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Asking to see if anyone have advice to how they cope with back injuries . Lately mine has become so unbearable
its pretty much constant pain whether i stand sit or sleep.

Basically a few years ago i hurt my back during snow boarding , the pain went away after a week or so , thus i never went to the doctor.
Then i realized that my neck seems abit slanted no matter how i stand so i went to chiropractor. For a few months it feels better after the weekly
visit , but usually after the next day , its back to the usual pain.

I have been doing physiotherapy this time for a month now, the doctor said my back is 100% back to its position now,
but there will be constant pain because the muscle around the bone is so used to the wrong position .
So basically now im getting constant muscle spasms and cramps . Should i take pain killers? or that tylenol back pain medicine on tv commercial lol ...

Sounds like you should just listen to your doctor. Honestly, it was foolish (and I'm just making an observation here) not to go to a doctor when you first injured your back.

As to making it better... well, I'll ask my mother about that when I get home this afternoon. She slipped a disc in her back not long before I was born and has lived with it for nearly 17 years; it gets very sore when she's been working all day (she's a nurse in the day surgery unit at the major public hospital here) and she has to take specialised painkillers every single day or live with a constantly sore back.

Being tall luna ive allways had back problems, by now im pretty much used to it and tend to ignore it to some extent, but before then i used to just take cocodamol or generally anything with a high codine content as it worked.

I actually tried accupuncture (sp?) but it actually made it worse lol.

You're never too you young for an addiction to morphine. Or vicodin if you dislike needles as much as I do.

Heat then cold. rinse repeat every hour. works wonders.

@ JD I have tried acupuncture , but $50 per visit to get rid of pain for 24 hours... i rather endure it ><

@Cheese , I DO listen to my doctor! I just never went to ONE after the injury... till year later

@Brook , well thats one reason why im hesitant to take medicines ( i dont really take medicine for anything )

@IVSD , i like the heating idea . But my family seem to have a hereditary back issue where exposure to the back with cold (fossilizes / petrifies forgot the exact name) the spinal colum .

@IVSD , i like the heating idea . But my family seem to have a hereditary back issue where exposure to the back with cold (fossilizes / petrifies forgot the exact name) the spinal colum .

lol, well then by all means the hotter the better. (really?no.....wait)
i was in a humv when an ied went off, so i can feel your pain. i still have probs with my back from time to time and i learned to stay away from meds.
the heat does help and believe it or not flexing the area or someones sweet hands digging into the bad spot really help.

Meh, atleast the acupuncture worked for you lol, mine just made it 100x worse.
Failing that and the codine, ive just had to put up with it and try to ignore it as much as i can.

I have a friend that had a roll of tarpaper dropped on his head from two stories up at a construction job we were working together. As a consequence, he's had back problems for years, but gets around the pain with workouts at the gym 6 days a week. The pain does not come back for him unless he starts missing workouts. The guy is about 6'4", so he's not exactly short.
Another friend of mine broke his back snowboarding and found also that regular workouts(rock climbing, etc.) are key to keeping the pain away. He is also a tall person. Neither do any drugs for pain because both don't have it that severly thanks to their regular workouts.
You could see what kind of things you could do along those lines in addition to the physiotherapy you're trying.

Relapse wrote:I have a friend that had a roll of tarpaper dropped on his head from two stories up at a construction job we were working together. As a consequence, he's had back problems for years, but gets around the pain with workouts at the gym 6 days a week. The pain does not come back for him unless he starts missing workouts. The guy is about 6'4", so he's not exactly short.
You could see what kind of things you could do along those lines in addition to the physiotherapy you're trying.

Forgive me for being ignorant, but what's tarpaper? Does it have a different name here or something?

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Relapse wrote:I have a friend that had a roll of tarpaper dropped on his head from two stories up at a construction job we were working together. As a consequence, he's had back problems for years, but gets around the pain with workouts at the gym 6 days a week. The pain does not come back for him unless he starts missing workouts. The guy is about 6'4", so he's not exactly short.
You could see what kind of things you could do along those lines in addition to the physiotherapy you're trying.

Forgive me for being ignorant, but what's tarpaper? Does it have a different name here or something?

http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&um=1&sa=1&q=tar+paper&btnG=Search+images&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Seems like rolls for roofs , in other words really heavy things he was lucky the neck didnt snap @_@

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Relapse wrote:I have a friend that had a roll of tarpaper dropped on his head from two stories up at a construction job we were working together. As a consequence, he's had back problems for years, but gets around the pain with workouts at the gym 6 days a week. The pain does not come back for him unless he starts missing workouts. The guy is about 6'4", so he's not exactly short.
You could see what kind of things you could do along those lines in addition to the physiotherapy you're trying.

Forgive me for being ignorant, but what's tarpaper? Does it have a different name here or something?

Tarpaper is what you roll out on a roof before you put down shingles to help with waterproofing. The stuff is heavy, and my buddy is lucky he didn't get his neck broken.

Never seen it before. Must be pretty solid when it's rolled up.

