my back hurts so effing bad.

[misombra]

thanks you guys.

raverboy, i'm not looking for a solution or cure. i just want to vent my pain and frustration.

wanna rub my feet?

[Tiay]

sorry, i never really got into the snowboarding thread.

anyhows, running can also put a lot of pressure on the spine. i run a lot, however, i should take up swimming or biking. ellipticals are good because they take the pressure off of your body. being that you are an adventurer, i'm going to guess that you did a lot of jumping while snowboarding, which lead to this immense pain.

other than seeing a doctor, which you've done, i currently don't have a remedy for you. sorry.

raverboy

when you're jogging, your back carries about five times your body weight.
this, however, is completely normal and actually strengthens your back. It's another common misconception that swimming is good for your back- but actually, you bend your spine (your neck) unnaturally while swimming, plus your weight is being carried by the water hence not enough back muscle exercise, so it's a double no no. Unless, I guess, you're already so crippled that it's the only exercise you can get. Otherwise keep running and exercising. I will admit doing the back exercise thingie at the gym (I forget the name of it, but it's the opposite of the ab curl, ie your'e pushing back) scared the shit out of me the first time I did it, because I got a muscle ache in my lower back. But, that's a good thing!
the other problem is that once you classify yourself as always having these back pains all the time, you start actually avoiding the sorts of exercises that would HELP you, and people even get nervous and thus tense their muscles and try to move in a stiff way and ta da, more back pain. It's such a horrible cycle.
I don't know about snowboarding though. I don't see why it would be explicitly bad for your back.. but I guess it'd be easier to hurt/strain yourself than with jogging. I bet the pressures on your back would be more than when running, too. But look at other sports.. like tennis. that twisting motion is pure torture for the spine. But how many professional tennis players have back problems? I'm actually asking 'cos I don't know but if you look at professional snowboarders and see what their typical ailments are, you'd probably get your answer.

ok, that was the last edit, I promise.

[anachronistic]

thanks you guys.

raverboy, i'm not looking for a solution or cure. i just want to vent my pain and frustration.

wanna rub my feet?

Lol funny comeback.

I'd rub your shoulders, if you let me.

[vashti]

She can't start an exercise regiment until the inflammation is down. Exercise at this point would only further inflame the area.

[Tiay]

oops, I should've made it clear I was mostly responding to illusional

[Illusional]

It's another common misconception that swimming is good for your back- but actually, you bend your spine (your neck) unnaturally while swimming, plus your weight is being carried by the water hence not enough back muscle exercise, so it's a double no no.

actually when you're swimming a lot of the weight is reduced because the body naturally floats. doctors encourage this sort of exercise because it takes the stress off of the back. unless you're swimming in some sorta weird position, the last time that i swam, my back wasn't all bent out of shape.

thanks you guys.

raverboy, i'm not looking for a solution or cure. i just want to vent my pain and frustration.

wanna rub my feet?

sorry, i don't have a foot fetish. however, foot massaging would only lead to even kinkier things, and with your back, you couldn't keep up with me. haha.

raverboy

[Tiay]

actually when you're swimming a lot of the weight is reduced because the body naturally floats. doctors encourage this sort of exercise because it takes the stress off of the back. unless you're swimming in some sorta weird position, the last time that i swam, my back wasn't all bent out of shape.

that's why I edited it to say it's the neck part of the spine that gets stressed. I certainly always notice that my neck gets tense when I swim.

Anyway, when this thread came up I dug up and re-watched a very comprehensive documentary on back pain issues that was on german tv recently. I'm sure swimming is a great way (especially for athletes who need to keep fit even when they have an injury) to keep active when you have back pain- I imagine it's also relaxing which helps all by itself. I'm not saing swimming is bad in general.
But, for back pain preventative exercise, swimming doesn't do much. X-rays of people in a swimming-position (breaststroke) show that the neck is arched back too much. Since you suggested to stop running and start swimming, I figured I'd point out that for a healthy person, running is in fact a good exercise for the back and can prevent back pain. It keeps your spine flexible. Unless you encounter problems there is no reason to stop.

sorry, i don't have a foot fetish. however, foot massaging would only lead to even kinkier things, and with your back, you couldn't keep up with me. haha.

I'll get out my bio-oil and give you the nicest foot massage ever, then, miso. We'll tie raver up and make him watch.

[Illusional]

well with the breast stroke, your head must be arched back in order to take a breath. when you freestyle, you turn your head to the side, thus it wouldn't put any pressure on the back or neck for that matter.

i dunno, i'm not really into watching a girl give another girl a foot massage. after deuce bigalow, those giant feet have got me spooked.

raverboy

[misombra]

swimming. hmmm. i think that's something that might help me. i haven't gone swimming in a long time.

