hurt my back, how to heal it.

[Unemploid]

i'm 22 and i work in a warehouse. i hurt my lower back today. todays thursday, i have friday off. if it still hurts on Monday, i'm going to use my jobs clinic.

i'll talk to my parents and see what they want to do during the week, doctor and legal stuff.


it's hopefull not too serious, but you can be too careful. i have bayer extra strength back a body.

what other things should i do for a speedy recovery? i will be resting all weekend.

 

[Luke19Boarder]

(not a doctor here)

Rest. Heat and/or cold (check out web MD for what they say about heat vs. cold ... I find heat to be better for back pain). No sudden movements. I've never been an aspirin guy - I prefer ibuprophen.

 

[slobake]

Lay flat on your back and elevate your feet at the knees. A coffee table or stool works good for that. That takes all the pressure off your back. There are stretches too. But be careful if anything hurts real bad stop immediately.
One good thing is to lay on your stomach, tighten your abs and hold for a few seconds then release.
Another is lay on your back with both legs bent at the knee. Then grab your leg right behind your knee and raise your calf until it is almost straight up. Do this gently and slowly. You can hold your leg in that position for a few second or longer if it feels okay. Do ten of these then repeat with the other leg. I
Another: Lay on your back with both knees bent. Grab one leg on top of the knee, keep leg bent and slowly lower leg to your chest or as far as you can go. You can also hold this in that position if you want. BE GENTLE! Do several reps with each leg, go slow. You can also do this with both legs at once.

Did I mention slow and gentle? Don't do these if it causes a lot of pain. I hope you feel better soon.
Pay attention to the way you get in and out of cars, sit down to put your pants on etc.

 

[two fingers]

Yes to everything slobake said. Also, try sleeping on your back with a pillow or two under your legs.

 

[BAG]

I've had back issues since I was 18 (bad carrying of roadcases as a roadie up some dodgy load-ins combined with an hereditary spinal issue) and the first thing I do when I have any pain is take someLink Removed or a similar product with diclofenac. Not sure if they would be available without prescription over your way but here they are. The 25mg version is the best i've found. One thing with these is that you MUST have some food in your stomach when you take them or they can cause stomach pains. This will at least alleviate the inflammation and most of the pain.

Also, one thing I have learnt recently (wife is now working for a doctor) is that immediately after the injury use cold packs (20min on 20 off). Heat packs are good in recovery mode but cold packs help bring down the inflammation which is the cause of most of the pain.

 

[AaronMB]

It's hard to determine by your post and it's not our business, but if you were on-the-clock at work when this happened, you need to report it and have it documented (so your employer pays the doctor bills and not you). If you already have, good.
There's good advice above about taking care of the back pain. Be careful with any borrowed prescription medication and/or alcohol, as you could be tested by your employer's doctor (many variables, depending on where you live, laws, etc.)...

 

[Sheep Man]

Very importantly, what type of pain is it, and how bad?

Does it feel like a regular muscle injury/bruise/over strain? Or is there any tingling/shocking related to the pain? Is it more of a burning sensation, or millions of needles pricking/stabbing you in the back?

Basically, everyone here who's contributed advice could be helping...but it's difficult to know for sure.
Generally, though, lower back pain is something to be taken seriously at any age. My advice would be to get it looked at, even if it feels "fine" on Monday.

 

[Immigrant]

Make sure you are able to pass a whiz quiz or that back injury will land you truly unemployed.

Good luck with your injury.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Like others have said, you need to inform your employer of this injury and let them know it happened on the job; otherwise, you might not get your workers comp. They will drug test you.

 

[GuiTuber]

Lots of good advice here, but it's best to know the origins of the pain before taking any action.

It could be one of two things: muscular or skeletal.

You could have strained some muscles, in which case, rest, anti-inflamatories, some stretching, etc., are good things to do.

It could be a bulging or herniated disc, in which case some of the stretching might not be a good idea and laying on your back for extended periods of time, like sleeping, is also not a good thing.

The problem is, at first you won't know the difference. It just hurts. But as things start to settle down, the hurt will be different. If it's a disc, it will be touching on a nerve. When that happens, you will likely develop pain in some other area, like your legs (especially since the problem is in the lower back). The nerves being irritated go somewhere else, like your legs, but the irritation is received by your brain as a pain in your legs, for example. If it's just muscular, the pain should subside over time with no other pain anywhere.

If it's a disc, sleep on your side with a pillow between your legs. This keeps your spine as straight as possible, reducing the movement of the disc and therefore the irritation of any nerves.

Ask for an MRI. This will reveal whether it's a disc or not. Muscle strains will get better in a fairly short amount of time. But if you go a month without getting better, it may very well be a disc. Get the MRI.

I strained my back in 1992. I went through all the therapies as though it were muscular but it never got better. I finally visited a neurosurgeon who ordered the MRI that revealed I had two bulging discs, one worse than the other. I had pains up and down my legs, wrapping around from the front of the thigh to behind my knee, back around to the front of the shin and the top of my foot. All on the left leg. Coughing or sneezing was the worst.

