Sudden back pain- what do I do?!

[LittenTree]

I am prone to lower back problems but have been OK for a while. I do Pilates but that doesn't seem to have protected me from what just happened! I was digging in the garden, when I lost my footing, fell over onto my hip, which didn't hurt that much, tbh, so I got up, brushed myself down and carried on. Within 5 minutes I think my back went into spasm. I don't have any sciatica, the pain, a grinding ache is over to the right of my lumbar spine and I can only move, gingerly, if I stay braced in a slightly rotated position.

I took 500mg ibuprofen (all I could find!) and put some 'rub' onto the site of the pain.

I can lie flat on my back but not on my front which makes me think 'muscle' not 'disc'.

What do you think? Is there anything else I can do to assist recovery or ease the pain any more?

I am 50 so prone to aches and pains! I have the lumbar spine of an older person but a physio told me my back pain would gradually get better, or maybe less frequent, as one's back sort of sets into a position and becomes less prone to injury- less flexible, yes, but he said one got fewer flare up as as one gets older.

The Dr may be able to give you some stronger pain killers and some muscle relaxing tablets to help

I think you need to see a doctor too. Hot or cold might work, hot water bottles can be very good for relaxing muscles and cold is good for bringing down swelling, you can try and see which one alleviates the symptoms. NSAID (Voltorol or similar) gel on the area might work faster than tablet medication, but don't take ibuprofen tablets and gel at the same time as they are both NSAIDs.

Well, I'm off work today (HCP with lots of manual handling!). I self-medicated with rather a lot of wine last night that actually really helped! I'm still quite sore and find lying down one my side easiest, and have been on the ibuprofen today (thanks for the reminder about gel + tabs!).

I shan't bother the GP a yet though I can't recall what I'm supposed to do about self-certifying etc? I doubt I'll go in tomorrow, either as experience tells me that there is no 'taking it easy' once you're in a NHS workplace!

'Amusingly' I got an email from my union asking me to detail what measures my workplace have put in place to assist 'older workers' in carrying out their often physically demanding and long hour'ed jobs as they age, now that we'll all be working towards 70. I laughed dryly and recalled how one colleague, 58, requested to not have to work night shift any more (4.30pm to 8am, 1:8) as she'd been diagnosed with low bone mineral density- and the boss said 'Well, you'll just have to resign, then!'