My back hurts.

[naomikritzer]

While lifting Kiera out of the car today, I thought about how impractical the advice on lifting children is. Lift with your legs, not with your back, but this isn't terribly helpful when you're balancing on a snowdrift, trying to haul a fidgety one-year-old out of a low-roofed car one-handed while not banging their head on the door on the way out. Fortunately, I thought, walking up towards the house, my back seemed to handle that okay.

Not five minutes later, I was taking a bag of grapes out of the fridge, and my back seized up. It felt like a charley horse at first -- both in terms of the intense pain, and the feeling that if I could just rub the right spot or stretch in the correct way, everything would slip back into place and it would be okay.

My back still hurts. The stretching did not help. Going swimming in a therapeudic (warm) swimming pool with the girls this evening did not help. Icing it did not particularly help and the ibuprofin I took a little while ago is not helping (though maybe it will kick in soon). Is this something for which a chiropractor might help? This happens to me periodically, always totally out of the blue, frequently in my sleep (so I wake up in pain). When I've gone to a doctor for it I've always been told it's a muscle strain and they can't give me anything that will fix it. I've never tried a chiropractor because my mother is firmly in the chiropractors are quacks school of thought, and it's hard to shake that sort of prejudice when you grew up with it. The mailings we get from local chiropractors trying to drum up business don't help any.

If I should see a chiropractor, does anyone know of a local (Minneapolis) chiropractor they recommend? (There's one I know from a political campaign we both worked on, Rebecca Allen. I think her office is even nearby. I have no idea if she's any good, but at least I know that she's nice.)

When I put on my bathing suit this afternoon (on swim nights I change at home, then put my clothes on overtop, before heading to the pool), I looked in the mirror and realized that one of my shoulders was several inches higher than the other. Weirdly, it's the one that doesn't hurt that's higher than the other.

Comments

[careswen.livejournal.com]

I do admin for a physical therapy clinic, and I'd like to humbly recommend you consider PT for your back trouble. Therapists use manual techniques different from chiropractors, and they teach you exercises, body mechanics, and other home care to strengthen your back and keep it from getting out o' whack again. My understanding is that the techniques PTs use are much gentler and longer-lasting than chiros (though admittedly my sources may be biased).

The fact that your shoulders are uneven is pretty commonly related to back problems, and PT can help you resolve that. I bet one of your hips is higher than the other too -- probably the opposite side of your shoulder.

I'm no PT, so I'm just guessing based on what I've learned from our PTs and my own back treatment. But it might be worth considering.

I'd be happy to provide more info if you're interested.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I see Dr. Krogan on Chicago Ave. (About 56th & Chicago, in the strip mall between First Course and Nokomis Cup.) One of the things I like about her is that she doesn't push me for regular visits. I can come in when I need it, when the yoga and other exercises haven't kept my back in alignment, and not hear a spiel about coming in twice a week. Some chiropractors push really hard on that in situations where it isn't really appropriate.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Can't give advice for a chiropractor, sorry. But if you can, try some yoga. Good for injuries.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

If you like, I have cards to give out that will give you a free week at the studio I've been using, on the outskirts of downtown. Do you want one?

[naomikritzer]

Thanks, but I don't think I could arrange for the free time and childcare and so on right now. My health club has a "yoga for health" class, though, maybe I will check that out.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Becca is a good chiropractor, and she's on LJ - chirosinger. You can find more about her practice here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/chirosinger/15601.html#cutid1

She's really nice about fitting people in when they need help ASAP. She's on Bloomington Ave, around 36th St. She is also very professional about knowing what she can treat and what she should refer to a specialist.

Back pain is no fun.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

PT for muscular back pain is a good option, because the therapists can teach you ways to help keep it from happening again.

Chiro for immediate pain relief is also a viable option; there are several studies out that show that responsible chiros who don't push you to come in twice weekly, weekly, or even monthly, can do a lot to alleviate back pain, especially chronic lower back pain.

Here's hoping that yours doesn't become chronic.

[naomikritzer]

This has been a recurring problem but it's always been upper back and shoulders. My lower back only hurts when I have my period.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

I don't want to be a putz and make a diagnosis without ever having seen you or anything, but it could be that your doc is right and this is muscular strain, complicated by muscles that are under tension. (There's a long differential diagnosis that I won't bore you with.)

it's pretty usual to see the unaffected shoulder being carried 'higher' than the other as muscles across the back compensate for the pulled/strained muscles that are causing the problem, and then that compensation can cause more pain...

Regardless, both chiro and PT are good options; I tend to favor PT more for long term 'how can I keep from having this happen again'. But you need relief now.

If you haven't, try some ibuprofen. An acute visit to PT, depending on what the therapist thinks, may garner you ultrasound treatment (which I gather works fairly well).

I recommend, as being near you, the Institute of Athletic Medicine physical terrorists. :)

[springbok1.livejournal.com]

When I have back, shoulder, or neck pains I usually get a trigger point massage. It's not the sort of massage you get when you want to just relax, it's a massage where the therapist puts a lot of localized pressure on certain points. I am usually still sore after this sort of massage - but it deadens the pain from sharp shooting pain to a sort of shallower general soreness.

I also recommend that you try something like Yoga or Pilates. I have a Pilates VHS tape you'd be welcome to borrow (I know, I know - what is this primitive thing called VHS!!)

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

I lifeted something heavy once and put my back right out.

I went to a chiropractor to treat it.

He had me come in four times and reccomended PT in order to strengthen my back muscles.

fixed me up good, actually, and i haven't had problems with it since. I think what really did it was that he said that I should do physical therapy as well, because it would help me from having worse problems down the road, and that he was an immediate quick fix, not the person who could cure me so long as I came in twice a week.