Back Pain Blog

Such a Pain in the Rear!

Fredrik — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:51:59 +0000

It seems odd, but humans have a bone at the end of the spine we call a tailbone. The medical name is the coccyx. When it hurts, it can really hurt because it makes it tough to sit. Usually, this bone hurts because you’ve injured it somehow. In fact, a lot of people injure the coccyx and don’t even know how. It just suddenly starts hurting. But the most frequent cause of injury to this particular bone is a fall on your rear.

Unfortunately, doctors usually don’t see much on X-rays if anything at all. Injury to the coccyx may hurt a lot, but it’s rarely serious. The worst part can be the pain around the area of this virtually useless bone. The only treatments include not sitting (duh!) on anything hard or taking some kind of anti-inflammatory medicine. If you take care not to sit on the bone for a while, the pain usually goes away. You can sit on a “donut” cushion to take the pressure off your rear.

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Getting Some Sleep Finally!

Fredrik — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:51:42 +0000

Image from WikipediaI can be so hard to get a full night’s sleep with back pain. As expected, it hurts so much it becomes impossible to stay asleep even if you manage to fall asleep. Of course, trying to get out of bed with back pain just makes the whole experience worse.

There are some tips you can follow to make lying in bed less painful. Hopefully, if you follow the tips you can get some decent rest. One of the best sleeping positions for the body with back pain is on your side with your knees bent at 90 degrees. This relieves some of the pressure on the spine. If your hips or back hurt in this position, you can place a pillow between your knees to keep the hip joint level and the lower back straight. When getting out of bed, don’t even dare trying quick movements. Instead, you should slowly edge your way to the side of the bed and then push yourself up with your arms. That way you don’t use your back muscles as much.

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I Need Some Rest

Fredrik — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:42:00 +0000

Image from WikipediaBack pain can be really hard on sleep. It can hurt lying on your back and your stomach. The pain makes it hard to get to sleep, and once you do, it makes it hard to stay asleep. It doesn’t take long to get exhausted. Some people think you should stay in bed when you have back pain, but that’s not true. You need to get enough rest, but you don’t want to stay in bed past 3 days.

The problem with lying in bed too long is that it can actually make your back hurt worse. The human body is meant to move and it needs to in order to stay flexible. People in the hospital who can’t walk or lie in bed for weeks lose muscle power rapidly. In fact, it doesn’t take long before muscles get useless from lack of motion. So when you have back pain, you have to keep doing your normal activities even though it hurts. Staying in bed will only make your muscles weaker which can make the pain stronger.

// Melwin

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The Many Facets of Facet Syndrome.

Fredrik — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:59:52 +0000

You have a facet joint in your back. Actually you have many facet joints, because a facet joint is the joint that exists between two vertebrae. These joints are what give your spine mobility while keeping the vertebrae lined up. Without the joints, the spine wouldn’t have controlled movement.

Facet joints can cause back pain when the joint is injured or becomes worn due to age. The joint can swell and the result is back pain. The pain doesn’t occur exactly where the joint is located though. It normally causes pain in the lower back to the side of the spine. The good news is the pain doesn’t last forever and will eventually go away until the next inflammation. That’s exactly how other joints in your body work also. While the joint is inflamed, you can use ice on your back or take anti-inflammatory medications. Sometime the pain becomes chronic which means you may need to see a doctor to get a more intense treatment.

// Melwin

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How Do I Decide I Need a Doctor?

Fredrik — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:46:44 +0000

Most people get some kind of back pain in their life, and it can be hard to know when to run to the doctor. I know I don’t like going to the doctor unless I have to because I’m so busy all the time. But if you have certain symptoms there’s no question you should see a doctor.

Some back pain comes and goes, but a lot of times you pull a muscle and it heals in a few weeks. It’s a one-time event. But if you have some other serious symptoms then you should get to a doctor right away. For example, if your legs are weak and you can’t flex your foot, you probably have a serious spine problem. If you get in a car accident, I highly recommend seeing a doctor. You can injure your spine and not even know it. Of course, if you have back pain that is extremely painful you will want to look for relief at the doctor.

// Melwin

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It Never Stops Hurting

Fredrik — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:14:50 +0000

Some people have back pain that just never stops hurting. It can make almost every activity difficult and is called chronic back pain syndrome. A syndrome is a group of symptoms that appear at the same time and indicate a problem exists. When you have chronic back pain syndrome, it means you have pain even after it seems everything has healed.

The medical community is doing a lot of current research in this area. If you have no physical reason for the pain then what is causing it? Well, the theory is your psychological state of mind may be contributing to your pain. If you live with constant stress and anxiety, it can cause your muscles to tighten and reduce blood flow for example. Dealing with the problem usually involves exercise and counseling. There’s really nothing physical the doctor can order for treatment. This is a greatly oversimplified explanation, but that’s chronic back syndrome in a nutshell.

//Melwin

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Because I Was an Athlete

Fredrik — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:00:11 +0000

There’s a back problem that is most frequently seen in people who are athletically active in their teenage years. It’s called spondylolisthesis which is where one vertebrae slips over another. It’s often the result of a spinal crack or defect, but is common in people who have been ballet dancers or football players or involved in other sports activities. Spondylothesis happens when someone subjects the spine to repeated bending backwards.

The “cure” for spondylothesis is to let the fracture heal. That’s what the vertebrae slipping is usually due to – a fracture in the spine. It can usually be corrected with a brace and cessation of athletic activities. Sometimes surgery is required and the two vertebrae are fused. Sometimes people go for years with slipped vertebrae. The fracture isn’t corrected early in life, because there’s little pain to indicate a problem exists. Unfortunately, this can result in back problems when you get older, because the spine heals incorrectly.

Merry Christmas everybody!! //Melwin

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All Dried Up

Fredrik — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:10:36 +0000

Getting a diagnosis of degenerative disc disease can be scary. It sounds so awful in several ways. Degenerative means a steady decline and disc disease indicates something abnormal is happening to your back. In essence, degenerative disc disease is when the disc between vertebrae starts drying out. If it gets dry enough the disc can eventually collapses and can cause other back problems.

The good news is that it’s really not a disease. Degenerative disc disease is a normal step in the aging process. Actually, a lot of things get drier in the body as it ages if you think about it including skin and hair. There’s really not a lot that can be done about degenerative disc disease itself. If the drying up of the disc causes other problems like vertebrae collapsing then there are several treatments that can be applied. For the most part, the best thing you can do is regular back exercises to keep the muscle support system strong.

//Melwin

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Lower back videos.

Fredrik — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:00:52 +0000

Hi i have just added lower backpain exercise videos, take a look here:

http://www.backpain-onlinesite.com/lower-back-exercise/

IF it hurts when you exercise, just STOP and go see your doctor. I just show you some basic exercises.

//Melwin

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I will soon add videos about backpain and training!

Fredrik — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:59:33 +0000

Hi i will soon add some backpain related videos on my site and some training videos as well. Hope you will enjoy it!

I post the URL here later…

//Melwin

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