[anachronistic]

It's not snowing weather in New Mexico, yet.

[Baud's Bitch]

There is no cure for your ailments. Yes you can do pain killers, and muscle relaxers, and get injections, but you're back will never be what is once was. Chinese has degenerative disc disease and oh, how my poor baby suffers. Right now we can not afford for him to get another MRI, which he is dire need of. His last one was three years ago! right before his laminotomy. Chinese has had every procedure possible done, physical therapy, and pain management.

His left leg goes numb quite often(sciatica) and massage does help a little because it relaxes the muscle. When you have nerve damage or irritation it can make your nerves in other parts of your body fire off incorrectly. His leg twitches and his muscles cramp really bad on some days. He also has a lot of gastrointestinal problems which are attributed to the disease.

He follows a regiment of painkillers and flexeril every evening. Some days he can not move because of the pain. At one point, he was prescribed methadone to deal with the pain. When we became a couple, he had his doctor down his dosage and now he is on percocet 30s only. My ex-husband was a horrible addict and Chinese is extremely considerate so he didn't want me worried about him.

Also, in January in the U.S., methadone 40s are no longer available or prescribed. There were too many 'negative reactions' in pain management cases. The drug(in the form of 40s) was only prescribed for use of addiction treatment. They only prescribe the tens now and you can not equate the prescriptions. Say your patient was prescribed two forties a day, you can not now prescribe them 8 10s a day. You could prescribe them 2 10s a day and equate the rest with percocet 30s.

My ex-husband had degenerative disc and now so does my current man, so I understand what you are going through. I, myself, have had sciatic pain since my eighth month of pregnancy. If you have that kind of pain then get someone to rub the area where your leg meets your hip really hard. It feels like bruise getting touched at first, but then the pain goes away. I swear by it. I refuse to take painkillers of any sort so this is the only relief that I get. Once again, we don't have the money right now to get me properly checked out either. I also have VSD- ventricular septal defect aka a small hole in my heart between the left and right ventricles. I have been having a lot of palpitations and irregular heartbeat lately, but I am too proud to receive charity. I also don't like pity so only my family knows of my heart condition. Then again, I could always move to Canada or Europe and get free med care. Damn, it's getting late. I need to get to bed. Goodnight.

[Illusional]

swimming. hmmm. i think that's something that might help me. i haven't gone swimming in a long time.

swimming or skinny dipping??

raverboy

[Tiay]

when you freestyle, you turn your head to the side, thus it wouldn't put any pressure on the back or neck for that matter.

about.com says "For the freestyle, make sure you do not rotate your head too much when taking breaths. In addition, do not let your head move up too much or deviate from the axis along the length of the body. Deviating from this axis, or over rotating the head, can easily lead to neck and back injury while swimming. Also, when you’re not going up for breathes make sure you keep your head looking downwards. As already mentioned, rolling too much can easily lead to damage."

that said, it is important to note that the article DOES recommend swimming for back pain. My point is that it is not a back exercise. Swimming is to your back what a wheelchair is to your legs. It will alleviate stress and help you relax and recuperate, but it will not strengthen you enough for regular everyday life.

i dunno, i'm not really into watching a girl give another girl a foot massage.

pfft, you're just saying that because you couldn't bear to just watch. Wait, are you saying you'd be into watching a guy give a girl a foot massage?

There is no cure for your ailments. Yes you can do pain killers, and muscle relaxers, and get injections, but you're back will never be what is once was.

I agree that there are cases where this holds true, and I can't imagine what that's like to go through.. but for the rest of us, it's this sort of negative statement that causes a sort of reverse placebo effect and contributes to the actual pain.

[Baud's Bitch]

Sorry to sound negative. It was meant more so for people to realize that they have to learn how to live with the pain. Not trying to be a doom-monger here. My hip has been screwed up since I was about eight months pregnant and sometimes it hurts so bad that I can't walk. Life is what it is at the moment though and as much as it sucks, I have to just suck it up at times and carry on. Chinese is an inspiration because he he hurts so horribly every single day of his life, but he still gets his butt out of bed and goes to work. He's a programmer and sitting all day really kills his back. I just run him a super hot bath every night and he takes his meds.

That's about all a person can do in their situation. Many people will major back problems also suffer from degrees of depression. There is hope for DDD, though. Researchers have come out with an awesome artificial disc in the past few years. After I finish college then all of our money problems will no longer exist and he's going to get the artificial disc implanted. Hopefully by the time we are financially able, it will be a common place procedure. I can not F'n wait.

Once again, I am sorry for sounding negative. I was in a negative mood at the time of the post so I'm sure that influenced my answer.

[Tiay]

no problem! I did not mean to criticise your post, as it is a valid experience to share, and if there's a relevant thread to share it on it's this one.