Back pain experts - help needed!! [hurt my lower back... pain!!]

“Dying bug”
And Something akin to making a snow angel but w lower back held on floor. (Elbows bent.)
And some of those in Buck’s vid.

 

Yes, your disk is wack. It'll get better eventually, or go to the doctor. Just depends on your tolerance.

Epidural is the last resort, they sure help though.

 

Deadlifts did me in as well. My form was crap though.

OP, rest and relax .. back just needs time to heal itself.

 

That will help. Initially apply moist heat and absolute rest. Now the muscle relaxers will help you not have spasms when you're ready, first once you can get in and out of a hot tub with epsom salt is a breakthrough; then once you can get down and really start stretching it you're home free.

I've been through this a couple times. I try to take least pain relievers I can handle, or at least let them completely wear off each time to really know where I'm at. Rest, moist heat, and stretching most importantly once you can do it is the way out though, and muscle relaxers make that possible much sooner.

 

Get an MRI my friend. The location is as important as anything. I would suspect L4-5 or L5-S1 based on your symptoms. When I hurt my back I had the MRI and I found out that I also had congenital spinal stenosis. If it were only the disc it probably wouldn't have caused many problems... but the combination. No bueno.

 

If our species had stayed on all fours, it might have been a good thing:
* no back problems
* no holding weapons
* moar doggie style
* no cable TV
* no internetz

 

Forgot to add that a few months ago, I had what happened to you happen to me (I guess). Like I said, I had back surgery years ago for a ruptured disc that was causing sciatica. No drug would kill that pain -- we tried Tylenol, Advil, Viox (which was later recalled... lol), and Vicodin. I could only sleep in one position without waking myself up because of the pain.

I was picking up about 5-10 pounds of cardboard I had cut up for recycling. I was sitting on the floor doing it. When I got up I immediately tried to pick up the stack and the pain radiated sideways across my back. I thought I had screwed up again and ruptured my disc, but I didn't feel leg pain. I let it go for about 1-2 weeks and, just like when I was a kid, it "fixed itself". I didn't see the doc about it even though the pain had me hobbling around for a while.

I'd suggest you keep an eye on the strength in your legs. Back when I needed to have surgery, the leg affected by the sciatica was weakening gradually, so I didn't notice it too much. I didn't want to have surgery so the doc had me stand on my toes on each leg to test the strength. I could do it with no problem. He said, keep doing that on the leg where the pain is. You may notice it becoming more and more difficult to do as your sciatic nerve is irritated more and more and your leg starts to weaken. After another few weeks, I noticed it happening and felt I had to almost drag my leg around. That's when I decided to have surgery. The strength in that leg came back to about 85%. He said once it starts weakening, it's a crapshoot as to whether you'll get full recover or minimal recovery of the strength sometimes. In my case, I probably had lost about 30% of the strength in that leg and gained back about 15% after surgery.

Anywho, this is all to say, during the pain, try to determine if you're losing strength in that leg. And like I said, if it's a milder herniation, it can fix itself within a week or two. If it's a rupture of the disc, the material that ruptured could bump up against the sciatic nerve and cause a crazy burning painful sensation down your leg.

Good luck.

 

I had the same solution to deadlifts that I had to playing basketball in that "getting old" thread a few months ago. I simply don't do them anymore. First time it happened was about six years ago doing dumbbell side bends... second time was a few years ago doing the deadlifts. Don't do either anymore as the pain isn't worth it now and don't believe it'll be worth it for the body down the road. I just do exercises that focus on each of those areas one by one instead of all at the same time like deadlifting does. There's too much to focus on.

And no the back isn't 100%. Sometimes while working out I can feel my back teetering on the edge of that injury happening again. Sometimes it's form, sometimes my body needs a break for 4 to 5 days. I'm sure that getting older has something to do with it also. Things just ache sometimes.

Sorry for the derail, @JayZ750.

 

Years of mountain biking and basketball took the toll on my back... had to have my L5 S1 disk removed after MRI showed a part of the disk broke off and combined with the bulging remnant pinched hard on my nerve. Took months to have the MRI and weeks of PT that only made my back worse. The MRI happened on a Thursday, the doctor called me on Thursday night and said he tried to get me a operating room for Friday and none were available so he operated on Monday AM. Advised me if I lost bowel or sphincter control over the weekend to go right to ER.

Get it checked out. Lose weight and work on core muscles. Learn proper posture and bending/lifting practices. Good luck!

 

Good Lord..........that sound horrible! I've had the epidural steroid injections. It was pure bliss..........for about four weeks. What a pain in the ass to mess with though. Sometimes vicodin and soma seem to be the only answer............if you want to just sleep the rest of your life away. Other times, it's like "**** it," I'm gonna just live with constant pain.

 

For what it's worth, what helped me the most (pre-quarantine), was going to the gym and sweating it out for 20 mins in the hot tub/steam room, then jumping in the lap pool and doing pool runs (basically just running but in the pool). Usually I did 15-20 laps like this, then jump back in the steam room/hot tub. Usually I would repeat this for 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs, then shower and head home and ice for 20 mins.

One downside of this technique is get ready to get more wrinkly than a raisin, but it works.

Also, try the McKenzie technique when stretching.

 

Tizanidine has made my life somewhat comfortable lol

 

If you can, you should try epsom salt soak. It's pretty relaxing.