Low Back Problems and What I Have Learned From Them

2Jul/10Off

Low Back Problems and What I Have Learned From Them

I have suffered from low back pain since I was 15 years old. It could have been any number of accidents that caused my problems, but I think it was the cracking the sacrum tobogganing on pine needles. That was a pretty painful childhood memory and I'm pretty sure the culprit of my problems.

My step father was a chiropractor so that was obviously the first therapy I tried for my back problem. No relief. Next I tried ice and heat, no relief. Finally after years of flare ups with no relief I decided to try acupuncture. No relief. But during my appointment I picked up a flier for a new massage school that had just opened up in a neighboring town.

Long story short I attended massage school and have learned even more about my back problems. Have I learned the cure for low back problems? No, but I have learned several things that can help to keep it at bay. The thing I have learned for sure is that low back pain is kind of a trash basket term and many people have it, with many different causes.

There is no one way to fix it, and sometimes you cannot fix, or even help it at all. It is frustrating for the therapist the client and for all involved.

Many practitioners try one method for all and it does not work. The causes can be weak back muscles, weak abdominal muscles, tight hamstrings, tight psoas, tight hip flexors, overstretched abdominals, as in pregnancy and shortened tightened low back muscles. Those are just some of the physical causes and I will not even go into the psychological causes that have been studied and attached to low back problems.

The first place to begin when you have hurt your low back is to quit what you are doing. If you were lifting your two year old out of the car seat and getting him out of the car, get someone to help with that for awhile until you are better.

Next get some ice on it. I have found more people respond well to ice than heat. It is much more uncomfortable to use ice, so sometimes I have clients mix it up. 20 minutes heat, 20 minutes of ice, always ending on ice. Recent studies have found that heat is more effective for some folks than ice, only on trunk injuries though.

The third thing I have observed is do not quit moving! When I was training for an iron man my low back finally went on strike and one day while cleaning it pinged. I was very tempted to go to bed and let it heal, but knew that would not help. So I went for a long ride. It did not help but did not make it worse, so I kept training. I have found going to bed just makes it worse and causes it to be stiffer.

I would love to say the fourth thing is to get a massage, since I am a massage therapist, but I cannot say that. Massage helps some people but not others. I find that a massage helps the rest of my muscles relax and gives them a break from the pain for a while, though I cannot take any massage around the SI joints when it is in full out spasm.

So the fourth thing is probably take some good old muscle relaxants and try to do some gentle moving. I do find some trigger point therapy helps, which I can to myself with a ball. I lay on the ball and roll it around my hips and low back until I find a "hot spot" once I locate this spot I just keep the point on the ball until it begins to ease up. I find that to be very effective.

For low back pain the best thing to do is find what works for you and do it. The sooner the better I have found. And according to some back specialists, ignoring it will make it go away!

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