Have you cured chronic lower back pain??

[Monket]

Struggling with constant back pain, which started when I returned to office work ie a sedentary role a year after assisted instrumental delivery of my second child. So tired of it, struggle to believe that exercise will help sufficiently… can anyone inspire me with a success story please? Feeling very low that this will be the rest of my life. I’m in constant pain, and I’m only 36…

Honestly, @Monket , stick with the exercise. Your life will be transformed 😊

Pilatea and/or osteopath. I once had such bad back pain that i couldnt walk and an osteopath sorted it in a couple of sessions.

Yes I had really awful sciatica. Amazingly strength training has cured it. I never would have imagined this would be the case but it’s absolutely worked for me.

I suppose you have to get to the bottom of why your back is hurting- presumably if you've damaged a disc or two the advice would be different to it just being muscular- but I'll echo everyone else in saying regular exercise is the best cure for most back pain. If my back starts twingeing and grumbling (and I have to be extra careful at the moment because I've just started a driving job) it'll be because I've let my yoga practice slip.

Concentrate on glute and core strength. Walk as much as you can, even for 5 minutes. Regular massage with massage therapist. DO NOT do yoga unless you have good core strength. Ask the massage therapist/chiropractor to check your alignment. I'e legs, knees, ankle, hips.

Swimming twice a week fixed mine. I still get the odd twinge bit nothing like it was.

Pilates

I’ve always exercised and never had any back issues, but after a c section, then cancer treatment immediately after, all while constantly wearing a reflux baby in a sling on my front, because she needed to be upright all the damn day, my lower back was a mess. Herniated disc, sciatica, constant pain. I was worried the cancer was in my spine it hurt so much, so they scanned me and that’s how I know it’s a herniated disc and not something more sinister. The only things that have actually helped is reformer Pilates, making sure I drink enough water, and making sure I don’t sit for too long at work. When I go to Pilates regularly and I’m able to move about in the day my back is absolutely fine. Last week I could only go to a class once, and I was sat on my arse on Teams for hours all week - lo and behold I’m here with a hot water bottle on my back again feeling like an 80 year old.

Reformer Pilates!

I had six months of chronic back pain after c section with twins (possibly the epidural?) and what cured it magically was the physio using ultrasound on my lower back. Osteo and chiropactor didn't help much but the physio did. That was 25 years ago! Since then I've found walking, standing up straight when I walk, strengthening my core muscles is the key and staying active; driving aggravates my back if I do it for more than half an hour. Lifting heavy bags and bending and digging seem to help my back not harm it. Sitting I do a lot of ironically but I combine it with regular bursts of moving around. I never do gym or pilates but I garden, and do most of my errands on foot and I bend lift and stretch. But not really heavy things like furniture...I'm careful too.

When I started wearing orthotic insoles my back diminished. I have over-pronation.

It's returned here and there, but I excercise which has helped, and I also take high doses of vits B and D which are good for long term pain.

Yes. I have lumbar spondylosis, or generative disc disease and had pain from a young age, all the way through my teens, twenties and thirties. Over the last few years I have been significantly better through:

Regular pilates (one hour class a week and a couple of 20 minute sessions at the end of a work out on other days)
Weight lifting (very carefully and with good form)
Lots and lots of walking
Sleeping on my side with a pillow between my thighs / knees

Swimming makes mine worse

I also take vitamin d supplements daily 1000iu
It turned out I had been deficient in vit D.

I remember it was agony getting out of bed in the morning in the first six months and the pain would only wear off once I started walking around first thing so I learnt that movement helped rather than endless rest (although rest and sleep are of course important part of healing process, in life with small children - I always tried to have an afternoon nap when I could)

Losing weight was what changed it for me. I was overweight and had horrendous back pain. The minute I lost weight it disappeared

Yep, been/going through this too.

Find a practioner you gel with but make sure they give you exercises to do, and keep up with them. It does take time sadly but the results are amazing. I was waking up in immense pain, couldn't stand still, had to keep moving. Now I am pain free and if I do something silly like overlifting, its less severe and recovery time so much quicker!

Also, sleep with pillow between the knees!

Sleeping with a pillow between my knees massively helped me. Stopped me twisting my lower back in bed.

My physio said if you don’t change position every 25 minutes it’s very bad for your back, issues or not. I do stretching exercises every day, keep my weight under control and walk every day. Two years ago I could hardly walk with the pain. I did have an accident so sustained an injury.

Have you considered an osteopath? Back pain is one of their specialities.

I got a scan and had surgery. Then Pilates as many times a week as I can fit it in! I now have a standing desk at work so I can keep moving and don’t slouch over a laptop. I had back pain for years. Wish I’d listened to my body earlier and had a scan to find out what was going on. Pilates has been a lifesaver.

As well as exercise, it's worth checking whether the chair you're probably having to sit in for 7 hours a day is up to the job.

I had a disc herniation with nerve impingement (have now lost my ankle reflex) caused by exercise… but crucially I did lots of exercise but not enough focusing on core.
I do core workouts regularly now and it’s massively helped with only 1 sciatica flare up since my major one (caused by exercise again!).

Now - bend over forward and hang there as low as you can for 5 min. Stretches everything very gently.

Next week- Take the strongest pain pills you’ve got tomorrow am & go for a walk.

Then take up Pilates.

Sometimes, tho, you have to rest. I was crumpling in pain at Xmas, couldn’t sleep, sweaty - 3 days on sofa fixed it.

I paid to see an oesteopath for three months which helped enormously. I was also advised to walk as much as possible to build up the muscles (hard at first but it does become less painful.)

Is it normal to feel a huge rush of blood to the head? It felt very disquieting 😬