Lower back disc pain

[Cameron.25]

I herniated my bottom 2 discs on my left side and neglected it for about 8 months due to completely tearing a quad muscle shortly after which was more pressing. I struggled for years with every typical treatment except surgery to no avail. Eventually i just started running and working out again and now i have more WAY more good days than back days. I try to stretch more too. Seems like once or twice a year it just tweaks wrong and im down for a few days still. But mostly pain free 99% of the time these days. Good luck with your pain it was a 5 year struggle for me, took ibuprofen like candy round the clock just to get through the day

 

[Wapiti66]

So a question for you guys that use the inversion table/rack.
How often do you use it and for how long.
I use mine when needed and for about five minutes.
Curious to see if I should use it more?

My PT said I could do it daily for up to 10 minutes. the table I use isn’t at my house so I don’t do it that much but would like to.

 

[Southern Heritage]

7 herniated or bulged discs DD, stenosis, etc. I hurt everyday. Stood too long today and legs started going numb. Drive too long my left arm goes numb and cramps up. Try to wear a helmet my neck cramps up and creates fissure pain in my skull.

Does it suck .. yup
Does any one get why I'm so testy, nope.
Do my kids care and not jump on me when I'm in pain. HA!

Worst part is that working out is a time bomb. It's great until something gets aggravated, then 2-6 more months to convince myself to try and get in shape again.

FYI, tearing a rib from your sternum isn't fun either.

Me and you are twins

 

[.577NE]

I feel for the OP, literally and figuratively.

Last year I bought a Schwinn IC3 bike, that I ride one hour each evening. The stretching that comes naturally while biking, reduced my backpain to a large degree, plus I burn over a 1000 calories.

 

[Boydo90]

Also curious about the inversion rack.

 

[Mt Al]

Went to a very experienced PT on Monday. He listened to my tale of back pain misery, showed me exactly what's going on with his spinal model, gave me some stretches, told me to get going and "NO ELK FOR YOU!" if I didn't take it seriously. After only four days of doing half of what he told me to do, I'm already feeling serious pain relief in one area, noticeable relief in another and am very encouraged that things might get back to normal.

 

[Jacobo2012]

Lower back pain is the worst I had my first bad flare up in 2017 and have had on and off pain since more so on then off. Got a mri and was told it’s a herniated disc and spinal stenosis
Shitty part is I’m only 27
I do have really tight hamstrings all the time and should probably stretch more


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gbflyer]

After 10 days on the floor, crawling to the bathroom, my wife helping me out with that too, I also went under the knife. I had to lay on the floor at the doctors office. They get a lot of bullshitters looking for pain pills but they figured out real quick I wasn’t one of them. Of course the insurance makes you try an epidural first, blaa blaa. Worked until the IV drugs wore off.

Best thing I ever did. I’ll never be 100% but I’ll take the 95% over having my wife wipe my ass for me any day.

 

[Robertham1]

Just to reinforce what many people have already said- stretching and core strength.

We have a guy at work who’s 62 and has some pretty big back issues. Hates taking shots, but sometimes it’s all that can be done. He’s always stretching. Not his back, but more so his hips and hamstrings. He’s a full on believer.

 

[OutHeavy]

When your hip flexors, IT band and hamstrings are tight it can present as excruciating lower back pain that will wake you up from a dead sleep, or worse keep you up all night. This stretch changed my life. Get a jump rope, resistance band or even a length of paracord. Sit on the ground with your feet straight out in front of you. Loop the rope/band over one foot. Lay back, flat on the ground. Keeping your legs straight use the rope to pull your looped foot straight up over your head. When you get to the point where it starts to really pull your hamstring to the point of being uncomfortable don't bend your knee. Keep your leg straight and loosen the resistance just a bit. Hold it there for a count of 20. Using the rope/band for resistance, slowly allow your straight leg to fall to one side across your body. Your hips will need to roll to allow for this and if you're not limber your shoulder opposite your leg is going to come up off the ground a little. Add resistance by pulling on the rope/cord again until you really feel it in your hamstring. Hold for a count of 20. Lift your straight leg back up and allow it to fall to the other side, essentially "opening up" your hips. Add resistance and hold for 20. Repeat the whole process with your other leg. (Probably a youtube video for this somewhere.). My lower back pain was bad enough to keep me awake at night and I thought for certain I needed back surgery. After doing this religiously for a couple of weeks my back pain was gone. If I don't stretch it comes back but quickly retreats when I start the stretching again. I hope this works for you.

 

[bwidrick]

I have degenerative disk and this helps out quite a bit.

12 Minute Livestrong Workout w/Eric - Complimentary

12 Minute Livestrong Workout w/Eric - Complimentary

stream.foundationtraining.com

For what it's worth, the stretching in the above video has taken almost 100% of my lower back pain away...and I'm only doing maybe the first minute worth of the video. Back pain been nagging me for months.

