Hi all,
I am looking for your favorite home remedies.
I imagine it is safe to assume many of you, like me, end up with a muscle spasm in your back once or twice a year. These spasms leave me walking around in pretty severe discomfort and with limited mobility. After a few days it eases up and life goes on.
My current back ailment started friday when I bent over to pick up a cast iron sink. I now find I can only straighten up part way before it starts to hurt. I can still function I just look I am a hunched over old man and it is awkward walking/working in this forward bent posture.
I have been using Ron Teti’s remedy of Arnica but it isn’t taking care of this one.
I find the chiropractic route takes a lot of time and the expense adds up with hit or miss results.
I would love to find some reading material on things I could do at home to heal quicker.
Do any of you know any medications, good stretches, amatuer massage techniques, etc?
If I ever get my schedule to ease up I intend to take yoga class.
FWIW I was/am under a bunch of stress and this usually seems to increase the likelyhood of a muscle spasm.
Thanks in advance, Karl
Replies
I also have had trouble with muscle spasms in my back. My remedy is stretching, every day, no exceptions. I grew tired and lazy about stretching and while slipping on a workboot, BAM, my back spasmed, I was out for 5 days, the first 30 hours were spent on the floor right where it happened. My doctor wrote a scrip for Flexeryl which loosened me up enough to get me up to bed. Now it's daily stretches each morning when I wake up. It takes anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes but well worth it.
I used to suffer back spasms on occasion. They can be totally debilitating and the pain is excruciating.
I've done the Chiropractor route....and found that a heat pad, flexerol and rest for 5 to 10 days does the trick. (The Chiropractor therapy also took 5 to 10 days and involved having to have someone drive me in to experience quackery in its purest form).
Finally got a sheet of stretching and strength excercises from a physical therapist friend several years ago and, since I do them now, no problems.
When you're in the midst of your spasms...that's not the time to be excercising...get well and then get to work.
Thank you all,
I realize this is a construction forum but I don't think I could have gotten quicker, more insightful responses from any other source.
I will check out the book, try getting into a stretching exercise routine and look into Shiatsu masssage.
It is interesting how these spasms usually coincide with high stress periods. I have to acknowledge sometimes by body gives me a mandatory time out if I am pushing my stress level to high.
I welcome additional ideas and many thanks to all that responded.
Karl
Whew!
Flexerill to get OUT of bed? That stuff puts me into bed - like a zombie for tow days from one dose.!
It does loosen things up tho..
Excellence is its own reward!
Hi Karl,
A few years ago I was having so much back trouble my wife concluded we'd better get used to living here as I wasn't going to be able to build another one. My lower back pain is the common type, #1 health complaint in the U.S. This is not a pulled muscle, but a disk that isn't what it used to be. Abuse, what?
Had a client who taught yoga professionally but despaired of ever talking me into going to town for a class. He gave me a small book, written by a physical therapist, "Treat Your Own Back" by Robin McKenzie. Changed my life. It explained what was going wrong, how to prevent it, and how to fix it if it happens again. I start each day with a couple of stretching routines. That's it, other than more closely monitoring what my back's telling me during the course of the day. You'll also learn that it makes a great deal of difference what time of day you do the threatening movements.
Before the book I would lay flat on the floor being afraid of moving and causing more injury. Exactly the wrong thing to do. A little knowledge goes a long way. M.D. client had a standing appointment with her chiropractor until I loaned her my book. You need to learn what's going on with your back first, and then what to do about it.
Get the book and stand up straight, like your mom always said.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Tom,
My wife went out and bought me the book at the used bookstore for six bucks. I could only do exercises one and two but what a difference! You are absolutely right in your rave review of the book. What I like most is the fact that it has first aid stretches and the "panic page" to assist people like me who are trying to figure out what to do now that they cant function.
I also have been very skeptical of chiropracters based on past experiences and I find she addresses them in a very honest way. She points out their limitations without attacking them.
I am now standing up straight and suffering only minimal pain where as this morning I was hunched forward and wincing every time I moved.
Thank you very much,
Karl
Karl,
Wow, that was fast! Must have been some motivation there somewhere.
Before my yoga instructor friend gave me the book, 6 years ago, he showed up to walk some mountain property as we'd scheduled. I didn't figure I could do it at all, being doubled over from trying to get too large a timber off a saw mill. Then I figured, what the heck, walk as far as I can. An hour later I was almost erect and feeling much better.
