Sudden very sharp back pain

Same here. 1st time, it felt like my internal organs were being literally torn apart. If Death had shown up, I would have happily gone with him to end the pain. And I had a back injury that led to a temporary partial paralysis of my left leg. My back has given me a fair bit of grief over the past 20 years, but there simply is no comparison in terms of pain.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Anderson
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Ohhh, boy! Do you have pains shooting down your leg? (Usually just one.) If so, you've damaged a disc, and it is pressing on one of the nerve branches that come out of the spine. Generally, some rest, anti-inflammatory stuff and time will make it better.

If you don't have pain down a leg, then you may have torn or sprained some back muscle or ligament.

If you have crunched discs, then the damage is to some extent permanent, but over time they do heal, but the margin for heavy exertion is reduced before you aggravate it again. If it is muscular, it will heal, and you may not have long-lasting effects.

Been there, done that....

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

OK, well, there's your diagnosis - popped disc for sure. I have a buffet table in the dining room that is the perfect height for pushing up and getting the same effect. Lifting my upper body and letting my hips dangle for a minute helped me, too.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Iggy,

Backs are funny things. That could have resulted from stressing it some time well before it went out on you.

Long hot bath. Heating pad when you're not in the tub. Chiropractor for a few sessions. A really good one will tell you roughly how many sessions they think it'll take to square you away. No shortage of chiropractors that will keep you coming as long as they can. Been there, done that. The one that I went to when I injured my back years ago, I took to calling Dr Pain. To his face.

For me, deep muscle massage was the only thing I found that really worked. So long as I had one about every week, for several years. (not a bad thing really!) But wait until you're not hurting before trying that, and be sure to tell the masseuse about your back.

Electrostim gadgets can help too, but personally I don't enjoy the sensation of borderline electrocution...

One exercise you can do is to stand with your back to the wall. Tighten your gut muscles and straighten your lower back against the wall best you can. Be sure to breath while doing this, I was warned holding one's breath will cause blood pressure to skyrocket.

Couple years ago, I moved a 4000lb mill into my garage from about 8' out, and I have a very uneven driveway right in front of the house. No real problem. I've thrown my back out by simply turning my upper body and been in pain for days. If this recurs, pay attention to what you've been doing prior, see if you can't figure out what's causing it.

I suspect you stressed it, and something about your posture while driving, put things over the edge.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Back problems are no damned fun.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Anderson

Sounds like a bulging disc. You will need to tighten your abdominal muscles using excercises your chiropractor can advise. If the pain doesn't go away and it becomes excrutiating, you can have your doctor prescribe an epidural for temporary relief.

Reply to
Liz Pendens

No, a simple subluxated vertebra is much more common and immediately remedied. Discs seldom herniate while sitting in a pickup on a half hour drive. Don't scare the poor guy.

-- If only he'd wash his neck, I'd wring it. -- John Sparrow

Reply to
Larry Jaques

The hell they don't. If a disc is ready to go, it could have no symptoms at all...until it does. And the word "subluxated" can either mean "partially dislocated" or a variety of chiropractic mumbo jumbo.

That hanging straight on a pullup bar gave some relief sure sounds like a sign of disc issues. Iggy, you should go on youtube and look at videos on the "Alexander Technique" which focuses on simple things you can do to relieve this sort of stuff. BUT IF IT HURTS TO DO ANY OF THOSE THINGS, STOP IMMEDIATELY. The one thing you DON'T want to do is to make it worse. If the pain goes into your legs, you're talking sciatica, and there are different stretches for that. Again, there's good stuff on youtube, but use your head.

Remember, there are good chiropractors and those who will really hurt you. There are also good physical therapists and those who will hurt you. Somewhere out there is the worst doctor in the world, and you know what they call him?....."Doctor." Get yourself educated BEFORE you let someone f*ck you up.

I've had this on & off for the past 20 years. I recently had an MRI, and well, the report from the radiologist went on for two pages. Last month I was flat on my back for a week. Last week I was in traction. Today I am about 80% back to normal. I expect to be playing ice hockey with the neighborhood kids this summer.

Lastly, if anyone cares to talk about "intelligent design," let them try to explain the crappy piece of engineering that is the human spinal column. Maybe the design works OK for quadripeds, but not for those of us who walk on two feet. You're in good company. About 85% of the world's population has disc problems at some time in their life. Some more painful than others. They've done autopsies on little kids and seen the beginnings of disc herniation.

Reply to
rangerssuck

Muscle strains are far more common than herniated disks. It may be better in a couple of days, or it may take a few weeks. Once strained, you're at increased risk of having more of them. You don't have to be lifting something at the time to have them occur. Mine often occur the day AFTER I"ve been using my lower back muscles more than usual.

Those peel and stick hot packs, the giant version of what hunters use to keep their hands warm are helpful. Also Doan's pills (manesium salicylate instead of the usual sodium salicylate of aspirin) seem to help more than aspirin.

Unless you've got numbness in a limb or weakness in a group of muscles (can you stand on your toes on each foot, can you rock back on your heel and hold your forefoot up?), it's not likely to be a herniated disk.

