Stupid back

[jchrisobrien]

Ever since last week, I seem to have a pulled muscle in my lower back, right below my tailbone. It's a numb pain that flares up when I straighten to stand up, most of the time. I think it's a pulled muscle. Are there any specific stretches useful to causing this to heal up? How long before it goes away?

Comments

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

You should talk to a trainer at the gym about that.

Also, take aspirin or some sort of other NSAID. If you've pulled a muscle, there's inflammation, and inflammation damages tissue. You'll heal faster if you knock down the inflammation with a NSAID.

[random-girl.livejournal.com]

You might want to talk to a massage therapist or a doctor (or both). I injured a muscle in my upper back a few years ago pretty badly and waited until it was throbbing so much I couldn't sleep. That was bad.

They gave me muscle relaxants and anti-inflammation medication, but I was basically sunk; I re-injure it from time to time because of how bad I let it get.

Arnica to the rescue!

[dwaallicht.livejournal.com]

If I haven't extolled at ridiculous length the virtues of arnica for after dancing all night, now is the time.... ;) (sorry, no stretch advice...)

Arnica gel (and tablets) can be found at places like Harnett's and Whole Foods. The two big names are Boiron and Arniflora... both seem to work equally well. It's a homeopathic preparation of the Arnica Montana flower and is for inflammation and used to treat bruises, sprains, pulled muscles, etc. The usual comment within ten minutes of someone applying it to an injury is something along the lines of "Is it supposed to have stopped hurting so fast???"

I can't recommend it enough. (Yes, I've been called an herbal pusher... but it really does work this well. I swear!) Someone who has pulled a neck muscle from time to time (that lovely burning snap followed by numbness and pain for over a week) found that he was back to normal within 3 days (and he was a confirmed sceptic). I'm prone to bruising and arnica applied right after whacking myself on something usually keeps it from bruising *at all*. Someone with carpal tunnel pain found it helped within minutes.... and a friend who threw her back out and aggravated an old car injury said it was un-f**kng-believable and felt largely better within a few days (she was taking the tablets as well). A coworker who runs the Boston Marathon calls it "miracle gel" and said it was the ONLY thing (even including over the counter meds like Aleve, etc) that worked on the pain in her back.

Arnica tablets/pills are also homeopathic and would also be good for your back as they affect more systemic inflammation. My first experience was waking after helping a friend move and feeling an ache all over... tried the wee tablets and found that even as a passionate advocate of the gel, I was amazed to find the systemic ache completely gone in 10 minutes.

So... be gentle with yourself... no lifting pianos... have lots of sushi and good music.... and ARNICA!!! *healing hug* ;)

~T


A scientific snippet from http://www.kcweb.com/herb/arnica.htm:

"The active components in arnica are sesquiterpene lactones, which are known to reduce inflammation and decrease pain. Other active principals are thymol (an essential oil), flavonoids, inulin, carotenoids and tannins.

Arnica works by stimulating the activity of white blood cells that perform much of the digestion of congested blood, and by dispersing trapped, disorganized fluids from bumped and bruised tissue, joints and muscles"

(p.s. And after you're all healed up and dancing until the sun comes up, applied at the end of the night (I usually put some on upon reaching the car), you won't be sore the next day! ;)

Re: Arnica to the rescue!

[silas7.livejournal.com]

thanks, I'll give that a try :)

Re: Arnica to the rescue!

[alonewiththemoon]

you might want to test it on a small patch of skin before putting a lot on--I get a violent skin reaction to it :-(