Back spasms???!
Question: i have a problem. but this occurs only a few times. well. my back has this stinging sensation when i play basketball. like i said, it occurs onnly a few times. maybe.... 1 once every 2 weeks. i am very active i play basketball football run and im in the basketball team but this has nvrr happened in a game. but at home i take jump shots and run A LOT and my back starts to hurt. i think its back spasms but i dont know. even though it only happens a little, it hurts a lot and i cant play basketball for that one day [which is a lot for me] it occurs then goes away after 5-10 mins then if i play again. it happens again. i think something might be wrong with my back. so wut do yu thinkk?
by the way. im 13
Answers: i have a problem. but this occurs only a few times. well. my back has this stinging sensation when i play basketball. like i said, it occurs onnly a few times. maybe.... 1 once every 2 weeks. i am very active i play basketball football run and im in the basketball team but this has nvrr happened in a game. but at home i take jump shots and run A LOT and my back starts to hurt. i think its back spasms but i dont know. even though it only happens a little, it hurts a lot and i cant play basketball for that one day [which is a lot for me] it occurs then goes away after 5-10 mins then if i play again. it happens again. i think something might be wrong with my back. so wut do yu thinkk?
by the way. im 13
Back spasms are very common in active people. The symptoms that you describe are very consistent with muscular spasms. Usually what happens is one of the muscles (in your back in this case) gets injured, and then goes into a protective contraction. That hurts, I think, because the spasm pinches the local nerves. At any rate, it takes time for the muscle to completely heal (think of muscle as composed of many small fibers, like a rope. When you injure it you tear some of the small fibers. They usually heal with scar tissue, which is not very flexible and actually weaker than the original, uninjured muscle). If you do not allow the muscle to heal before returning to activity, the muscle is very susceptible to reinjury (with more spasms-which do stop you from continuing activity and further injury, so I guess they DO serve some purpose).
What to do about it? Educate yourself more on the subject. Cease basketball for a little bit until you get ahead of this problem. If the pain is there right now, hot water bags and ibuprofen (motrin, advil) are helpful. With the medicine, get your folks permission first. Try one 200mg tablet with each meal and at bed time (4x per day). Ibuprofen is not really a pain reliever, it is an antiinflammatory (which DOES help a bit with the pain), and as an antiinflammatory, it will help with the healing. I used to see a lot of similar problems when I was a ship-board doctor and I used to have my patients on BOTH acetaminophen (tylenol) and ibuprofen. I never had anyone have any problem with taking both Tylenol and Motrin at the same time. (Tylenol for your age/weight is one to two 325 mg tablets every four to six hours or you can take 1-2 each time you take the motrin). Don't take more than that because Tylenol can hurt your liver in high doses.
Okay, after a few days of rest, heat and the meds, you are going to have to start a GENTLE stretching regimen. If you overstretch and reinjure the muscle, you are back to square one. You are going to have to determine for yourself which stretches involve the affected area. (By the way, this would be a good time to develop a life-long habit of stretching.)
What stretches can you try? 1.) Try sitting, legs and toes straight forward and gently reach towards your toes. STOP when you feel a MILD pull in the area. DON'T bounce. HOLD to a slow count of 30 ("1 thousand, 2 thousand, ...etc").
Eventually, you will stretch further than your first efforts, but again, don't rush it. 2.) Stand with legs about shoulder width (or slightly wider) apart. SLOWLY twist your upper trunk and neck to one direct (like you are trying to look behind you.) Again, don't stretch too far, don't "bounce" and hold for about 30 seconds. Then, slowly twist the opposite way and hold it. 3.) Grab one wrist, hold it over your head and then bend your upper trunk towards the side. Same cautions apply. Go slow. Then do the other side.
4.) Stretches 1-3 are "one set." Repeat stretches 1-3 a second time (two sets).
Do two sets AT LEAST morning and night. (better if you can get one more set also done at mid-day, for three total sets. Some of the attached links have other stretches you can try (for example the "cat stretch" in hatha yoga). Try putting the terms "muscle stretching" into a search engine on your computer.
Also, practice good posture.
If this does not help, an evaluation (and possibly a referral to a physical therapist) might be in order.
Go slow. If you do this regimen correctly, you can heal yourself. You can prevent reinjury by learning more about stretching (its not just for old people anymore!)
you need to see a dr... or get into a hottub
or see a Chiropractor