Short term back pain advice
March 8, 2022 3:08 PM Subscribe
I am suddenly experiencing back pain for the first time. What can help?
For about a week I've back middle back pain. I have a doctors appointment in a month.
I believe this is related to change in job sites during the pandemic. I moved to a site without proper office chairs, just conference room chairs that are horrible, and I'm driving about 1.5 hours a day for a commute instead of taking the bus and walking.
I haven't found clear advice about what to do specifically for middle back pain, in terms of sleeping position or things like butt or back pillows or other solutions to reducing pain.
For about a week I've back middle back pain. I have a doctors appointment in a month.
I believe this is related to change in job sites during the pandemic. I moved to a site without proper office chairs, just conference room chairs that are horrible, and I'm driving about 1.5 hours a day for a commute instead of taking the bus and walking.
I haven't found clear advice about what to do specifically for middle back pain, in terms of sleeping position or things like butt or back pillows or other solutions to reducing pain.
Back pain can also be referred pain from your kidneys or other organs. I know you said it's the change in work which seems likely, but I feel like it's worth mentioning since waiting a month if you have a kidney infection or something could be dangerous (I know several people who've had this happen). If it's especially painful or doesn't go away, you should go to urgent care.
posted by fern at 5:14 PM on March 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by fern at 5:14 PM on March 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
On your commute, are you sitting kind of far back from the steering wheel with your hands up high at 10 and 2? And is the pain kind of between your shoulder blades? If so, try moving your seat closer and adjusting the steering wheel or the placement of your hands lower so you can still drive safely and not be extended so far forward. You can also try looking up PT exercises for the thoracic spine and see if that helps.
posted by stellaluna at 5:49 PM on March 8, 2022
posted by stellaluna at 5:49 PM on March 8, 2022
IANA/YD, etc. I don’t know whether or not this is muscle pain? But I have had a midback muscle injury, and what helped me most reducing pain in the short term (while waiting for my PT appointment, and all the accompanying stretches/printouts of stretches/access to online database showing stretches) was ice and heat, painkillers, and resting—not being in the position that aggravated the muscles, or doing the activity that caused the injury. Now when I have a mid-back spasm, I immediately put ice on it and stop whatever I was doing. I usually do stretches and heat for ten minutes or so when it’s not actively messed up—just as a muscle relaxing thing at the end of every day. My GP prescribed me a muscle relaxant but I usually just take Tylenol. While you’re getting better stretching recommendations from your doc and people and on here, I would ultimately recommend short ice sessions to help in the short term. Lying on my back with knees up (like for a lower back injury) didn’t seem to hurt.
posted by pepper bird at 7:14 PM on March 8, 2022
posted by pepper bird at 7:14 PM on March 8, 2022
Back pain has so many different possible causes that the main thing that helps is finding out definitively what's causing yours, then addressing that.
Sitting in a rubbish chair for long periods is quite a common cause. If you can't fix the chair, fix the long periods: set a timer, and don't stay sitting in the rubbish chair for more than 20 minutes before standing up and moving around for about one minute. Sounds simple but is actually surprisingly difficult to achieve, which is why so many people think it doesn't really do anything. On the other hand, if it does help then by the time you get a better chair you'll already have the habit established and it will eventually pay dividends even in quite a good chair.
But the main thing I've found useful for the assorted kinds of back pain I've had over the years is taking them seriously because if I don't, they get worse and take longer to clear up.
If you're looking for temporary chemical relief, I've always found either naproxen or diclofenac much more useful against back pain than paracetamol or ibuprofen or aspirin or even opioids, though paracetamol is safe to combine with any of the others and can sometimes boost their effects.
posted by flabdablet at 4:45 AM on March 9, 2022
Sitting in a rubbish chair for long periods is quite a common cause. If you can't fix the chair, fix the long periods: set a timer, and don't stay sitting in the rubbish chair for more than 20 minutes before standing up and moving around for about one minute. Sounds simple but is actually surprisingly difficult to achieve, which is why so many people think it doesn't really do anything. On the other hand, if it does help then by the time you get a better chair you'll already have the habit established and it will eventually pay dividends even in quite a good chair.
But the main thing I've found useful for the assorted kinds of back pain I've had over the years is taking them seriously because if I don't, they get worse and take longer to clear up.
If you're looking for temporary chemical relief, I've always found either naproxen or diclofenac much more useful against back pain than paracetamol or ibuprofen or aspirin or even opioids, though paracetamol is safe to combine with any of the others and can sometimes boost their effects.
posted by flabdablet at 4:45 AM on March 9, 2022
My go tos in your situation are a sports medicine clinic near me (they also do chiropractic but I find the stretches and explanations they give me are worth so much more than any sort of adjustment type work, I use them as basically a PT office) and looking up guides on ergonomics for driving. Might try a lower back support but adjusting the seat and wheel isn't something most of us think about the same way we think about our office chairs.
The other thing is, you want to get motion to help loosen it up. See if you can go for a walk.
posted by Lady Li at 6:40 AM on March 9, 2022
The other thing is, you want to get motion to help loosen it up. See if you can go for a walk.
posted by Lady Li at 6:40 AM on March 9, 2022
Salonpas patches are WONDERFUL for my muscle pain (I get muscle spasms in my shoulders). I recommend the small size so you can slap them on exactly the place that's hurting. Since you have a doctor's appt coming up, I would focus on trying not to make things worse and relieving the pain, and pain relief from patches will protect your stomach/kidneys from the effects of long-term use of internal painkillers.
posted by epj at 7:07 AM on March 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by epj at 7:07 AM on March 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
It sounds like you have an idea of what some of the contributing factors could be but I wanted to mention this anyway: sometimes when a muscle starts hurting and you can't really pinpoint a cause, it can be because that muscle group is overcompensating for a different, underutilized muscle group. If you don't feel like it would cause further injury, maybe trying some gentle chest or core stretches (or even VERY gentle exercises) could help get you a bit of relief until your doctor's appointment?
I cannot stress enough that I am not a medical professional or any kind of muscle expert, I'm basically just parroting what my trainer said when I was dealing with some upper back / neck pain last year. We worked on developing the opposing muscle groups and it really helped.
posted by helloimjennsco at 8:47 AM on March 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
I cannot stress enough that I am not a medical professional or any kind of muscle expert, I'm basically just parroting what my trainer said when I was dealing with some upper back / neck pain last year. We worked on developing the opposing muscle groups and it really helped.
posted by helloimjennsco at 8:47 AM on March 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
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Get a telehealth referral to a physiotherapist, and then do the stretches and exercises that the physio gives you. Depending on what's wrong, the physio (or an orthopedic/sports medicine doctor) may be better equipped to evaluate what's wrong with your back than a generic gp.
I found good physios and a good sports medicine doctor at my local university's sports medicine clinic, which is bolted onto their sports facilities. (It may be generally true that universities have good physios and orthopedists. I don't know enough to say.) I needed a referral for the physio from my gp, but the sports med docs had a weekly open call-first then drop-in open access evaluation session going. In Canada, where the rules and so on may be different.
From your location, here's uwmedicine's sports med facilities. Maybe call them about intake, appointments, referrals, billing, insurances and so on. Their lines are open till 8.
Note that there can be different causes for back pain, and different treatments, so generic advice isn't always good. And may be harmful.
That said, I'd bring in a good chair, and get a lumbar pillow for the car.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:43 PM on March 8, 2022