Horrible back pain.... NEED H (Page 1)

Listen to your body, it is telling you not to do this. This suggests it is disc pain as:
1) Discs bulge towards the back and then to one side (this then causes leg as well as back symptoms). Bending forward is making the disc bulge MORE so you feel more pain (and could be injuring yourself more as well).
2) Your symptoms are WORSE in the morning. Discs are hygroscopic. This means they fill up with fluid when you lie horizontally - sleep - at night. This extra fluid goes down within 1/2 to 1 hour after getting up but you need to be extra careful not to bend forward first thing in the morning.
3) Sounds like you are young. Disc problems are more common in young people than over 50.

Being active can loosen things up so you temporarily feels better. As you feel WORSE after, I would suggest listening to your body and not do this. There are better options. If you like swimming, and it does not make you feel worse, then keep at it.

To really FIX your back injury, try these three and tell me if you feel better:

1) "Static extension on elbows" (Do a Google search)
2) "Static back position" (Do a Google search)
2a) "Static Back Knee Pillow Squeezes". Put a pillow or Yoga block between your knees and gently squeeze / release / squeeze for 2 seconds at a time.
2b) You can do 2a in a seated position.
3) "Seated hip abductor press"
- Sit on a hard surface with your thighs horizontal to the ground. Wrap a yoga strap or belt around your legs just above your knees.
- Press outwards against the strap and as you do so, let your hips roll forward. This should put an arch into your lower back.

Try these and let me know if they help.

Your back is going back out of joint again. This will happen less and less as your discs heal.

What I like to do after "static extension on elbows" is to do the static back position but:
1) Put a 1-2" diameter rolled up towel under my back - just below the beltline.
or
2) use two foam balls the size of a baseball hardball. I like this better as I can work them around to the tight spots.

You can do them as soon as the pain comes back - maybe every hour. You will know if you are overdoing it because THESE exercises will start hurting your back.

It takes 3 minutes for the discs to start to move so you should hold them for 2-3 minutes at a minimum. Use your pain as a guide - listen to your body.

You can add in similar exercises for some variety like #3 above.
Also stretching your hips should help and may be what caused the pain when you were walking.

Here are some good ones:

- "Progressive groin stretch" (DO a Google search)

- "Standing quad stretch" (D0 a Google search)
- It works much better if you put the top of the bent leg on a table, not hold in your hand.

- "Hip Flexor Stretch - the Lunge". Try putting the front leg up on the stairs for a better stretch.

- If you are very motivated: "Front splits". Front leg is straight, back knee has a pillow under it for padding.

Not really. You can try lying on your back on the ball and arching over the ball. It's pretty aggressive for your current condition.

I would also suggest that when you sit, you use a rolled up towel or McKenzie Lumbar Cushion (do a Google search) behind your lower back so you keep and arch in your lower back.

My favorite is "The Original McKenzie Airback TM Inflatable Roll #706". Its narrow profile fits your lower back better and you can inflate it to suit and then deflate it to nothing and put it in your pocket.

Sitting is horrible for your back. Your lower back tends to round (just like when you brush your teeth) and the discs starts to bulge towards the back. When the discs tear, they don't have the strength to hold the arch in your lower back so you need some support. As least until they heal and maybe all the time to prevent relapses.

Doing the #3 above will strengthen your hips muscles to rotate your hips forward, automatically putting an arch into your back. Once you get the distortion out of you back, it will feel very natural and you will be able to balance with the arch in you lower back and not need any muscles to do it.

Also right after doing #3, lift one knee up, while keeping your hips rolled forward. This will strengthen your hip flexors which also put an arch into you lower back when sitting.

If this is uncomfortable, just lift the leg up and down with your toes on the ground. But DO NOT use your foot to lift the leg, it's only there as a helper until your hip flexors get strong enough to do it on their own.


My favorite is "The Original McKenzie Airback TM Inflatable Roll #706". Its narrow profile fits your lower back better and you can inflate it to suit and then deflate it to nothing and put it in your pocket. Well worth the $10.29 at Amazon.

I'm not sure what the doc is trying to accomplish. It sound pretty aggressive for your brother.What happened to him?

For your condition, don't push your shoulders forward (rounded forward). Let the pressure push your shoulders BACK - into extension.

Also, just do what the doc said, but stand up with your arms at your side. Put the toe of the back leg up against heel of your front foot - squeeze.
This will strengthen you hip adductors - a very good thing.

Those expensive sleep by the numbers mattress may help. A regular air mattress could make you worse.

Assuming you are sleeping on your side, you want to keep your spine in a straight line. A good mattress will allow just enough depression for your shoulders and hips so your spine is straight. Have your brother look at your spine when you lie on your side.

This doesn't have to hurt. Do a Google search for:

1) Hip hinge
and
2) Counter stretch.
- You should let your lower back arch like the "static extension on elbows"

Also try to pull your shoulders back. This will help keep your lower back from rounding.

*** Thoracic extension = lumbar extension ***

I can only guess, but it sounds like a muscles spasm where the muscles locked up. If a hot shower of heating pad helps, you know its muscular. If ice helps, you know its inflammation.
Because sitting gave you relief, I think your hip flexors are tight or imbalanced. When you straighten your legs, the hip flexors get tight. When you bend you legs, like sitting, they relax - and YOU got relief.

This imbalance won't go away on its own. You have to stretch out your hips like:
1) Progressive groin stretch.
or, tougher
2) Font splits. Use a chair on each side for support and a pillow under your back knee.
- you have to keep your hips squared off and pointing towards the front.
- Most all videos show people open their hips to the side. This is cheating so they go all the way to the floor.

I do not know if you want the LONG explanation so I will try to be brief as possible:

People have herniated discs in their lower back from sneezing. But sneezing is a violent muscular contraction which does not sound like what you went through.
Because of your young age, the long duration of pain, and the pain your get from bending forward, sounds like your discs (the ligaments that hold the bones - vertebra- in place) tore.
Because this happened when you were walking, I would guess either one or both of your hip flexors (psoas muscle which raises the leg) is tight. It is worse if one leg is tight because this twists your hips and lower back.
Discs are only half as strong when twisted compared to compressed (lift heavy weight) or bent (plain front/back bending). This is because half the disc fibers spiral right to left. The other half spiral left to right as they attach to the bones above and below. So when you twist your lower back (which happens if your hip flexors are uneven) only half of the disc is there to resist the twisting.

I know your hips are twisted and muscles are imbalanced because you said you got a twinge of back pain when your squeezed the pillow between your knees. Even if you heal okay know, this will probably come back to bite you when you get old you when you combine the natural deterioration of aging with the weakness you already have.

It's okay if you say these few exercises have not fixed all your pain. You need an exercise for each cause of the pain. There could be 5 or 10 muscles that are out of balance.