Back Injury

[TrojanMonkey]

so I strained my lower back at the range. It has been terrible. I've hurt my upper back plenty and the recovery is pretty fast but this is the first lower back.

Two questions -
1. How long til it's better (already been two weeks and still popping vicodins like candy)

2. Any suggestions on some good stretches for future reference?

thanks in advance

 

[DaveE]

Depending on what you did to your lower back, muscle relaxers might work better than vicodin. You'd have to get an x-ray to know.

I've been through this a few times and there's no way to know how long it will take to feel better. I've been doing excercises for my back for a few months now and it's helping but there's still pain sometimes. I also bought one of those lumbar pillows for $7. Best money I've spent on this.

The link below shows some recommeded excercises from the spine clinic I went to. Some of these can relieve pain while you're doing them and others will help strengthen your back over time. The other thing my doctor said to do was walk. It helps increase blood flow to your lower back and will help ease the pain. I prefer running to walking and that helps too even though it seems like it would make it worse.

http://www.spineaustin.com/l_back.html

 

[Farquod]

Two recent studies have just been published on exercise and back pain. One was published today in Annals of Internal Medicine, touting the benefits of yoga:

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/143/12/849

Another a couple of weeks back noted that ancillary exercise--like the running and walking Dave was talking about, was more effective in alleviating pain than back exercises. Unfortunately, I can't find the link for this one.

From personal experience, core exercises, particularly those using a Swiss ball, can be very helpful. These might have to wait until after the pain is gone, tho.

I found that all of the standard back stretches were helpful to me when mine was hurting. Here's a link that just adds a few more stretches to Dave's list:

http://www.nismat.org/orthocor/programs/lowback/backex.html


Good luck with it. It's a bitch.