I had surgery to repair the discs that summer and I haven't had any problems since. As I laid on the gurney while they prepped me for surgery, my left leg was killing me, laying there on my back. When I woke up later, the first thing I remember thinking was that my leg didn't hurt anymore.

That was my experience. Best advice is to find out what's really wrong. Being sent home with muscle relaxers and pain meds isn't a diagnosis. If they get it wrong and you do the wrong things, you'll be in more pain for a longer period of time. Get a proper diagnosis so you can treated properly.

 

[Pilgrim]

Above all, GET TO A DOCTOR and get some physical therapy.

I jerked my back by grabbing a fence to prevent a fall a coupe of months ago. Within a few days I had pain in my lower right back and down the length of my right leg. It was manageable (let's say survivable) with Aleve and Ibuprofen, but when it got worse rather than better, I went to the doctor and got steered to physical therapy.

They've given me stretches that help, and during the sessions in therapy they use electronic muscle stimulation and heat. I'm using a heat pad on my back in the evenings. It's getting better, although it's going to take few weeks.

This is a workplace injury, so you will be covered by insurance.

DO IT or you're likely to be stuck with back problems for a lifetime. Take this seriously!

 

[Gorn]

Is there a good reason why you're not immediately consulting a physician? I have the utmost respect for the collective intelligence of the talkbass off topic community, but we ain't no doctors.

 

[fdeck]

If you have access to health care, I'd get it looked at. I've had a few things like pulled muscles and the like, and physical therapy worked wonders.

 

[68Goldfish]

I've had lower back problems for years. One of the things that always helped me at physical therapy was something called a repex machine. Basically it's a motorized table that you lie face down on that bends you upwards and downwards like a taco right at your lower back over and over for ten to fifteen minutes. I think it gets blood flowing in and out of the discs and vertebrae. If I'm not mistakin repex stands for repetitive extension. It does wonders for me. Oh, that and cortizone shots....and quiting/lessoning the activity that led to it in the first place.

 

[placedesjardins]

i'm 22 and i work in a warehouse. i hurt my lower back today. todays thursday, i have friday off. if it still hurts on Monday, i'm going to use my jobs clinic.
i'll talk to my parents and see what they want to do during the week, doctor and legal stuff.
it's hopefull not too serious, but you can be too careful. i have bayer extra strength back a body.
what other things should i do for a speedy recovery? i will be resting all weekend.

What "exactly" did you do? Lift something overhead? Lift something off the floor. Push something? Pull something? You were bending down? Object was already lifted but you strained your back while carrying it or twisting the upper body?
How much did it weigh? 20 lbs. 50 lbs. 100 lbs.?
What did you lift? Cube-shaped box? Odd-shaped item? Large box? Small box but heavy.
Where does it hurt? Upper back below neck? Middle of back? Lower back near the waist?
Did you hear a pop?

 

[PWRL]

Three important things are rest, drink water and ice it periodically. Don't ice too much. Depending on the problem, heat may or may not help. Speaking from my own lower back problems, if there's inflammation, it may be best to avoid it for the time being. Definitely see a doctor first, but consider a good chiropractor as well. Mine helped me a great deal. There are a number of good stretches to do, but I would recommend saving that angle until after it has been determined as to just exactly what the case is with your injury.
Definitely do NOT just try to tough it out until it goes away, because take it from me, it will not go away, it will come back worse later down the line. My solution when I hurt my back as a 20 year-old or so, was pretty much "cowboy up" and move on. Walk crooked for a week, then get back to it. That was the wrong answer.
Good luck to you, I've been through it, myself.

 

[Unemploid]

the doctor says my spine is 100% fine. he gave me some medications

 

[RED J]

Good news. As an old guy with a back full of arthritis and blown disks, I was thinking to myself, it's not likely serious, or Bayer back and body wouldn't do diddley. Take care of yourself.

 

[Gaolee]

Look after it carefully. Once you foul up your spine, little issues just go up and down but don't ever quite go away if you don't deal with them properly. Make sure you strengthen your core around your back to protect it from further injury. But, take it slow and don't overdo it.

 

[Boom762]

The first time I threw my back, I was chasing a criminal up a slanted hill at an angle. I got 10 feet away from him and felt a rubber band snap. Minute by minute it got to where I couldn't even stand straight anymore. My advice is to do basic recovery stretches and not use it for anything else. It usually takes me 5 days or so to recover when it goes.

First Stretch
Lay face down on the floor. Keep your legs and hips to the ground but push the ground slowly like a push up. Go slow and as far as you can and hold it for a few seconds. This one is my favorite. It makes the back feel amazing.

Second Stretch
Bend over and touch your toes. Hang there and focus on relaxing every muscle except your hips down. As you hang you'll notice your body will let your torso slowly get closer to the ground if your truly relaxing. Just hang there a minute or so.

Third Stretch
Stand straight up, feet slightly apart, and squat all the way down. Just like #2, relax all those muscles and let your body fold into your hips. You will need help getting back up so this is only for when you have a partner to help you.

I got stuck with a 4,000 bill (because my company literally disappeared over night) and that 4 grand was just to have a therapist put a heat pack on my back and give me a piece of paper with this stretches on it.