Back Pain

[incuse (imported)]

Over the past week I have started excercising. I've started out doing a stairmaster for (don't laugh) 15 minutes over the pass 4-5 days and then worked my way up to twenty minutes yesterday.

Since yesterday I have had the worst lower back pain. I tried some generic walgreens doan's extra strength, that has helped some, today I took some left over lortab 7.5 from a recent dental appointment.

The lortab did help, the generic doan's less so.

I'm a good bit over weight, having gained some since hurricane katrina and I hate to have lower back pain mess up my new found initative to feel better.

I thought about buying Ultram at an online pharmacy, but it mentions several reactions with an SSRI I take.

any ideas for some back pain relief? I'd hate to see a doctor..

A eunuch trying to get off his ass...

[tugon (imported)]

Please be careful self medicating if you do not know the cause of the pain. Pain meds can block the pain and then without the warning of the pain some folks continue to injure themselves. You should always stretch and warm up before exercising. Fifteen minutes is a fair amount of time if you have not been exercising. One of the stretches I used to do if my lower back is hurting is to lie face down and using my arms push my shoulders up while keeping my waist on the floor. The purpose of this was to help the lower spine realign itself. Since you are having pain I would stop doing the stairmaster and pick another exercise. A great workout for a person with joint pain or back pain is water aerobics. The water's bouancy takes pressure off the back and joints and the waters resistance increases the aerobic workout. Walking is another great exercise that will help but wearing a good pair of shoes will help reduce the stress on the lower back. Good luck and I hope to get motivated to work out.

[incuse (imported)]

I kinda figured the walk to the excercise room was enough of a warm up. I'll give your idea for stretching a shot over the next few days and see how it goes. For now, I guess I'll stick with doan's to handle the back pain.

Since I moved six months ago, I have been incredible lazy. The only thing that prompted me to start excercising is because I would wake up in the morning with tingling in my arms and my feet seemed colder than they should have been. I really should see a doctor since high blood pressure & diabetes runs in my family, but I wanted to see if I could solve it on my own by excercising first and tossing more veggies into my diet.

[tugon (imported)]

I kinda figured the walk to the excercise room was enough of a warm up. I'll give your idea for stretching a shot over the next few days and see how it goes. For now, I guess I'll stick with doan's to handle the back pain.

Since I moved six months ago, I have been incredible lazy. The only thing that prompted me to start excercising is because I would wake up in the morning with tingling in my arms and my feet seemed colder than they should have been. I really should see a doctor since high blood pressure & diabetes runs in my family, but I wanted to see if I could solve it on my own by excercising first and tossing more veggies into my diet.

You might want to try ibuprofen which is available by many brand names and it is an anti-inflammatory. That should help with the back pain. If you are interessted in preventing diabetes there are some great sites that will help you plan your meals and show you how to balance your food intake. I have a family history of diabetes and I am afraid it is also in my future.

[Sac_mec (imported)]

Tugon's idea is good. Taken as a short term over the counter pain killer and anti-inflammatory Ibupropen may help you and stop you swearing too.

Seriously, before it gets worse see a Sports Physio or better still your Doctor.

They are your front line for support. Your own self help just might be entirely wrong. Having it looked over now is the best thing.

[SplitDik (imported)]

Incuse, congrats on making a commitment to improving your health through exercise!

Now regarding pain -- never take pain killers as a way to get back into the gym! Take pain killers if you must, but don't ignore the pain in order to continue exercising.

The main thing you have to figure out is whether you have a muscular pain, joint pain or a nervous/spinal pain.

New exercises can easily make muscles extremely sore. This is considered a good sign and people who exercise learn to like that soreness as an indication that they have stressed their muscles into growing stronger. If a beginner hits a muscle group hard with exercise, it is not unusual to be tender for over a week. If that is the type of pain you are experiencing, then I suggest you do what bodybuilders do -- do a different type of exercise while you let those muscles recover. For example, do biceps curls rather than aerobic activity. Also, do stretching or get someone to massage the sore muscles. Also eat extra protein to ensure that your muscles have the nutritional elements required to repair themselves.

