Birdgirl i have a question..

[Dmo18]

hopefully you can help me out a little bit:o
i have really bad back pain every night, constantly, i never have a night without it. i have tried sleepin on diff matresses and diff places and it just doesnt help, i got prescribed to muscle relaxers and those dont do anything but make me sleep longer through the pain, but wake up eventually with even worse back pain. anyways i was just wonderin if there is anything else i can do or tell my doctor cause i have another appointment soon, but i was just hopin you had some insight as to what may cause this
thanks

[slipknotpsycho]

tried a chiopractor yet?

[Skink]

Back pain is a bitch to diagnose...I think you should be more specific here,,,like upper lower,do you work out,do you lift at work???

[Skink]

tried a chiopractor yet?

That is a last resort in my book...

[slipknotpsycho]

well i'd say if muscle relaxants ain't working, it's time for a last resort?

[birdgirl73]

Hey, DMO. Sorry your back's hurting you. If it's OK, I'll move this to our Medical area.

Back pain is a mystery to me. I have trouble with it on and off, too. Mine's in my lower back, and it troubles me sometimes if I've taken an overly long break from exercising and have let my abdominal muscles get a tad out of shape. Your core muscles in your abdomen do a lot of work in supporting your back, at least your lower back, and when my lower back starts to hurt, working up some strength on the back extension machine at the gym and doing crunches to tone my abdominal muscles always makes it get gradually better. I find anti-inflammatory over-the-counter meds like ibuprofen work a lot better than hard-core pain meds, too.

Some people get a lot of relief from chiropractors. I've found they can do good things where heat, massage and touch-therapy are concerned, but I don't trust them if they begin claiming they can heal all sorts of systemic diseases by manipulation and adjustment of the spine. Most mainstream medicine still regards those claims as malarkey. But I do know lots of people who've gotten lots of relief by going to them, so I always tell people to keep an open mind. It's easy to get back sprains and to pull muscles back there, which can account for back pain. My doctor always does this thing where she has me lie down and then raises one of my legs at a time and asks me if I have any tingling or numbness anywhere as she does that. Somehow that helps her rule out a slipped disk. I gather when people have serious disk or nerve injuries, they get numbness and/or tingling, but I really know next to nothing yet about diagnosis of back trouble. I do know that it's one of the top 5 ailments that sends people to the doctor in this country.

If your pain's in your lower back, try doing a little research on back-strengthening abdominal exercises and do those for a few days and see if that helps. Sorry not to be of more help. Hope you start feeling better soon!

[Dmo18]

the pain is in my mid back. i work out 6 times a week and do at least 5 sets of abdominal work outs everyday, thats why i dont understand this, thats the first thing my dr. asked was if i did abdominal work outs, but i do religiously

[birdgirl73]

Well, once when I changed ab machines at the gym, I got a terrible sprain in my mid back (that's called the thoracic area of your back since it corresponds with your thorax/chest in front) as a result. My doctor was the one who diagnosed it as a sprain, and I actually sought help from a chiropractor, who used moist heat and some sort of wonderful massaging machine. It very slowly, slowly got better. Later my trainer showed me I wasn't in the right position when I used that ab machine, which was how I got that sprain. When you heal from your soreness, have someone check your position when you're doing your abdominal workout routine to make sure you're doing everything correctly. Even if you think you're in the right position, it's easy to veer out of that position and potentially injure or sprain yourself. If you're doing five sets of ab workouts six times a week, it sounds like you could be overdoing it. And if you have any numbness or tingling, definitely make sure you explain that to your doctor next time you go.

[thcbongman]

the pain is in my mid back. i work out 6 times a week and do at least 5 sets of abdominal work outs everyday, thats why i dont understand this, thats the first thing my dr. asked was if i did abdominal work outs, but i do religiously

With every muscle group, you need days to rest. Abs are no different. Working them out everyday is not as effective as it sounds and increases your chances of injury in addition to stunning ab tonage and growth. If you work out 6 days a week, keep abs to 4 days a week, dividing it between light ab and heavy ab workouts. Especially if you use weights, or hang yourself off a pull-up bar, you can't sustain all that stress without a day of rest in between. You have to give them the opportunity to grow......