“I woke up a few days ago, and when I got out of bed, I felt something ‘pop’ in my lower back. As soon as I stepped onto the floor, I knew I was in trouble. I had excruciating pain just over my left hip, radiating into the middle of my back.

I saw my GP that evening, and he prescribed something called a Medrol pack, and told me to take it easy for a few days. The medicine has definitely taken the edge off, but it really hasn’t gone away. It feels a little better after I walk around for a while, but I am afraid of overdoing it. How long should I rest it?”

-Stephen

First Stephen- I am sorry you are in so much discomfort, and second, thank you for your question.

That your physician gave you a Medrol Dose Pack suggests to me that you are in a considerable amount of pain. The Dose Pack is a tapering dose of steroids which helps to rapidly reduce inflammation. Now, I haven’t examined you myself, but judging by your description, your pain may be coming from your lumbar spine or your sacroiliac joint. The fact that you feel relief after taking a short walk supports this.

Assuming you have no other issues going on, you should feel slow improvement over the next several days.

As for how long you rest it, that largely varies from person to person. General rule holds true here- if you rest, you rust. Sure you need to give it a couple of days to calm it down, but after that initial acute phase, it is almost always in your best interest to slowly increase your activity levels as tolerated. Reintroduce your daily activities and exercises in a slow, progressive manner, and back off the ones that cause you pain. Your body needs to move, and remaining too sedentary will only cause you to stiffen up, and lose muscle tone. If you continue to feel discomfort ALWAYS follow up with your physician. Remember, your doctor isn’t going to come to you, so even if they’ve seen you- get re-evauated if your pain persists.

I hope this helps Stephen, and again, thank you for your excellent question!

Best,

Andy

My family made the long drive down I95, from Philadelphia to Miami- 23 hours in the car- and it was rough. There is pretty much no way to make that kind of trip in a spine friendly way. However, in spite of being quite stiff and sore, I am grateful to be here. The weather is certainly a step up from what we had when I left Philadelphia, and I’ve heard it has only gotten worse since we left.

Lincoln Road Miami- The Van Dyke- home of the oldest elevator in Florida.

Upcoming Guests…

While I am here, I will be revisiting my friend Jorden Gold of the Stretch Zone to get his ‘One Thing’ segment and maybe some other goodies.

I am also really excited to announce that my wife Donna has agreed to occasionally contribute pieces here on BackWords. Donna has a PhD. in anthropology, and teaches natural childbirth as well. Much of her work with couples teaches them ways to help relax and work through the discomfort of childbirth. I am really looking forward to seeing what she brings to the table, as I know it will be interesting and useful. Look for her first piece on using the observation of beauty as a way of getting in touch with your pain-free self.

Prayer & Back Pain…

Now- I want to take a moment to address some of the feedback I received on the role of faith & prayer on recovery from back pain; Some people seemed to think that I was being dismissive of prayer as a pain relief modality when I suggested that meditation or deep breathing was a substitute for prayer.

Let me be very clear- I don’t think of it as a substitute per se- I was reminding folks that if religion is not part of their makeup, either because they are not religious, or because that do not feel that prayer has any role in recovery from pain- that the small part of their day which would otherwise be devoted to prayer might instead be used for meditation or ‘quiet time.’ There have been studies galore which demonstrate conclusively that meditation and focus can help reduce pain. I am a quietly religious person, and a small part of my day is devoted to prayer (right before bedtime, usually)- and when I have had to deal with pain- be it back pain resulting from a car accident, or from kidney stones- prayer did help.

Twitter Feed Coming Soon….

I am putting the final touches on our new Twitter feed- expanding on the ways for you to get tips and information from Back Together. As of January 1st- you will be able to get information here on backtogether.org, from the Back Together fan page on Facebook, via the direct link to the blog at thebacktogetherblog.com, backtogethertv on YouTube, and via Twitter. Basically, there will be no excuse for you to not be chock full of great pain relief ideas, suggestions, and news.

Thank you again for visiting,

-Andy