If you improve your back strength the pain should subside. What you're describing sounds like the result of atrophy. Basically, the muscles you should have been using were de-emphasized by whatever physical displacement occurred in your back. Train them back into shape and you should be fine.

I had a similar problem after mishandling a separated shoulder.

Also, listen to your doctor. Backs are delicate, and its best to run anything you want to try past him/her first.

Cheese Elemental wrote:Never seen it before. Must be pretty solid when it's rolled up.

Quite solid.

Yoga can help your back, depending on the position. Stretch it, then use something like a thermacare heatwrap to relax it.

If I recal, you said you were 16, correct?
In which case, try not to take asprin, as it can cause a serious allergic reaction from the ages of 13 to 19, if I remember what my doc told me.
Instead take acetamineophin(spelling?), which is safe.

Do some workouts to strengthen you're back muscles, should help.

Hope you feel better Luna!

Relapse wrote:Tarpaper is what you roll out on a roof before you put down shingles to help with waterproofing. The stuff is heavy, and my buddy is lucky he didn't get his neck broken.

Wow, that is terrible... Those rolls are easily a hundred pounds.

I have never been one to shy away from labor, but more often than not, carrying tarpaper up ladders with one arm is a straight up no go for me. Your buddy is lucky as hell to be able to walk straight.

My wife is a physiotheripist. but im not so take my advice with a grain of salt.
Id go to my doctor and talk about more physio till the muscles are back to normal, at the very least a physio will be able to give you tips and a regiment of excersises to quicken your recovery, and lessen pain. as for pills. well only what the doc says you can have.

Get a second opinion, doctors are human and they do make mistakes.


If it is just a muscle problem then all you have to do is work out the specific muscle groups that are weak until they can keep the other muscles from pulling your back out of alignment.


If you find that it is a disk / nerve problem you can look into Nerve Block (they give me about a month of relief)

In a month I am going to try an RF ablation (Thats were they take a hot needle and burn out the nerves), I will let you know how well that works out.

Clthomps wrote:In a month I am going to try an RF ablation (Thats were they take a hot needle and burn out the nerves), I will let you know how well that works out.

Ugh... i think we have nerve for good reasons , burning them out to block the pain isnt right!!

Clthomps wrote:(Thats were they take a hot needle and burn out the nerves)

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm NO.....
i was in a twisted burnt piece of scrap metal worndering if i was going to be able to walk again.
So no burning what few nerves i have left to me does not sound like a good way to go.
Besides the pain lets you know your still alive.

after years in the infantry and all those ruck marches and body armor I feel your pain luna. I honestly have had to just learn to deal with it at times because short of paying tons for a cyroprator(however thats spelled) your kinda screwed. If it is in the muscle's itself pain meds sadly is one of the few alternatives for pain relief as it needs to fix tiself, but if it is bones what have you then a doctor can help. Don't feel too bad though I broke both ankels in a parachute jump in the army when I was 18 almost 9 years ago, and because of it have full blown arthritis(no idea on that spelling).

I find that exercise is good. Build up the muscles in the back to give yourself extra support if you can.

Depending on where your back hurts, you could try sleeping with a collar/brace to see if immobilisation at night time helps. Quite a number of people who come through the department where I work at the hospital (Orthotics) are given such collars/braces to ease their pain through the daytime.

You could also try a TENS machine (or a dual TENS machine), which you can buy for around £20 (GPB). I have heard they can do great things for back pain.

As for heat/cold treatments, generally you want to heat the back when you are going to be moving about a lot, and cooling the back when you are staying still for long periods of time, or if you are swelling up, or getting significant pain.

Heating will encourage healing, cooling will block the pain and decrease swelling/etc.

Emp: Full kit marches take the piss mate, they really do.
Im with you on that one.

but as said luna, try different doctors, get a general opinion rather than a single one.

All joint problems of this type (meaning, joint problems which aren't caused by injuries internal to the joint such as arthritis) are helped by a strong balanced musculature which supports the joints.

Thus in general, exercise would be a good thing. Before starting, though, consult with doctor and physiotherapsit to ensure you are taught safe, effective exercises.

Kilkrazy wrote:All joint problems of this type (meaning, joint problems which aren't caused by injuries internal to the joint such as arthritis) are helped by a strong balanced musculature which supports the joints.

Thus in general, exercise would be a good thing. Before starting, though, consult with doctor and physiotherapsit to ensure you are taught safe, effective exercises.

you would make a great medical commercial on t.v

Empchild wrote:

Kilkrazy wrote:All joint problems of this type (meaning, joint problems which aren't caused by injuries internal to the joint such as arthritis) are helped by a strong balanced musculature which supports the joints.

Thus in general, exercise would be a good thing. Before starting, though, consult with doctor and physiotherapsit to ensure you are taught safe, effective exercises.

you would make a great medical commercial on t.v

Kilkrazy: Dakka's Own Billy Mays

I hate my back. I have knee problems, back pains, appendix pains, none of them can be treated, they are all hereditary. I watch Alien, (only one I have right now) and zombie moives, Dakka dakka, just to forget the pain. Pain killers don't work for me. I get hardly no sleep. (this only happens at night)