RWL

Reply to
GeoLane at PTD dot NET

Very unlikely to be Iggy's problem, but about 10 weeks ago my dad was on an 8 inch step stool, taking a screw out of the kitchen wall before having the wall painted and he dumped himself off the stool. Landed on his feet. Next day, excrutiating pain. Went for Xrays and nothing showed up, so he went home. Next day even worse, and he went into shock. He was rushed to the hospital where he spent the next 8 weeks. They got his blood pressure back up, and his electrolytes straightened out and then started looking for the cause of his pain - and found a spinal compression fracture - then they started looking for the cause and found he has myeloma.. The pain was terrible, pain medication hardly touched it - so they did a kyphoplasty which almost immediately reduced the pain to a manageable level. Chemo knocked his kidneys out, so he was put on diallysis for 3 weeks - which has brought his kidney function back.

He's back home, hoping to be able to stay there and enjoy life for a little while longer.

The back injury may have been a lifesaver as they may have caught the cancer early enough to make treatment possible....

Just saying take care - and have it looked at by a QUALIFIED professional. There ARE good Chiro's out there, and a lot of Quacks. Knowing the difference can be difficult, and the difference can be the difference between a cure and a lifetime of pain and dissability.

Reply to
clare

A very simple thing you can do is "self traction." Either laying down or standing or sitting, imagine that there's a string coming out of the top of your head, and it's being pulled. Use your back and abdominal muscles to make yourself a little taller. That will have a similar effect to hanging from your pullup bar.

Your mother was right when she told you to stand up straight. It makes a difference.

OK - I Just found the Youtube series I was looking for. This guy knows his stuff, and what he says is pretty much the same as I've gotten from the best of the therapists and doctors I've been to:

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Reply to
rangerssuck

Not correct. You can have herniated discs with absolutely zero symptoms.

Reply to
rangerssuck

"Liz Pendens" wrote

Epidurals have been suggested for me. One third of the people I talked to said it made it worse. One third said it made it better. One third said it made no difference. I don't like a one in three chance.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

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Heart Surgery Survival Guide

Reply to
Steve B

Get yourself to a chiropractor, acupuncturist and massage therapist, as soon as possible. If he/she isn't helping in three sessions, find different one.

Most find relief in a few days to a few years. Almost everybody learns something from the pain and learns to do things differently for the rest of their lives.

Many contemplate suicide after a few months of the pain.

Use ice packs on the afflicted area to reduce the swelling of the pinched nerves.

This may have taken years and years to get to the bad alignment state you are in. It doesn't happen overnight.

All the best. You are now special, like many others.

----------------------

I'm 57 and had much the same thing happen 4 or 5 years ago... it was scary. Never had any back issues before or since.

In my case it was lower back and severe, no comfortable position, even in bed. Then just as suddenly as it appeared, it just 'went away' about midnight the second night. No rime or reason.

Hope your's goes away soon...

Erik

Reply to
Josepi

Technically that may be correct since CT / MRI can pick up herniated discs that are asymptomatic, but in Iggy's case he's symptomatic. Were you intending to warn him that an abnormal CT or MRI doesn't necessarily mean that it's that disk that's causing his symptoms?

RWL

Reply to
GeoLane at PTD dot NET

I didn't suggest that he get a CT or MRI. Pretty much EVERYONE has something wrong with their back, and those test really aren't very useful except in exctreme cases or when you have a baseline picture to compare to.

Reply to
rangerssuck

"Ignoramus29059" wrote in message news:CIadnQZbz_CKpTbQnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

I:

Diagnosis by remote viewing exceeds my capacity.

But let me give you a reference that you will find refreshingly analytical, systematic and on point. Go to Amazon. Look for "The Back Book". As there may be more than one claimant to that simple title, look for the one with the highest customer rating much as I am convicted that the particular volume in question merits it.

You will see a review of particular problems, discussion of therapies, rates of patient satisfaction according to specialist type and procedures undergone, excercises and techniques for injury prevention and clear language without mystic claims or miracle boosterism. If your digestion of the book fails my recommendation, send me the bill for your outlay.

My back is fine, though the temporary inspiration in aftermath of hefting a 250 pound crate was a significant driver to insure that it remains that way, particulary after long witness of folks bent or wincing with chronic pain.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Reply to
Edward Hennessey

Jon, thanks, it is much better today, it is the first day when I do not have major discomfort.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus29323

YEAH! When I screwed up my back some years ago, I had a Toyota Corolla. Normally, the seat didn't bother me any, but when my back was in bad shape, that seat could leave me practically crippled after driving to/from work. I rolled up a jacket and set it in the angle between seat- and back-part of the car seat, and it helped immensely. It just changed the tilt of my pelvis when sitting there, and made a big difference.

Anyway, I hope Iggy's back is starting to clear up, it was NO FUN when I had that problem. I just lived with it, and it got essentially completely better, but I have to watch out to not overstress whatever it is there that is now a weak spot.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Look like no major disk damage then. They can take months to years to get relief.

All the best with it!

-----------------

i
Reply to
Josepi

I HOPE he went to see a chiro. Most back problems don't just clear up on their own.

-- Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air... -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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