The next type of muscle pain can be muscle injury, such as pulled muscles or muscle tears. These are more of a searing pain (rather than ache) and usually cause abrupt pain at a certain point of flexing the affected muscle. Do not exercise on top of such pain! It takes a while to heal, but definitely let it heal before continuing with exercise on those muscles. I recently had a muscle tear in my shoulder which has set me back almost a month in weighttraining, but it is healing and I'm not going to push it.

The next type of pain is joint pain. This is usually inflammation, but can also be sprains. In either case, a serious joint pain is something you should see a doctor about. It could be indication of bigger problem (like arthritis or osteoporosis), and in any case prescription anti-inflammatories might be a good idea.

Spinal pain can be caused by a variety of spinal problems such as disc problems which can degenerate, slip, herniate or even rupture. Some of these problems can fix themselves or can be fixed through adjustment (like chiropracty); however, others will eventually require surgical intervention. See a doctor if the pain seems to be a nerve pinch type of pain coming from the spine itself (rather than the muscles arount it).

I have the feeling that you just overworked the muscles, and while they may be very sore for a while, it is actually a sign of successful exercise! This is the "no pain, no gain" stuff!

[mrt (imported)]

I agree! Don't self medicate with the serious drugs. The Military folks say that for this kind of pain Motrim is the best. I've tried a few different things and I have to agree. Once you start working out regularly you will feel less and less pain. Get on a schedual and do it the same time if you can. Don't start out with insane amounts of work out and then quit. Do it a little. Add more. Work you way up. Pretty soon you will be doing long distances that would have killed you at first and you will feel start feeling better and better.

Good luck!

[incuse (imported)]

I think I did just overwork it. My back has been aching less and less over the pass few days. so I imagine it's just getting adjusted to being used.

[incuse (imported)]

Ohh yeah, forgot to mention.

I started out at 15 minutes @ 1.25 miles, that about killed me, but kept that up for 2-3 days. Then, got up to 20 minutes at 1.5 miles... yesterday I did 20 minutes @ 2.1 miles.

Just in a week, I've been able to get it up higher. The first day the 15 minutes @ 1.25 killed me, now .... IN JUST A WEEK, 20 minutes @ 2.1 miles is fine.

the machine I'm using at my apartments excercise room, I mistakenly said it was a stairmaster, it's not... it's an eliptical machine.

Over the pass 2-3 days, I've noticed that my sleeping patterns have leveled out and no longer scattered like a depressed person would have. and while I do have only a mild back pain I seem to be a bit more cheery throughout the day.

I'm gonna keep this up. In just the last 2-3 days, I've noticed a difference in my life.

[SplitDik (imported)]

Ohh yeah, forgot to mention.

I started out at 15 minutes @ 1.25 miles, that about killed me, but kept that up for 2-3 days. Then, got up to 20 minutes at 1.5 miles... yesterday I did 20 minutes @ 2.1 miles.

Just in a week, I've been able to get it up higher. The first day the 15 minutes @ 1.25 killed me, now .... IN JUST A WEEK, 20 minutes @ 2.1 miles is fine.

the machine I'm using at my apartments excercise room, I mistakenly said it was a stairmaster, it's not... it's an eliptical machine.

Over the pass 2-3 days, I've noticed that my sleeping patterns have leveled out and no longer scattered like a depressed person would have. and while I do have only a mild back pain I seem to be a bit more cheery throughout the day.

I'm gonna keep this up. In just the last 2-3 days, I've noticed a difference in my life.

Great! It is really amazing, but physical exercise really does a lot of mental good.

Elliptical machines are the best machine for what you are doing, so I'm glad you have access to one. After you get consistent on that, without any soreness, add some other variety, such as light weight training. The trick is to commit yourself to a fitness regimen, but not let repetitiveness set in.

Make sure you take "before" and "after" pictures!