Wheever

So this morning, after a very long work week, and dealing with a cold, I reached down to pick up my socks off the floor and my back went out! I went down like poleaxed. I was just getting ready to go for a ride on this moderately nice January weather! Looking forward to it all week!

It's my classic lumbar quadratus spam, but I haven't had one this bad in years. I can't really walk at the moment. I'm so bummed! Getting old sucks.

Just sharing. Thanks for listening. Ima go lie in bed and mope now.

David Bierbaum

I've had luck riding when I could barely walk with lower back pain, and lying down just gave me nothing to do but concentrate on how much my back hurt. There is something about riding that does my back good as well, so that I've had fewer episodes, and those less severe.

Get better soon, and find something to keep your attention off your back, like a good videogame or binge-watching a show you've been meaning to catch up on...

qcpmsame 

Hopefully, it isn't a disk getting blown into the spinal column, been there, done that, etc. If its simply a muscle spasm, a warm soaking bath will help the muscles to relax some, and for you to relax, as well. Avoid sitting in a recliner, or anything that lets you slouch down, and not keep the spine straight as possible.

Good luck with getting the back to ease up, this isn't any fun at all, as you well know.

Bill

peterws

Got something similar chucking the ball for the dog 25 years ago. And again at Xmas carol singing in freezing weather.
Quack told me to get up and move around. It got better. A slipped disc I think.
Very little trouble since.

But now I gets an arthritc foot. For one who likes to ride on the pedals, this isnt good. .

When ya get older, life gets better and it also gets worse. Bit like marriage really ha ha. . wonder whats next??? !

curbtender

Know the feeling. Body doesn't like to bend like it used to. I'm doing morning exercise aimed at my lower body, sit ups, leg lifts, torso bends . Seems to help.

RonH

Maybe you need to invest in a good inversion table. My spine doc recommended that I get one to help stretch out my lower spine.

nobodyhere

Sit ups are no longer a recommended exercise.

Want a stronger core? Skip the sit-ups - Harvard Health

"One reason is that sit-ups are hard on your back"

Rick@OCRR

I feel your pain! At least I feel mine . . . pretty much all the time. Dr. says it's arthritis in my lower back. Physical Therapy has me rolling on a foam roller every day, both vertical and horizontal and that helps. Short rides (30 mi. approx.) I'm okay without drugs but for longer rides I need vitamin "I", otherwise known as ibuprophen.

Rick / OCRR

350htrr

Jacuzzi... Hot tub and water jet massaging to the area works for me.

GerryinHouston

I was crippled in a similar fashion when I was 26 playing squash. I reached deep for a forehand and dropped like poleaxed. I couldn't stand up on my own, unless my whole spine was in column. Took about a week lying on the floor on a heating pad...

This has revisited me 3 times, when I did something stupid to throw my back off. A good chiropractor helps. There is also a different treating method called Bowen Technique (also known as Bowtech). Helped a lot in 2014 when my back was off due to a car accident (a lady rear-ended my Mustang doing 70... totaled it).

hillcountry

I had back spasms about thirty years ago when I was young and in good shape. Now that I'm old and in poor shape, I never get them. I found that icing the back really helps the most to calm the spasms. Better than heat, muscle relaxants, etc. I would ice for thirty minutes, let it warm up for about twenty then ice it again. I put a t-shirt under the ice pack to prevent frostbite. I had shoulder surgery a while back also and found that icing twice after physical therapy did wonders then too. Good luck!

canklecat

Ditto, although for me it's usually the neck. Permanent C2 damage, nothing I can do to completely prevent the spasms. Kept me off the bike Friday and Saturday despite the relatively nice weather. Maybe Sunday. Sometimes it's bad enough I'll take a muscle relaxer, although those tend to make my legs feel like mush - I can still ride, just slowly. My concession is a comfy bike that's soft enough to soak up the bumps while still being efficient enough for 10-20 mile rides and modest hills.

