Hurt Back Muscle. Help!

aspmg5

I may have pulled a muscle in my mid back due to carrying a heavy back pack or possibly not stretching after exercise. I have since lessened the weight that I carry in my backpack. It's a pretty sharp pain whenever I use that part of my back to pull or push something so I've been attempting to not use my back as much.

Are there any good stretches that I could do to help the healing process? I don't want to not exercise while it's healing, but I also don't want to make it any worse. I was doing Jillian Michaels Cardio Kickbox 2 days ago and when I got to parts that I needed to do jumping jacks or jump rope, the pain hurt so bad that I was crying. Does anyone have any tips or advice for me? I'm still really new with this whole active & healthy lifestyle so I'm super open to suggestion!

ladynocturne

Ice for 20 mins. Wait an hour, use heat, if you don't have a heating pad, take a hot bath 20-30 mins. Repeat. If you can find someone to rub the spot gently, do it. Ice has always been strongly recommend to me for basically any type of muscle injury, and it has always worked beautifully. Yeah it's unpleasant, but the less you squirm the faster it gets numb.

Hope this advice helps you.

ChrisLindsay9

It'll take some days of rest, and when you get back to working out, you'll probably want to go at about 1/2 intensity and gradually increase it over the course of a couple-few weeks.

In the meanwhile, I find that doing some stretches in the shower with a hot spray on the back seems to help loosen the muscle a bit. A massage therapist gave me this idea. You just slowly bend over like you're going to touch your toes. I do about 5 sets of 3-4 stretches.

Another stretch is to lay on your back and bring your knees up to your stomach, grab them and slowly pull them back. I usually do this before going to bed.

Even when your back starts feeling good, or even a 100%, you may want to continue to do this for awhile longer.

Hope this helps!