I’ve been doing really well the past couple of months. Been feeling good and managing my anxiety. About 2 weeks ago I started having some tightness in my mid-lower back. It was the worst when I first got out of bed and would feel better throughout the day. The day before yesterday I was at work and I started having bad spasms. I have a pretty physical job and was having spasms for 4 hours straight. I now am in a lot of pain and can hardly walk. I definitely can’t work right now. I went to the chiropractor and he did an adjustment but didn’t have much to say about the spasms. I’ve had bad trouble many times over the years (scoliosis) but this feels different. Any tips? How long do I wait before trying to find a Dr.? One of my biggest HA fears is being paralyzed!
Back issues
- Thread starter Kari85
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Cuchculan
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If you are in a lot of pain I wouldn't wait. I would try and find out what is causing the pain and why. With backs, x-rays don't always show what the problem is. Hence you have some people make false claims and it is nearly always their back or their neck. So an x-ray might show nothing at all. With certain issues concerning the back. Other issues would stand out straight away in an x-ray. Something that might have moved out of place. Most good chiropractors would never do a serious adjustment without viewing an x-ray first. You should not have to live in pain. So go find out what it is. See can it be sorted out. Might be nothing serious at all. Have some back pain at times. It rights itself in my case. Like to try and stretch various muscles. With some problems it can help. I would say better safe than sorry as far as the back is concerned. I would rather go and be told it was nothing bad and come back happy having heard that than not having gone at all.
I’ll probably give it the weekend and then make an appointment. I just hate that my mind goes to the worst case scenario. Back problems are SO common and there are SO many diagnosis’s and treatments in between being in perfect health and paralyzed but my anxiety won’t allow for any of those options to be a possibility.
Hi Kari,
While I agree with Cuch, it sure sounds like what I get. Maybe 3-4 times a year I turn the wrong way, or I do nothing obvious to cause it, but I get the worst spasms in my lower back. My sweet spot is the lower left side. It's been so bad that I have in the past had to lie down as I simply couldn't get out of bed, or off the floor!
For me it takes a regular pattern. For 1-2 days it's awful. Then it gets better a bit each day, and 7-10 days total it's 90-95% better. I agree with your plan to let it play out over the weekend. Of course monitor it. With actual spasms, it's obvious that it's the muscles as opposed to generalized back pain, which like Cuch says could be any number of things (99%+ not serious).
While I agree with Cuch, it sure sounds like what I get. Maybe 3-4 times a year I turn the wrong way, or I do nothing obvious to cause it, but I get the worst spasms in my lower back. My sweet spot is the lower left side. It's been so bad that I have in the past had to lie down as I simply couldn't get out of bed, or off the floor!
For me it takes a regular pattern. For 1-2 days it's awful. Then it gets better a bit each day, and 7-10 days total it's 90-95% better. I agree with your plan to let it play out over the weekend. Of course monitor it. With actual spasms, it's obvious that it's the muscles as opposed to generalized back pain, which like Cuch says could be any number of things (99%+ not serious).
Walking Circles
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Back pain sucks! Fortunately it's an incredibly common complaint and the overwhelming majority of it is caused by non-life threatening issues. I throw my back out sometimes and what's worked for me so far is a couple ibuprofen and icing it.
Went to urgent care today. Not much they could do except give me a stronger pain med. They did do a urine test since I have pain in my mid back and abdomen. That came back normal. He mentioned ovarian cyst but after some examining decided it probably wasn’t that. Im just supposed to ice and take the pain med. I just don’t know what to do when I can barely stand or walk. My job is all on my feet! I’m on day 4 with no improvement.