Chronic lower back pain

[Property Is Robbery]

I have suffered a series of injuries to my back which has led to chronic back pain. For a while cannabis took care of this problem but I have been taking a break from it lately. I don't want to take any opiates because I have a minor allergy and I don't want to get addicted to pills. OTC pain relievers like acetaminophen and ibuprofen don't work. What should I do? Thanks in advance.

[danyboy27]

Try to take a tennis ball and do yourself some back massage now and then.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/tennis-ball-self-back-massage.html

you could also try to take some hot bath to relax your back muscles, work well for me.

[ellipsis]

salt soak in a hot tub? acupuncture? sleep on a wood floor for a night?

[Bitter Ashes]

Your bed in good nick? As somebody who spent several months sleeping on sofas when I was homeless, I can testify that a bad sleeping arrangement is a sure fire way to fuck up your back.

Old mattresses are supposed to screw up your back too, but they cost a fortune to get new. I got mine brand new from a local government scheme to get homeless people housed. Dunno what options are open to you in that regard.

[tanklv]

Try lying on the floor, and straighten your back so that the small of the back just about the waist is such that a sheet of paper cannot be slid under you.

Slowly relax until you are no longer "forcing" to keep the back tight agains the floor. Keeping your legs propped up on the bed or pillows, or even on the stairs helps.

(I first discovered this technique when I came home and discovered my mother on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, sound asleep. I thought she had fallen down the stairs and was a gonner!)

Eventually practice so that you can do it without having your feet up. Move your arms from along the sides to above your head slowly.

If your are able, back exercises help a lot - like sit ups, twisting, stretching. Seek out friends or people who are into exercising, and I'm sure they can give you advice.

There are a few nights when I just get out of bed, and lay on the floor.

[Decolonize The Left]

Stretches and yoga are the way to go.

Lie down flat on a hard floor with your arms at your sides and your legs straight out in front of you.
Relax and take deep breaths.
Lift one leg into your chest so your knee is fully bent and hold your leg there with both your arms.
Continue to breath and relax.
Extend this leg back down slowly and repeat with the other leg.
You should feel it calmly in your lower back.

When you've done this a few times, bring both legs into your chest and hold with arms.
Then extend one back down to the floor, and rotate the other across your body and hold casually there (so your right knee would be close to the floor on the left side of your body). You should feel this in your lower back pretty seriously. Keep your arms out flat on the group and let your back bend with the weight of your leg.
Return to center, extend that leg out and contract the other in and repeat on the other side.

These simply exercises should help your lower back pain quite a bit if you do them everyday.

If you like them, get into yoga and stretching everyday for 30 minutes or so, once in the late morning/early afternoon and once before bed.

- August

[Ele'ill]

Stretching your glutes helps a lot.

[brigadista]

pilates is good for lower back pain

[Klaatu]

To help relieve lower back pain (sans painkilling drugs) try this:

(A) doing sit-ups everyday will build your ab's. These will help support your upper body mass, by taking some of the pressure off of your back muscles (which can aggrevate damaged vertebre)

(B) Try NOT sleeping in a bed. I have slept on the FLOOR (carpeted!) for over 15 years, following a minor back injury, and never had a backache since. The human body was simply NOT designed to rest on a feather-soft surface!

(C) When sitting, don't slouch! (mother was right: slouching not only looks bad, it IS bad for your back!)

I hope this helps alleviate your back pain, good comrade!

[piet11111]

Any tips for backpain at shoulderblade hight ?

This comes from an old injury where i tripped while carrying a crate of grocery's and many many hours of using a brushcutter on sloped surfaces.

[Anarchrusty]

Any tips for backpain at shoulderblade hight ?

This comes from an old injury where i tripped while carrying a crate of grocery's and many many hours of using a brushcutter on sloped surfaces.


I have the same in my left shoulder. Drives me fucking insane at times. If you have any tips for me, I'd be very gratefull.

[Desperado]

If you can afford it, as a musician with back problems I'd highly recommend the Alexander technique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_technique).