My previous plan was to lay flat on the floor. Absolutely wrong. I've referred to the panic section quite a few times since, mostly after doing something stupid. Like riding for 30 minutes first thing in the morning with a friend to go get a tractor tire. Didn't stretch again before bending over to move the tire. OUCH! My copy of the book is now used as a loaner. I have no problem with docs or chiropractors but until they have a cure, I don't see much reason to see them.
You're on the road to taking better care of yourself. Congratulations!PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Where are you located?
If California there are a ton of Shiatsu massage therapists. The spasms are the symptom from compressing a disc and pinching a nerve. I don't have to tell you the muscles go Crunch! and you're immobilized.
Shiatsu involves working through a network of pressure points. The main point is to do a complete body massage over many pressure points deeply in the tissue between the joints. This is a clothes-on massage (aw, shucks). There is no hitting or rubbing, and never, never make a direct attack on the source of the pain. It is critical that you breathe steadily and regularly in rythm with the therapist. Generally, no talking or visiting. It's you, your breath, your body, your feelings and the therapist.
My friend, Pat, who lives in Virginia Beach taught me the techniques.She helped me at times and I helped friends. Alas, I am in Charlotte, NC. Not only did my pain go away but the flood of endorphins tended to dampen my inhibitions, leading to other side effects I cherish only in memory.
In sympathy,
Brad
Hi Brad, I am in Santa Cruz, CA. I am curious about the timing of the Shiatsu massage. Do you do it for relief of pain and healing or as preventative maintenance?
Thank you for the suggestions,
Karl
Santa Cruz - that's where Pat took her training.
It works for immediate injuries and for maintenance. She taught me the technique so each of us could massage the other. I don't remember massaging anyone who was hurting from any particular pain, though it was always a good idea to ask about any injuries in order to prevent doing more harm.
Pat had a practice here in Charlotte. Most of her work was maintenance and part of a spa routine clients received at a salon. Still, there were a number of injured people she massaged from time to time.
I found, being a carpenter, I had built up a number of injuries over the years. I had just learned to ignore the occasional pain, figuring I just had to loosen up, or do yoga or exercise. During our first sessions I had to ask her to stop. In subsequent sessions as I learned to breathe into the pain, I encouraged her to pursue knots of tension in my tissues. After those first sessions I followed the pain of normal strains for relief.
Does this answer your question?
Brad
Brad
Hi Brad, What a coincidence. Can you ask Pat if she would recommend a specific shiatsu massage practioner in Santa Cruz? If not does she/do you have any guidelines on selecting one out of a range of possibilities?
If she got her training here are there any places to find students seeking bodies to practice on. Basically is there a way to get a lower cost massage from someone still honing their skills?
You can email me at
[email protected]
Stress not only increases the odds of it happenning but increases the pain when you do it. If you are getting this happening twice a year, you need some training.
I had one doc telling me that I needed surgery but the Mayo docs said that it would only make things worse in my situation. They prescribed physical therapy, which I did for about six months and then grew into Pilates. I'll never be a young man again buit I have feweer problems than four years ago, all because I have strengthened my core muscles and learned how to use my body.
Wish I had learned this thirty years ago.
But I can't teach you in one easy sitting at the PC. You realy need a physical therapist. Then Yoga or Pilates can help with handling a lot of that other stress.
For immediate treatment, alternating hot and cold packs will do a lot for you. There are pills, but use them carefully, less than they prescribe - not expecting them to make it all better, just tolerable.
Excellence is its own reward!
karl,
I'll second VaTom's advice on the book and exercises. I do mine every morning trying to delay the knife. Lookin' for the nanoknife.
KK
Wiley, I have been doing these stretches and they made a world of difference. VaTom recommended a book that prescribes these same stretches. Thank you for the helpful suggestions.
Karl
Take the advice of your fellow posters, and learn some stretching exercises. Ex- wife was a physical therapist and when I incurred back problems she was able to give me some immediate relief but the only thing that will help now is to rest back until spasm in muscles relax.
Some one mentioned Mackenzie another is Williams these are basic stretching exercises that will help if done regular. Another technique that has been developed by a physical therapist ( John Barnes) located in Pa. is called mio fascia release sp? deals with the fact when a injury occurs the fascia that covers are body goes into tension. Treatment is done by physical therapist who has taken courses in this technique. It is virtually painless technique but I have had tremendous results. It uses the muscles to bring body back into position, but until muscle relaxes and spasms leave rest is the only thing.
I would recommend staying clear of chiropractors for these reasons.
