MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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By and large my lower back behaves these day but as is often the case, when I get some flu-like lurgy like now, my lower back moans like hell.
Been managing lower back pain for last 20 years or so. Originally put a disc out and since then have had periodic spasms.
Best advice I had was an amalgam of what is above, there's lots of easy day to day life things you can do to mitigate, namely the following:
- Get the right mattress. What this is depends on your weight and what position you sleep in. Very firm mattresses tend to be best for back sleepers. It's all about support in the right places
- Avoid putting your lower back under fairly constant low level stress, as follows
- If you're a side or a side/front sleeper, put a firm pillow between legs so that it is supporting your pelvis and midriff. This is because without it pelvis/midriff is essentially unsupported and is under strain the whole night. Adopting this was the single most beneficial thing that I did, went from not being able to put my socks on to going for a run in days.
- Invest in firm feather cushions for sofa. Always have 2 or 3 of these wedged under/behind your lower back. I tend to wedge into the corner of the sofa
- When driving or at desk make sure that whilst your back is straight from hips up, you're not sat at 90degrees, you want to have an angle more like 80 or 70 degrees. Laid back. When you can't do this (eg dining chairs), have your feet ticked back under the chair, underneath you. Where possible have your hip height above your knees.
- When getting in and out of cars, turn and sit first then swivel your legs
- Stretch your leg muscles every day, twice a day. However, no touching toes. Tight leg muscles exacerbate lower back pain
- If it spasms use ice. Lie flat on sofa/bed with ice pack underneath. A bad spasm might require a couple/few days of this. Failure to do this will mean weeks
- Lose weight, particularly if you're carrying it around the middle
- Do lower torso strengthening exercises, but be aware that these can often put strain on your lower back in the short term
Anything that promotes strength and flexibility (like yoga) is a good idea, as is a good physio. Treat chiros and osteos with caution. In my worst experience they've quacks, best they treat the symptom not the cause.
Best of luck, following those lifestyle hacks should help!
Been suffering for over 10 years with back injuries.
Sometimes I've been laid up for weeks not able to do much. But once the pain eases, the best thing I have found is regular stretching and core exercises. But keep at it.
Once you feel you are better its easy to forget or miss doing your stretching/core exercise for a day, which then turns into a week then a month etc then I'd hurt my back again. So I need to keep doing it often.
Tight hamstrings has always caused me problems, if I have poor flexibility in these and don't do stretching then I know I will be in pain in a few days time with my lower back.
I use to do a lot of heavy lifting, and found wearing a back support helps. This helps in 2 ways, gives a bit of support, but mainly acts as reminder to have good posture when lifting, makes me use knees more than bending my back.
Hope you get better soon
What fixes it? 2 x back ops, 5 fused vertebrae, daily stretching regime and daily dose of 2400mg of Gabapentin 6 x Ibuprofen and 6 x paracetamol (on top of the other 18 pills I take daily for a dodgy ticker - I’m like a friggin marracc