plaster contractor and a whole lot of my day involves going up and down ladders…I’ve never noticed it being a problem, though.
Off to look into inversion tables…it’s something I’ve never tried. Also interesting point about the pillow-between-the-knees - knees only here, not ankles. Hmmm.
Twenty years ago, I never would have thought this would ever be an issue in my life - I am thin, fairly fit and have never to my knowledge had a discrete injury that might cause this. I am 53, FWIW.