Think of it in simple mechanics if you had a part slip out on a piece of equipment and forced it back in to position forcefully chances are to get in to position you would have to produce some wear to get it there. The more you forcefully do this the more wear you create allowing it to happen more frequently. Some people will swear by their chiropractor, and if it works for them great but I stay clear of them for this reason.
Stay away from using heat remember that the muscle is inflamed at this point and the last thing you want is heat.
Good luck
Thanks Dan,
I had been wondering about heat and couldn't decide if I should jump in the hot tub or not.
The miofascia process sounds intriguing but I like the self remedy aspect of stretching.
Karl
it's alternating heat with cold that is a help.
The cold reduces swelling and inflamation and the heat increases blood flow, that later being necessary to all healing.
Excellence is its own reward!
The first 48-72 hours of ANY injury you ice. Thereafter you heat before stretching then ice after the stretching.
I recommend doing the stretching exercises first thing in the morning. This makes a big difference.
You have what we call an emotional back. It is very common. Stress causes lots of things to happen. Like I tell my patients stress can kill you. Try do learn how to destress along with doing the stretching exercises.
I need to practice what I preach! Lifted a guy that is 6'2 and 240 pounds this weekend at the nursing home. He cannot weight bear on his right shoulder or right leg. Makes transfers and physical therapy oh so much fun.
Whenever lifting something heavy try to stand up straight, hold your hands on your hips and bend backwards. DO NOT flex forward. The worst thing one can do is to flex forward after lifting something heavy. Most everyone will do that!
Sounds like I need to get the book that was recommended. Hope that you are on the road to recovery. Good luck!Tamara
I swear by my Chiro.
I try to go about every 6 weeks or so.....
try to get there before it becomes a problem. I can tell when I should go.
Since I found the first and best...I've been to about 5 others.....my first guy is way across town......not convient for me at all.....but no one else seems to have the touch.
Everyone else is too gentle. Only one other chiro was almost as good..and only after I told him I wasn't gonna break in half. He did say my back was always more work for him.
But for times when I gotta push back the visit I know I need...
Those TheromaCare wraps do wonders at keeping things loose. If you can kinda sorta walk at night...you can really almost walk the next morning if U sleep with one on.
I'll sleep in one...shower...the put one on and work thru the day with it there. The heat really keeps things from seizing up tight.
Good posture and strong stomach muscles are the best tricks to a strong back.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Jeff, I googled TheromaCare and couldn't find anything. Where do you get them and what do they look like? Thanks for the tips. I still have yet to find a chiropracter that is more interested in fixing what ails me than finding out if I have insurance and am willing to set up my next twelve visits. It sounds like you found a good one.
Tamara and Piffen, thanks for clearing up the hot/cold thing.
Karl
Back problems run in my family. In my particular case, it was so painful that I was on the floor, only able to use my arms to slide my body to move. Ice made it worse. After some time (things blur when you are in that much pain), I was able to maneuver myself into my Volksy, drove to the local YMCA (don't ask me how - my Bug was manual too), change into a swimsuit and get into the pool to do some swimming. I think I floated, swam etc for about 2 hours. I was stiff but able to move much more freely.
The second really bad episode occurred after planting some bulbs. Pinched sciatica (this is the nerve that wraps around your right leg) led me to a physical therapist who practices in Berwyn(a 'burb of Chicago). He was trained in the "old country" and sees quite a few athletes in his business. The guy looks like he could play a Czech spy in a Bond flick but he knows his stuff. Full treatment including ultrasound, manipulation, heat pad and peppermint oil rub(this brings down any swelling) runs around 70USD. Treatment lasts about an hour but he's helped my mother's bone spurs(in the heel, yeouch) using the ultrasound machine to break up the calcium deposits that cause this. The man is in his 80s. Lord help my family if he ever dies.Life is too short so eat dessert first, especially if it happens to be Cookingmonster's triple cinnamon truffles or her ginger-fig caramels.
http://www.thermacare.com/index.shtml"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."--???
Thanks! Saved me from fixing my spelling.
Most all my local drug stores...plus Kmart and Wallmart carry them. Just take it outta the package and put on. Keeps the heat for a coupla hrs.....
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
I find the chiropractic route takes a lot of time and the expense adds up with hit or miss results.
I think you need a better chiropractor. There are a lot of not so good ones out there who give a bad name to the practice, which is a shame because it can be very very helpful.
FWIW I was/am under a bunch of stress and this usually seems to increase the likelyhood of a muscle spasm.
