lower back pain - OUCH!

[kember]

i've ben having this pain in the right lower part of my body lately

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/3133/painsu5.png

i went to the doctor and he gave me some medicine and some kind of a salve (is that what you call it?) and i guess you can say the pain was gone , but lately i've ben getting it back , some times i can hardly feel any kind of pain , sometimes i get ALOT of pain specially and when am walking , and when i do high kicks in karate , and if i put all of my weight on my left leg and bend it a little , i get lots of pain as well.

(the images is not completley right , am not that sure)

i hope someone could tell me whats wrong , the weird thing is , its only on the right side , i didint get an injury or anything.

Thanks in advance

[Orion]

Hi Kember

Welcome to KF, I get the pain in the same place but I get it in both sides. I have started to stetch more and also I am doing some light strethening moves. I find I still get the pain sometimes but I get it alot less. How long have you had it?

[blackxpress]

I had it real bad over the summer. I wiped out water skiing and compressed the lower 5 vertebrae. It took several trips to the chiropractor but that coupled with a lot of extra stretches that my Sensei helped me with fixed it up good as new. Sensei told me last night he's really impressed with my progress in the flexibility dept. Have you thought about visiting a chiropractor? Sounds like you could use an adjustment or two.

[kember]

i've had it since like 3 months , also are your cases in any way related to the joint as well?

[bushido_man96]

Welcome to KF, kember!

It could be related to a lack of muscle strength, or flexibility, or both. I would try to get it looked at by a specialist, to see what they recommend.

[TigerDude]

Back pain is always tough, because a doctor can't see pain.

Pain in that area could be the S-I joint (Sacrum-Illiac), degenerated or bulging vertabrae disks, muscle spasms, or even (I hate to say it, but I knew a guy who found one through pain) a cancerous tumor.

Casues of back pain are long and varied as well, and include mental as well as physical causes. My one recommendation is that if you go see a doctor or chiropractor, don't let them tell you that they really know what the problem is, because they most likely do not. Chiroprators can help, but they can also drain your money for weeks before you figure out it isn't helping. Doctors will send you for thousand-dollar tests that may or may not reveal the problem.

The only thing that helps my back is epidural steroid injections and staying stress-free.

Good luck.

[Fosgate]

My suggestion is to lie on the floor on your back with your legs (calves) resting up on the sitting surface of a chair or low bed. You can use a pillow under your head for comfort.

What this does is put one in a sitting position, knees bent at 90 degrees, and decompresses the lumbar and sacral areas. Chiropractic, physical therapy, gravity boots, and those inversion tables accomplish the same thing through traction. Before going to bed, I used to fall asleep on the floor doing this. Straighten your legs while doing it, arc them to the left and right like a metronome, then put them back down. Feels great.

[Leopard claw]

Have you thought about acupuncture? Worked great for me when I pulled my leg muscle.

Also there is a warm up exercise called the cobra that we do in class, you lay flat on your stomach, both legs flat and behind you and gradulally use your arms to arch your back up. This helps with the flexibibility of your back and can help to get rid of back problems.

But check with you Doc first!