Back Pain
I came into work yesterday an hour late due to a sore back. I felt okay the night before but when I woke up in the morning I was shocked at the pain I felt when I tried to pop out of bed to take a shower. So instead I took 3 ibuprofen and laid down on a heating pad for 40 minutes then took that shower. It all helped. A little.
Today I feel much better and bring this all up due to a study that came out in the Januay 31 issue of theBritish Medical Journal. According to an accompanying editorial:
"The review by Martimo and colleagues confirms how little we know about how to prevent and treat back pain. This may be because back pain is a symptom and not a disease.Or perhaps the disorder cannot be reversed once it becomes established, so that no treatment could be effective.
None of the randomised controlled trials or cohort studies included in the reviewfound a positive effect of advice or training in working techniques—with or without lifting equipment—for preventing back pain or consequent disability."
The title of the main article is Effect of training and lifting equipment for preventing back pain in lifting and handling: systematic review and it concludes that no intervention, whether training, drugs or device, seems to help in a statistically significant way.
So essentially the concluson is that until we know more about the causes and pathology of back pain, nothing that we do seems to help on a consistant basis. My own experience backs that up. When I had my last serious back episode I was in Asheville, and I found that soaking in a hot tub helped a lot but only as long as I was in that wonderful hot water. Within 15 minutes of exiting the hot tub, the pain was back. I've also found that repetitive side to side motion, like paddling a kayak, really helps me and that relief usually lasts for weeks--but it doesn't help every time. As far as I've been able to determine for myself, no treatment works perfectly to eliminate pain and nothing helps every single time.
So to open this up for discussion, do you have any back problems, and if so what do you do about it and how effective is your intervention? I could use some fresh ideas!
Today I feel much better and bring this all up due to a study that came out in the Januay 31 issue of theBritish Medical Journal. According to an accompanying editorial:"The review by Martimo and colleagues confirms how little we know about how to prevent and treat back pain. This may be because back pain is a symptom and not a disease.Or perhaps the disorder cannot be reversed once it becomes established, so that no treatment could be effective.
None of the randomised controlled trials or cohort studies included in the reviewfound a positive effect of advice or training in working techniques—with or without lifting equipment—for preventing back pain or consequent disability."
The title of the main article is Effect of training and lifting equipment for preventing back pain in lifting and handling: systematic review and it concludes that no intervention, whether training, drugs or device, seems to help in a statistically significant way.
So essentially the concluson is that until we know more about the causes and pathology of back pain, nothing that we do seems to help on a consistant basis. My own experience backs that up. When I had my last serious back episode I was in Asheville, and I found that soaking in a hot tub helped a lot but only as long as I was in that wonderful hot water. Within 15 minutes of exiting the hot tub, the pain was back. I've also found that repetitive side to side motion, like paddling a kayak, really helps me and that relief usually lasts for weeks--but it doesn't help every time. As far as I've been able to determine for myself, no treatment works perfectly to eliminate pain and nothing helps every single time.
So to open this up for discussion, do you have any back problems, and if so what do you do about it and how effective is your intervention? I could use some fresh ideas!
Comments
Getting in a hot tub works, but like you said, only for that time you're in it. Sometimes for a little while after. But Thermacare is portable heat, and when my back flares up, a couple of days of that helps a whole lot.
Doesn't cure...I'd love to live life without back pain again, but it brings it down to a dull roar.
I am going to get a massage tomorrow, and I know that will help.
Nothign else but that really does anything atall, and the absolute WORST thing to do is to baby it. Weird. weird. weird.