Anyone ever hurt their back...

I was going to say, chiropractor, ice, lie on back, Ibuprofin, and rest.

But you can just listen to the doc's advice above, he knows his stuff! My wife just got into a car accident, somewhat minor, but has back pain now. Emergency room & family doc just say rest & muscle relaxers & Motrin. After still being in pain, we are going to see the chiro (doc above is local for us :) ).

I personally have been to them all & then some. Everyone reacts a little differently, but the concensus seems to be:

family docs and chiro's don't always agree on things,
Ice does more good early in an injury,
regular family docs don't do much for muscle/skeletal issues other than give you drugs,
we are NEVER as young as we think,
Stretch a lot,
lift with your legs,
and drink lots of water.

I prefer Advil to keep swelling down when my back & neck acts up or I over do it. After 30-35, we all start to fall apart pretty fast! A glass of wine at dinner makes a great healthy muscle relaxer :)
Your injury is most likely something that happened a while ago & just got out of hand while mowing. Lots are NOT from the actual activity we were doing at the time of accident.

Oh yeah, when you start feeling better (hope it's soon), DON'T over-do it! We all seem to think a week later we are superman again. After each injury, they happen easier & easier as each year goes by. Mine hurts from sitting/driving too long now. Used to have to lift heavy stuff all day. Course I am closing in on 40, so I am really over the hill huh ;)
 
Well for the most part fellas I'm better. My therapy was simply taking it easy for a week and laying on the couch for an hour or so after work with moist heat on my lower back. The pain all but vanished within a week. Real odd. Pain hit like a bolt of lightning to the point where I was practically a cripple on Sat Sep 4. By Thurs Sep 9 I was almost pain free thank God.

Thanks for all the replies and well wishes.

Now I'll go out and do something stupid to hurt it again. :p

Mike
 
Glad to hear your better. In December of last year, I herniated my L5-S1 lumbar disc. I was out of commission for almost 6 weeks. About didn't get to finish nursing school. Was a severe prolapse verified by MRI. I was getting close to surgery but I decided to try the ESI's. (Epidural Steroid Injections) This, coupled with regular excersise I fell helped tremendously. FOr the most part, since then, I have been doing very well with the exception of everyday low back tiredness. The pain I had was like no other I've ever had. When acute, it was almost too bad to be killed. Morphine didn't help, Demerol either. I finally ended up on Percocett during the worst of it. Anyway, I re-injured it this past weekend riding a riding mower for god's sake :) Not a complete injury, but for the better part of the weekend I couldn't stand up straight or bear much weight on my right leg. I'm better today but still very stiff. It'll work it's way out. I have a very bad injury back there and i have to be careful of anything i do.

Recommendations: Get it properly diagnosed. Via an MRI. Don't be an armchair Physician. You don't want to have a chiropractor messing with it if it is truely a disc issue. Rest at first, but don't remain bedbound. Mild excersise is the best medicine. Walking is good. A good NSAID is a good idea. Ibuprofen for example. Ice is good at first when inflammation is high, but then heat is better. Eat a healthy diet as your body needs the nutrients. And be CAREFUL with the opioids. They are habit-forming bastards :)

Just 2 cents from a Buick-loving Nurse who's been there :cool:
 
Almost 3 weeks later and I still have some lumbar pain but not unbearable. Driving the GN sure doesn't help so I have kept that to a minimum. Trying to take it easy at the day job but end up doing some lifting I shouldn't every once in a while.

Still going to the chiro but mainly because I like it.:D

I think that riding some rollercoasters a couple days before my back went out is what did me in.
 
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