Back

[postman]

Friday morning while bending down,sideways .Due to the knee not yet fully mobile .I pulled my back .So bad i hung onto the work surface and i could not stand up .
I mobiled my mate,who had done the very same many years ago .
So i phones the surgery just for advice .Nothing but take pain killers .So this morning it's still sore and feels swollen .And takes your breath away when i over do anything .

Anybody give me some idea of a repair time .

 

[ASC1951]

That depends on a lot of things, but I would say 'anything up to a week'.

By the sound of what you did, it will be the occasion rather than the cause i.e. your back muscles have become steadily weaker and this has just pushed them too far. So when the pain has gone, don't forget to have a regular regime of exercise (or specific exercises) to keep everything as it should be.

You can get away with it in your twenties, but my physio earns a steady income from me because I usually stop doing his stretches etc as soon as the immediate problem is sorted.

 

[Fiona N]

A lot of the back pain comes from muscles objecting strenuously so I find a heat pad very useful - Boots (and other chemists) have disposable ones which keep hot for about 12 hours and come with a sort of wide velcro-d belt which keeps them in place. Not cheap but gives the muscles some relief.

 

[beancounter]

A lot of the back pain comes from muscles objecting strenuously so I find a heat pad very useful - Boots (and other chemists) have disposable ones which keep hot for about 12 hours and come with a sort of wide velcro-d belt which keeps them in place. Not cheap but gives the muscles some relief.

Blimey - I'd use an ice pack, not heat!

bc

 

[ttcycle]

Try ibuprofen in the meantime to bring down the inflammation as pain killers can be a hinderance ie if you stop the pain and you move in a certain way that would cause pain and possibly more damage you won't know.

Try ice pack wrapped with a towel or the reverse, a hot water bottle.
It may take a couple of weeks but depends on what's happened with the muscles. In the meantime, try and stay active as staying in bed or lying down will do recovery more harm. just a little movement and often. Take care.

 

[bauldbairn]

Sorry to hear that postman - hope you have a speedy recovery

An old "squash" injury(back) causes me similar discomfort every once in a while. I just have to lie flat on the hard floor as much as possible for a couple of days - until it starts to clear up.

Good luck.

 

[Bill Gates]

Heat ior ice ?

If it is a recent injury and the pain is sharp then its probably inflammation and ice is an excellent treatment (20 min sesions every 2 hours)

I think that 20 minutes is probably too long but just about OK. I use ice packs for 10 minutes at a time every hour or so. Maybe up to 15 minutes sometimes. Too long in one go can be harmful, so little and often works best for me.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuries/a/aa120600a.htm

 

[Trek Trauma Chris]

If it's a torn muscle heat/ice will make no difference, it will heal either naturally (small tear) or with surgery (major tear IE. David Beckham). If its a pulled muscle then ice it every 10 Min's/per hour to ward off inflammation, keep area elevated to discourage blood flow and rest it. Muscle cramp or tightness then heat it, heat pads or hot bath.
With me, I find if I bend over (example) and feel something pull or twang then it's a pulled muscle, but if I bend over and when straightening up feel something pull or tighten then it's usually muscles cramping up (gardening with wind on your back).

Cures, after 20 yrs of back pain through work, weight training, boxing,golf and running, I found 1st. Massage 2nd. stretching 3rd. lower back/ stomach exercising and 4th. cycling, all helped to make the last 4 yrs totally pain free.

When you do any activity your muscles tighten up, become knotty and get minute tears, Massage relieves all this. Warm up and stretch before any activity, after, cool down and stretch for longer as this will help relieve tension in the muscles and stretch them back out. Exercising both lower back and stomach will create strength in these areas and strong muscles will take more stress if needed. With cycling I found that I do not get the stress and trauma of running, nor the sprains, twists and jolts up the legs and lower back.

I still weight train but very light weights, cycle 120 mls per wk in winter 150+ summer, golf, fly fish, but I am to old to box now (kept getting hit). Some people complain that they get bad backs after exercise and therefore it must be the activity thats the cause, this is not true! what tend to happen is that after their activity, they do not cool down and stretch, but slump in a chair and doze off or watch telly(golfers after all the stress their backs take, into the club house slump in a chair and have a pint, classic example) then an hour later after the muscles have relaxed into the slumped position, they have to go shopping or something similar, so the muscle start to cramp up or even pull because they have got tight in the relaxed position. It's most important especially for cyclist's to watch their posture (small arch in the lower back)

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

sounds like you may have been over compensating for your bad knee. this is how my doc explained it. the back is like a golf ball and every bad lift / twist snaps another elastic. the final elastic goes and pow your in agony. keeping it completely immobile is bad and will cause more pain long term. sounds like a spasm. good chance it will happen again until your knee is better and you regain your normal walking gait.