The Singapore Forum

Slinkette needed help getting a knot untied from her pajama bottoms this morning and as I bent over - probably no more than 45 degrees - there was a bit of a pop in my lower back and now I'm in a decent amount of pain/discomfort. As the kids were eating breakfast I thought I might throw up. My maid gave me a patch thingy with camphor & menthol, etc in it and that has helped a bit, but wow. This has never happened to me before - I've never had back issues (well, apart from when I was pregnant with twins....). So, what's best -- heat & ibuprofen? Or do I need Dr. Jo the Osteo?

Lower back? Something to do with your core muscles not stabilising this region. There's some simple exercises that can help relieve it.

Lower back stretch
Lie on the floor, face down. Put hands in press-up position. Push up upper torso, leaving hips on the ground. This should stretch your stomach and lower back. If you want to really give it that extra, breathe in at the bottom and out at the top, this arches your back even more.

First 72 hours you should ice it. After that heat.

Head to a physio asap (today) and they should tell you that very exercise, maybe massage it to help and muscle spasm, maybe do some infra red, sonic and/or TENS (electric nerve stimulation) stuff on it. Go back as many times as you can in the first week (I've had this trouble before: when I went back weekly it was some time before major improvements, when I went daily and did the exercises it was only a mild discomfort after teh first week)

Do the exercise 3-4 times a day (every hour if you need to) and this will help relieve it. Physio will tell you how to improve your core muscles in order to help you (various exercises that you clench your klegals (sp?) just before the rest of the exercise).

Ibuprofen and other pain killers aren't that useful. If needs be see your doc to get some codiene-based pain killer (though mostly these come with paracetamol, which again isn't that helpful). You can buy these direct from the pharmacist, I think they are called panadiene over here (500mg paracetamol, 8mg codiene). Obviously don't take take if alergic or have any other prescriptions without seeing a doctor first.

edits- webpage, extra tips on physio

Thanks, FB. Now that you mention it, Mr. S does that same stretch (he has a compressed disc in his lower back). I'll see about giving that a go. I asked about ibuprofen because it's an anti-inflammatory - that's not good for this kind of thing?

Ouch! I have no suggestions, but just wanted to say that I hope you feel better soon, Slinky!

Ibubrofen is a good pain killer and anti-inflammatory. I always keep a stock of 400mg tabs in case of overdoing it in the gym or dragon boating. Always take with food as it's quite irritating to the stomach and if you take it over a long period will give you bubbly bowels!

what FB said.

and don't do the exercise until you have seen a physio.

Yes

Ow. Take care of it Slinky -

Getting?

Back pain is never fun. See a physio, and make sure you ask for guidance on exercises you can do at home to strengthen your back. When you're able, I've heard that Pilates is very good for core strength.

Pilates? Is that Japanese pirates?

Ibuprofen or naproxen or paracetamol will all help a little in the relief front, but it'll be short-lived. Get to the physio for the exercises which will help relieve it on a more permanent strategy, and for short term then codiene is good (the perfect mix would be with ibuprofen, but I'm unsure if that's available here).

Ibuprofen on it's own isn't strong enough and is not good for long-term relief.

OK, have just been to the osteopath and it feels a bit better now but is still sore. He says the pain should subside in 2-3 days - so hopefully he's right. He says heat and not ice, btw, and that the naproxen sodium I took this morning is good. But you are right, FB, the pain relief from it doesn't last all that long.

Baloo and BoD - kicking me while I'm down?? (it was purely a rhetorical question!! )

Best time to kick someone is when they can't run and kick you back

If it makes you feel better, I am older than you and have a bad back at well

You've slipped a disk darlink! Off to a physio and then follow the exercises above. It is a real bugger, so painful and will only get worse unless you get it seen too xxx