You are absolutely right about this. Unfortunately, the pain is real even if the cause is mental rather than physical. Once the pain takes over, actual mechanical problems result from the muscles fighting each other, hence the need to correct things mechanically rather than just with positive thinking (which doesn't hurt, of course, but it's usually not enough alone).
One thing I noticed nobody else suggested is ultrasound which can be a (temporary) magic bullet and force the spasmed muscles to relax for a while; this is done by the ultrasound waves driving the excess lactic acid trapped in the muscles out so they will relax. But if the cause remains, it will come back; so you usually need something else to cure the problem permanently. Ultrasound is used by some chiropractors and by many physio-therapists. Check around to see who has a machine and would be willing to zap you and then treat the base problem once things are manageable.
Other than that, for comfort, an old-fashioned electric heating pad or hot baths works best, combined with anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen, aspirin, or Vioxx. The rule about cold applies mostly in the first several hours after the injury. Once the inflammation is established, you might as well heat things up to get the blood flowing through the muscles so it can start washing out that lactic acid.
Light doses of codeine can be used to manage the pain too, if you can get a prescription (unless you're in Canada, where 8mg combos with acetominophen are sold OTC). It's important to manage the pain because the pain itself contributes to the problem's persistance. Its a heterodyning effect, feeding on itself. You've got to break the cycle somehow, and then get rid of the original cause.
Good luck.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Yup, chiropractors are like contractors. There are great ones, there are terrible ones, and everything in between. It's just like finding subs.... ;-)
-- J.S.
When all the pills, powders, pressing and prodding fail here is what you do.
Face Mecca. Get on your knees. Sit on you haunches and then slowly lower your head to the carpet. Relax as much as possible. Praying is optional. So is facing Mecca. This works for the reason that it is physically impossible for a muscle to be stretched and spasm at the same time.
For added effect have a friend place a heat pad over your back while you are praying to Mecca. Stay in this position for at long as possible. Carrying this theme on sleeping on your side in a tight fetal position can also help.
Once you are able exercise your belly. Controlled and very tight and small crunches are better than sit-ups that often work the legs more than the belly. A weak belly allows the back to kink backwards under stress. It sounds counter intuitive but this is very true. The best way to prevent and correct back problems is by strengthening the seldom used front.
Lay on your side on a firm bed. In a kind of sitting position.
Get a comfortable pillow under your head. (Taller is usualy better when laying on the side.)
Get a pillow something like a small couch throw-pillow, and hold it at your chest. Letting your arm hang over it. Manipulate until your arm is comfortable, and you feel a bit of support from the pillow, for your torso.
Get a standard pillow, and fold it in half. Or two standard pillows stacked. Put that between your knees.
Now, move the leg that is on the bottom, out from under the pillows, and stretch it on down the bed. This should begin to twist you at the waist a bit.
Continue that movement, until your torso is well twisted.
By this time, you should be putting a lot of weight on that pillow that is below your knee.
Now, pull the knee, and the pillow, up toward your chest. Get the knee as close to your chest as you can. Keep that pillow below it, fluffed, folded, or stacked, whetever it takes to provide a good solid support, that will keep your knee from falling toward the mattress.
When you have the knee as far up as you can get it, slowly stretch that lower leg out as far as you can. Try to barely hook the end of the foot over the end of the bed. Get close enough to that, and then let the foot kind of hang up on the mattress. Pulling your toes downward, away from your body.
Last thing, try to hook the toes of the top foot back as well. Without moving the leg or knee. You want to get a bit of stretch on the tops of both feet.
If done right, your back should be twisted and stretched. Your lower leg should be stretched. Your upper leg supporting most of your weight. Your head, chest and arm, comfortable.
Try to sleep this way for at least 45 minuts on each side.
An added benefit to this is that some of the stuff between your belly button, and your backbone, will be shifted out of the way as well. It helps all the way through the following day. A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
Hi Karl,
I had a hernated disc and went thru 5 yrs of Physical therapy. The exercises helped but I still had the pain in my leg, had to elevate my foot when I couldn't stand it. I was hurt at work and all they wanted to do was push Physical therapy. The pain got so bad I demanded to see a surgeon, best thing I ever did. He repaired the disc,I have permanent nerve damage to my right foot, I can live with that. I have a few exercises and stretches I do every day, I couldn't make it without them just to keep me limbered up. Been doing them for 10 yrs. Give the exercises and stretches a try but you have to keep it up. I have to have surgery for a hernia and won't be able to do them for a while, this will be a bummer. O well life go's on.
Good luck with your back, Dick.