What can you do to stop back pain?!


Question: What can you do to stop back pain?
It has been hurting for a fee days.

Answers:

It depends on the source (e.g., disk nerve, muscle, etc.). For muscle pain, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, and heat are the typical course of action. For nerve pain, particularly lower disk nerve pain (you'll know if it's a disk nerve), then the therapy is pretty standard. The pain from disk nerves and muscle spasms from nerve compression is pretty unmistakable.

Don't lift anything over a couple of pounds, and don't sit unless you absolutely have to. Lie down as much as you can; standing and sitting are the 2 worst positions when dealing with back pain, other than lying on your back. Keep in mind that bending or picking something up that has any weight could really aggravate it further.

There are some other things you can do to help yourself heal faster and make you more comfortable:

1. The first thing to do is get pressure off your hips and spine. The easiest way to do that is to lay on your side, and put a large pillow or cushion between your knees (preferably one large enough to make your legs parallel to each other). The idea is to get pressure off the hips and the lower vertebrae. The other thing is to put a pillow behind your back, and one in front of you in a position where you can "hug it". That will keep you from rolling over onto your back when you're sleeping.

If you can't lie on your side, then lie on your back with a cushion large enough under your legs to flatten out the small of your back. It's not ideal, but if the key is to get your legs high enough so that the pressure is off the lower spine. Back when I could still lie on my back, I used to actually lie on the floor with my legs on a couch - think being in a sitting position, only your back is on the floor. When you're lying down, you rotate your hips to flatten the small of your back. You'd be surprised how comfortable it can be.

2. Muscle spasms - One thing that makes nerve problems more painful in the back is muscle spasms. They're like a vicious circle; the nerve pain makes the muscles contract, which makes the back tighter, irritating the nerve more, and so on. I've used heat for years, but the key is using the right kind of heat.

If you can find one at a local pharmacy, get a Thermophore pad - I've used one for 20 years, long before Chiro's started using them. They're an instant moist heat pad; it uses a flannel cover that draws moisture from the air, and it heats up within a minute or two. If they don't have one locally, you can get one at http://www.thermophore.com Get the standard size with the switch you need to hold - the timer switch doesn't work very well.

You need to find a way to relax the muscles further if you can. Heat will help, and getting pressure off the spine, but if it's bad enough you might consider asking your doctor for some Flexeril, which is a prescription muscle relaxer. These days it's the only thing that will still knock me out for more than a couple of hours, but you can just take half if you need to.

3. OTC Meds - Though I've long been a high-dose opiate patient, I still use a lot of OTC meds to reduce my dependence on them. Forget Ibuprofen; you need too much to be effective and it doesn't work well when the pain is really bothering your.

3 meds I take regularly are:

a. Tylenol Extra-Strength Rapid Release Gel-Tabs - They work fast and extremely well. Just make sure you drink a lot of water / cranberry juice to keep your kidneys flushed. I take mine about every 6 - 8 hours, and even with my level of pain it helps make it tolerable.

b. Bayer Back & Body Aspirin - It also works fast and does a really good job of easing the pain. You can't take as much of it as you can Tylenol, but I still use it in combination with it.

c. Naproxen - Though I use prescription strength Naproxen, you can get it in a pharmacy as Aleve. Prescription strength is 500mg - Aleve tabs come in 220mg. Make sure you only take them every 12 hours.

It's important to note that with myself, my pain tolerance is extremely high, and though the med combination above works, it's only good enough to keep me comfortable as long as my activity is really low.

If the pain doesn't start getting better after a couple of days, then you'll need to see a doctorUsually it takes 2-3 days before you start really feeling the difference if the nerve has been irritated or compressed.

See Bio.



lye in the supine position...!




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