Damn lower back, if you're gong to blow it out.....

[Dens228]

First off, I've never had back problems other than some stiffness every once in a while like everyone else.

Yesterday was chest/biceps, with no stiffness anywhere and getting ready for a good workout. I bent over to pick something up and BAM, massive low back spasm that literally knocked me to the ground. My wife was sleeping two floors above me. It took me 30 minutes to get to the stairs and I was done, I pounded on the stairs for a few minutes which got her up and running.

It took some work on her part but she convinced me to go to the ER. That was a long trip, both to the car and to the hospital. Once there the staff was great.. Two doses of morphine (first experience there) and valium, and something else and I was able to leave a couple hours later. My wife took some hilarious video of me on the morphine with her phone.

Of course the morphine had me puking everything up yesterday so I'm a day behind on the meds, I'm on an anti-inflammatory, a muscle relaxant, and am supposed to take norco but I'm not taking it.

By the end of yesterday I could stand up straight, and walk bent over. This morning I woke up and could barely move but now I can walk upright like a human!

I've been stretching it out within reason and walking a little, I get tired fast and don't want to have a set-back. I'm leaving on a long family trip Wednesday, 7 hour drive and need to be good to go.

Any other suggestions are welcome..........

I guess I'll skip my next couple of workouts.

 

[Bio]

I feel your pain! I've dealt with this for over 20 years!! I had a failed back surgery 14 years ago!! Try Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium...I'll have to look up the mg's for each...It makes a difference!! These three have helped me out incredibly with the spasms!!

 

[buffone77]

I feel your pain! I've dealt with this for over 20 years!! I had a failed back surgery 14 years ago!! Try Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium...I'll have to look up the mg's for each...It makes a difference!! These three have helped me out incredibly with the spasms!!

calcium,magnesium and potassiun is key

 

[BigRick82]

Inversion table really helps my lower back problems.

 

[sbc5966]

Heating pad while sleeping also makes a difference for me.

 

[BigJB]

Bump on the inversion table

 

[GeauxDATY]

I injured mine 8 days ago and still can't stand up straight with out pain. My Dr. told me that because my back muscles are so strong it's causing me much more pain than a "normal" person when my muscles spasm. The Oxy and Flexeril are keeping me somewhat comfortable but makes me lazy as hell. I hope you get better soon.

 

[Pharm_Fed]

A couple months ago I was doing squats and got too low and my sacrum curled under and I couldn't walk for a week. Pinched a disc. It was rough. I went to the chiropractor everyday that week and EOD the next week which helped a lot.

One this the chiro did was use electrical stimulation to get the muscle to relax. Similar to a TENS device but stronger, I was using it set around 35mA I believe. If you have access to something like that it may help.

With all the good reviews on inversion tables I may look at getting one of those though. I don't think they're too expensive.

 

[Dens228]

I'm e bee. Hanging g from a hyper bench a few times today. I'll add the sups and heating pad at night. I've used that a couple times today too.

 

[bRIAN617]

Use a chiro if you want... if it's not getting better after awhile or is recurring, get the chiro to get you an MRI. Maybe you'er lucky and didn't herniate a disc....

 

[Jarconis]

Good luck trying to sit on a toilet

 

[LilMac]

7 Hr drive is not going to be fun for you! Hopefully the wife will drive for you and you can lay out to avoid inflaming it and having a setback..Last time I hurt mine I had to take a 12 hr flight a week later.. Not a good time! I've found working on hamstring flexibility helps A LOT with my lower back pain / stiffness.. May be something for you to attempt as well, best of luck recovering.

 

[Dens228]

Thanks for the replies. I added in taurine, this morning I woke up almost feeling normal. Stiff but I could walk right away.

I guess it's good to be a young 48!

 

[phatrr]

Sorry brother - hate it when shit like that sidelines you.

I use a Thumper Equine Pro massager when I get really tight spots, whether that be lower back, legs, traps, arms...whatever. I've tried a lot of different drugs, a lot of different therapy modalities, and I keep coming back to this.

**broken link removed**


They're pricey, but out of all the shit I bought for prehab/rehab, this is the one thing that I wouldn't give up, and I've gone through periods where it gets daily use. I've had mine for 3 or 4 years now.

Best of luck in healing up.

 

[Dens228]

Woke up this morning, went to my sons baseball games, they won in extra innings, my back feels normal. Now I'm smart and old enough to know it's not but it feels good to feel good!

I'm sure three muscle relaxers a day helps LOL

 

[Shadow345]

let me ask you this, what preventative work do you do? I have had a lot of lower back issues. The only way I prevent reinjuring it is by
1. making sure my form is PERFECT - no tucking in a squat, no rounding in any hip hinged position, don't substitute thoracic extension with thoraco-lumbar extension or hyper extension in the lumbar from improper glute activation
2. Maintain joint mobility throughout the entire body (and i don't mean stretching only) with a huge emphasis on ankles, hips and thoracic spine. Also I don't suggest stretching your lower back once it is healthy again.
3. Work the core through multiple pathways with the only flexion movement coming from a reverse crunch type of exercise. These include anti extension, anti flexion, anti rotation, anti lateral flexion.
4. Soft tissue work especially to glute/hips, adductors, rectus femoris/quads, psoas, erectors
5. Proper muscle activation before any of my big lifts (huge focus on glute activation, lower trap activation, psoas activation)
6. Proper breathing technique - are you breathing through your chest and shoulders? If so, STOP. Breath through your diaphragm (its not in your chest it contracts down into the belly region) Especially during big lifts, a good cue is get fat or fill the tire around your waist. This may sound silly and a waste of time, but if you look at the research this plays a HUGE role in posture

just some ideas. Being a powerlifter/strongman I am always at a huge risk of hurting myself... and i have a few times not only during exercise but through a car accident. The last thing I need is to get reinjured because up until now every time it happens (depending on how bad it is) you essentially have to start from square one.

 

[Dens228]

I competed for years in powerlifting.
Always worked my core, stretched religiously, warmed up thoroughly.

For the last few years I've even gotten better at listening to my body and tailoring things as needed to avoid worsening injuries.

I think this was just one of those things. If I had leaned the other way to bend over, waited another few seconds to change the music, anything, I may have not gone through this. But I did, I'll deal, I'll overcome.

 

[hongthaomurphy]

Gona hav to try an inversion table sometime

 

[discohornet]

be careful with all the inversion table talk fellahs.

The problem here is that a tight back feels like something you want to pull on and stretch. But the reality is that it's often a hip muscle like the psoas that is in spasm, and it's usually on one side. So you get into an inversion table, then relax, and the side that is in spasm stays in spasm, the side that's not loosens up and you have an uneven torgue on the spine, leading to - you guessed it - more spasm.

I have also learned after years of dealing with back issues, that mine's not so much an issue of spinal degeneration as it is muscular adhesions. A good ART practitioner has done a lot for me, and doing all the other things mentioned earlier are also crucial - ankle hip mobility etc.

Without MRI's I can't say for sure but I am willing to bet the OP is suffering from a pulled hip or QL muscle, and that can often come about as a result of dehydration, or just plain sitting too much at a deskjob. But the answer is not to buy an inversion table because your problem isn't decompression of discs, it's relaxation of some very stiff, if not scarred, connective or muscle tissue in the low back or hip area.