I'm becoming a believer in stretching as a key. This has worked for me, but many of the others mentioned in other posts are likely just as effective.

 

[Okhotnik]

Lower back pain is the worst I had my first bad flare up in 2017 and have had on and off pain since more so on then off. Got a mri and was told it’s a herniated disc and spinal stenosis
Shitty part is I’m only 27
I do have really tight hamstrings all the time and should probably stretch more


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hip flexor stretches in addition to ham strings

 

[Okhotnik]

This has helped a lot with lower back pain after being hit by a car twice in my life plus 100 hip bridges a day. Lie on a Russian applicator too when have lower back spasms

It has really helped deal with pain for me.

 

[Finch]

Anyone here have left arm and left leg tingling? It's been happening more frequently here lately. I have some lumbar pain but nothing dehabilitating. I can feel the tightness in my lower back when getting out of my truck or bending over sometimes.

I've also had pain between the shoulder blades but I think that was more muscular due to hunching over a desk at work. It's gone now but my leg tingling is happening every day now.

 

[TxxAgg]

Anyone here have left arm and left leg tingling? It's been happening more frequently here lately. I have some lumbar pain but nothing dehabilitating. I can feel the tightness in my lower back when getting out of my truck or bending over sometimes.

I've also had pain between the shoulder blades but I think that was more muscular due to hunching over a desk at work. It's gone now but my leg tingling is happening every day now.

Look up C6/C7 disc in the neck. I had tingling down my arm and pain under my shoulder blade. Eventually couldn't use my tricep and my right arm was 1/3 smaller than my left. I had to have my disc replaced. That was in August, but I'm back to normal now.

 

[Finch]

Look up C6/C7 disc in the neck. I had tingling down my arm and pain under my shoulder blade. Eventually couldn't use my tricep and my right arm was 1/3 smaller than my left. I had to have my disc replaced. That was in August, but I'm back to normal now.

Thanks. Just read a bit about it. I believe my issues stem from landing on my right shoulder after a fall and tearing my AC ligament. I haven't been the same since. I can feel tightness in my sternum and can pop it. Loud enough for others to hear. Constantly needing to crack my neck and back. A foam roller has helped some but now this damn leg and arm tingling.

 

[Bighorse]

I'm a 20 yr MRI and CT Technologist. I've seen it all! From wild aggressive tumors, congenital abnormalities, spinal infections, and the Degenerative stuff.

I'm not gonna issue med advice on this forum.

I'll be here with a smile and sound technical abilities should you need care though. I feel for anybody struggling for wellness. Life is hard. Don't be reckless with your meat truck gentlemen!

 

[Fatcamp]

Fair enough, I agree with your basic assessment. I will always think chiropractic adjustments is pure snake oil though. Unless the research one day reverses that thinking but currently there is nothing to suggest anything of the sort. The placebo effect is one hell of a drug though.

LOL. My pain had nothing to do with my imagination and my chiropractor fixed it for sure. He is a great asset.

As far as your statements concerning flexibility you are talking in absolutes which is never a good idea. Plenty of benefits to having good balance, range of motion, and flexibility.

Stretching and injury prevention: an obscure relationship - PubMed

It is generally accepted that increasing the flexibility of a muscle-tendon unit promotes better performances and decreases the number of injuries. Stretching exercises are regularly included in warm-up and cooling-down exercises; however, contradictory findings have been reported in the...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

About 2 times a year I get disc pain in my lower back that makes enjoying life pretty tough. This last time was the result of throwing my pack on my back with only about 35 lbs. Not sure what happened but it immediately started hurting and the next day I couldnt bend over to tie my boots. With time, it gets better but never seems to go away completely. It seems like whenever I hurt my back it takes less and less to throw it out. Im 31 years old, work out 3-4 times a week and am not at all overweight. I have struggled with back pain my whole life. Anyone on here have similar issues or have suggestions on how to prevent this type of injury?

I didn't read any replies so forgive me if I'm repeating anyone, but are you sure it's low back or disc? I had very similiar issues and it recently got to the point where the pain never went away fully and got severe at work. Turns out, it was my mid back, and it felt like low back and a disc as the pain started to spread.

Doing physical therapy right now and dry needling therapy. Basically, my thorasic spinal area was soo stiff, it was locking up my neck and low back. If it's a disc, you would have a lot of numbness and not able to do much they told me.

I was feeling a lot of low back pain at the gym, at work, sitting too long, any kind of backpacking, even a rifle slung over my shoulder.

Sorry if someone had mentioned it, only have a minute before I leave and wanted to post my experience to maybe save ya some time and money.

 

[hoyt642]

I also have 2 discs exploded last year and every outing since has cost me. So i went to visit my Doctor and after multiple scan and X-ray I'll be getting a microdisectomy in my lumbar at th end of this month.... The pain sucks for real