3 years of back pain. Unable to work out

I feel for you. I have multiple injuries from my military service. My docs say that the damage is just there. They give me muscle relaxers, but say that losing weight and exercising is the best thing I can do to reduce the stress on my joints. They say reducing the stress and building the muscle will reduce my pain, but probably never cure it completely.

What has helped me is to find exercises that do not directly cause pain, but still work the muscles. So, for example, I have a knee injury from a long time ago and running makes it worse because of the jarring motion. I use the elliptical machine because it will build the muscle, but not jar my knee. So, I suggest trying different exercises to help build the muscles without causing direct pain.

Another suggestion would be to wear a brace at work and see if that reduces the over all stress on your back.

Try swimming in place of the running! You'll notice a big difference straightaway!

I really feel for you and had a very very similar experience. My main advice is TAKE IT REALLY SERIOUSLY and DON'T QUIT until you get the right hep.

It turned out Ihave a ruptured disc which was the cause of all the pain and 'tightness' I was experiencing. I was going round and round in a vicious circle, trying to help myself with yoga (I was told to stretch a lot) and pilates (I was told to strengthen my inner abdominals). These, however, made it much worse.

It wasn't until one day I couldn't stand it and I rocked up to the ER at my local hospital that I found out what was going on. Although I'd been examined by doctors and physiotherapists, they didn't pick up the rupture until I had an MRI.

I then had regular physiotherapy, and now attend regular 'rehab' type class (physical therapy), where I am guided through very specific exercises. I had to sort of start from scratch in terms of building up some very specific muscles and stretching others that were related to my specific problem. I also had to learn that I simply couldn't carry things over a certain weight or sit for too long or I would go backwards. Oh, I also use of heat packs every morning and evening even if I'm feeling totally fine. I realised I had to really think of this as a top priority and make sure I did everything I could to help myself or I would always stay in that pain cycle.

It sounds like a lot of work, but actually it doesn't feel like it because it helps so much. I started feeling relief quite quickly and I am able to do a lot of those things that I wasn't able to previously. I am MUCH MUCH MUCH better. Not much pain at all anymore.

Like the person above, I think you should seek the help of a physiotherapist - there's a reason they treat pretty much every professional sporting team you can think of. They are also the ones that rehabilitate accident victims.

I know I'm sounding like a know-it-all, but I really wish I had the right advice years ago, and don't want others to make the same mistakes I did!

Hope you're able to find the right help soon and get out of that horrible pain!

Oh, and I was able to find all of this help in the public system, which meant no $$. Good luck!

I hurt my back weight lifting last year and it took me a lot of doctor and physio appointments to finally get that it was a prolapsed disc sitting on a nerve. I'm undergoing targeted physiotherapy now (though not a great deal of change at the moment) but I feel your pain about not being able to exercise to your full potential. I would love to do weights properly and bulk up but unfortunately that won't happen

Try Pilates. I do this for my back pains due to a chronic illness and it helps a lot. I found I had no core strength which was part of the problem.

I had the same problem....I was going to chiropractor every other month. I found Thrive in July and my aches and pains are gone. Im not selling on here just sharing www.cobywhite.Le-Vel.com

A few things that helped me:

- sleeping on my side with a pillow between my knees. Amazing difference.
- a good physiotherapist who took time to work out where the tightness was coming from, and then devised a plan to strengthen those muscles so they don't flare up so often
- limiting the running until you don't have pain- I know myself that running does not help when my muscles are sore.

Acupuncture was another really good thing for me that dealt with the pain so I could do the physio excersises.

All of the above in combination got me off painkillers after 18 months. And mine was all down to weak glutes and tight hip flexors, although an MRI scan did say I had a bulging disc but the doctors told me that wouldn't cause my symptoms.....!

Might I suggest you get your GP to refer you to a spinal unit at a hospital near you or as close as possible, go see a proper specialist, they will most probably get you to have an MRI scan and then you should be able to find out what is causing the pain. Not knocking them but maybe rather than a physiotherapist go see a Chiropractor as this type of issue (neuromusculoskeletal system) is more their specialist area.
Keep up exercising the back as much as you can bear as once those muscles go weak even more problems start...

FYI at 18yr's old I had a skim boarding accident and prolapsed the bottom two discs, 22 years and 2 Discectamy operations later I find myself needing to do core exercise regularly (3 times per week min.) to keep the pain at bay.

I've had a torrid time with my back for the last number of years, but thankfully its a lot better now, especially from a pain point of view. If you have persistent pain, I would advise getting a referral to a good orthopaedic consultant who specialises in the back, just to ensure there is nothing lurking there. It'll be an appointment or two, and an MRI, but at least you will know whether or not there is anything there that would be better attended to now. Even if it shows nothing, at least you can proceed with other things that may help manage if not eliminate the pain, although your list seems to be quite exhaustive of the things you have tried so far.

Personally I found pilates very helpful, as well as a series of physiotherapy exercises prior to that, as my personal suspicion is anything out of whack between your neck and your toes tends to come out somewhere along the line in the form of pain/ discomfort, so its important to figure out the underlying problem and address it, be it something out of alignment, or weaknesses in one or more parts of your body putting pressure on other parts, thus the pain. I found pilates a good way of eliminating the weak points in that respect, although I would have thought yoga focussing on the back would have done the same. Re: yoga, I found this book (Yoga Heals Your Back; 10 min routines that end neck and back pain. (Rita Trieger) ) quite helpful, especially the first chapter, where it provides a nice 5- 10 minute routine for back flexibility that can be done in bed in the morning/ at night, if not during the day if you prefer that way.

Good luck with everything, and hope you get to the end of it all soon

Great book :-)

Is finding a new job an option?

For what it's worth - and your mileage may vary wildly from mine - squats and deadlifts have effected a cure of my lower back issues from getting it torn up moving a heavy-as-hell fully loaded paint display in my 20's.