Carbonfiberboy 

If it's just muscle spasm it's because you aren't doing enough back work. The older you get, the more you have to work to keep your muscle size and strength. It's harder to put it on and quicker to lose it. That's the reason I've had a gym membership since 1979 and my wife and I are two of the few people who have shown up regularly for years. Resting it is oldthink. Work it until it hurts like the devil, then rest it a bit, then work it some more. That's assuming it's not a disc, just lumber stenosis, thin discs, arthritic facets, the usual BS. It's all about muscular strength and endurance. I don't medicate. I go to the gym. It's not getting old that sucks. It's getting weak that sucks.

reverborama

Been there. Last January, less than a week before I was leaving for Taiwan to visit my brother, the same thing happened to me. It usually takes about 2 weeks for me to recover. Because I had a 14 hour flight ahead of me I went to the doctor for some pain meds and I'm pretty sure they thought I was a drug seeker. I've had it happen probably 4 or 5 times over the last 30 years so I really don't think it has anything to do with getting old, per se.

benetga

I changed jobs at 51 to a more physical one. My back use to give me problems before not so much now. My core muscles have gotten a lot stronger but now at almost 59 its arthritis.

Wheever

I'm probably not, although I do do daily weight training most weeks. I've always been a resistance training person, and do fully understand the benefits of muscle. But I think this mostly happened because I had a cold and, as a result, didn't get up and do my stretches every hour or so at work. (Plus, sitting and coughing and sneezing while at work, and not feeling well enough to work out either before or after work.) biking has really helped my back, but I haven't been able to be on the bike much over the holidays, with a trip overseas and two long flights, and the cold...a perfect storm, really!

Believe me, I'm going to be much more diligent about all this from now on!

Carbonfiberboy 

You might want to look at Machka's Ab thread over in Training and Nutrition.

berner

My back is in terrible shape and was prone to continual back ache and occasional spasm. At one point it was so painful that had the building burning I would have been unable to move. Everyone is different but what has helped the most, as Carbonfiberboy suggests, has been a steady diet of daily core exercises. There is no substitute or slacking off for best results.

curbtender

"Getting old sucks" Give some answers to this...

ltxi

Not for me...at 72 I think this old age thing is turning out to be pretty cool. I got my first debilitating, immobilizing back spasm circa age 12. Last was at age 31 or 32. Nothing since. And after that things just got even better. I do have an arthritic, lower bad back issue now but it's treatable and I can still do whatever I could 20 years ago, albeit it often takes a bit longer. But now retired my time is my own and I really don't care.

billd76

I had lower back pain a couple of years ago. Mine only hurt when first getting out of bed in the morning, some mornings it was fine. I would have to do 10 -15 minutes of stretching before I could move without pain. Went to the family doc, got x-rays. Showed rheumatoid arthritis. Doc said just take Alevw or Ibuprophen. Which I did with some success. Pain began to get worse, went back to the Doc. Told him I wanted an MRI. He stated that insurance wouldn't cover the MRI unless I had completed physical therapy first. Told him that was BS!! Anyway, he convinced the Insurance company to cover the MRI. Turns out I had two synovial cysts on L4 and L5 that were closing off the nerve canal. Physical Therapy would not have helped at all! Scheduled the surgery ASAP. Out patient surgery. Will be two years ago this coming May. I have been pain free ever since. Maybe not the same as your pain, just thought I would relay my experience . Good luck with your pain management.

Wheever

Thanks for sharing your experience! Mine is a plain ol' spasm in the left lumbar Quadratus. I've had them before, but not for years. It's better today, but I'm back at work sitting, so I'm sure that's going to be really good for it. Not.

Wheever

Welp, my back is still a mess. Not as bad, no, but pretty bad.

I've been daydreaming a lot about a certain woman I was briefly involved with a few years ago. She was drop-dead gorgeous, tall and blonde and lovely; brilliant and interesting...and had at one point been what many many consider, somehow, the holy grail: a stripper. In short, she was pretty literally a goddess.

So Why have I been Fantasizing about this gorgeous goddess? Because she was a massage therapist, certified in both shiatsu and deep-tissue massage, And I know she could fix my back up and get me back on the bike in no time!

I guess this tells you all you need to know about my priorities in life at this point!

curbtender

Ha, not that your life sucks, just your priorities...

big chainring 

I hurt my back when I was 16 yrs old. My back has been giving me problems ever since. After 40 some years of Chiropractors, physical therapists, and pill pushers I have come upon a miracle product. Made by Gaiam. Sold at Target. It's shaped like a peanut, about a foot long and 5 inches in diameter. You lay on the floor and roll on it. The relief I have gotten from this thing is amazing. The first time I used it my back just kept popping and stretching. All the little knots and pinching I had been feeling were releived. Best $15 I ever spent.