OT: Lower back pain

Need some advice…. Ever since starting treatment, I’ve been experiencing a lot of low back pain when moving positions… this didn’t start or atleast get noticed till I got my machine….

I sleep on my left side, but some times during the night I wind up on my back and when its time to roll, to maneuver myself and not to cause my mask to slip too much (which sometimes it does because the ClimateLine is heavy and pulls on my mask) I actually sit up alittle to position myself on my side. Its when I do that I experience pain enough to wake me up. Its very annoying and I don’t like pain. I already have 3 disc bulges and hypersensitivity in my lumbar spine which is being somewhat treated by Lyrica. Is there anything I can do for comfort? Padding? Egg crate pad? Memory foam? I was thinking, maybe its my pillow that’s angling my back a certain way…. I dunno… open to any suggestions… Unfortunately I cant afford a new mattress yet… its about 6yrs old.

Physical therapy to strengthen the back muscles.
I would avoid chiro- Just my choice.
Some chiro schools have a suspiciously high emphasis on marketing.

Perhaps a memory foam topper or something similar. I good firm one and not excessively thick. I did try one that was 4 inches thick and to be honest the 2 inch one that I got for my husband's truck mattress seemed to do better. YMMV though.

I have really bad arthritis in my pelvis and lower spine (old auto injury..multiple pelvic and spine fx) along with some newly developing scolisois. Before I sprung the big bucks for a Sleep number bed I tried the mattress topper. It seemed to do well for about a year. Or maybe my back just got worse..I don't know.
Sleep number bed has helped greatly but I still have considerable pain with turning over in bed sometimes..So my doc added a low dose of amitryptiline (10 mg) to help with the pain and that has helped a lot also. Now I have few times with wakening from turning over in bed. So a combination of things for me.

I also use a small buckwheat pillow for my head. I am small person and large or tall pillow puts my head at an awkward angle...with arthritis in the cervical spine also, large pillows will give me a horrible muscle tension headache.

You may have to play around with different things. The mattress topper isn't cheap (at least the good ones) so you might try a different pillow for your head to start with. I prefer to sleep on my side because when I am on my back for very long it just plain hurts. Until I recently broke my wrist I stayed off my back most of the time. With the cast I had to sleep on my back and now my body is in that habit. Woke up this morning flat on my back and hurting like the devil. Guess I need to retrain my body to stay on my side more. Always something....even for those of us that have been on the machine for a while.

you said a lot of back pain so this may not be enough but i find this product to be good for my lower back pain. (BIOFREEZE)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002J9 ... 00_details

Meowser, I'm going to add a non-feminine answer to chunkyfrog's comment - Physical therapy to strengthen the back muscles. which I agree with. But I have an old motorcycling injury and sometimes I wear a ballistic belt like this. http://www.powersportsnetwork.com/enthu ... ct=1194618 Care must be taken to not over do it, cause it seems wearing it too much weakens the back. But when I have a painful lower back like you describe, I'll put this on for the night.. It's an aid that helps get me through the night. Hope that helps without offending your femininity

n0hardmask wrote: Hope that helps without offending your femininity

sorry had to chuckle at this.... it takes quite a bit to offend me... I'm a Veteran Sailor who swears like one, talks and thinks like one... so nothing these eyes have read or ears heard offends lol

Uncle_Bob wrote:you said a lot of back pain so this may not be enough but i find this product to be good for my lower back pain. (BIOFREEZE)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002J9 ... 00_details

I've heard about that stuff and heard it works... may look into getting some, thank you!

Pugsy wrote:Perhaps a memory foam topper or something similar.

Before I sprung the big bucks for a Sleep number bed I tried the mattress topper.

my parents got a sleep number bed and they swear by it.... I would love to get one.... but I misplaced my money tree seeds lol

I'll look for a good memory foam topper or maybe a new pillow....

Thanks!

Meowser wrote:my parents got a sleep number bed and they swear by it.... I would love to get one.... but I misplaced my money tree seeds

I sure understand. We got ours after Thanksgiving last year as they had the bed we wanted for 50% off as a Black Friday sale. Also had no interest for 12 months thing.

I think there is some sort of special going on right now that offers 36 months no interest thing. I bet they also have another Black Friday sale. You might look...doesn't cost to look.

We were at the point with our old mattress that we were just going to have to buy something. No amount of memory toppers could fix it. So we figured gotta buy something...get what we want. I haven't had one regret with it.
While I can't say it made all my pain go away...it helped significantly with it so that meds and such do a better job with the rest. Before I got it...not even narcotic pain meds would give me a good nights sleep.

But I suspect a good topper will buy you some time. They do help and are hugely less expensive when compared to Sleep number bed. Do get a "good" one though. My sister got a less expensive one and it lost a lot of its firmness within about 6 months. She still likes it but says she would next time buy better.. BTW better doesn't have to be 3 or 4 hundred dollars. A good king size topper can be found at overstock.com for around $150. She paid $80 for hers.

I have a some lower back issue's also. Probably in need of a new Mattress as well, but my money tree fell out in the street and was looted! I'm a back sleeper so I have been sleeping with a pillow under my knees for years. It keeps my lower back straight and takes any pressure off of it. I would recommend this if your going to do any back sleeping, if not you can start with it between your knees on your side, then switch it under your knees later on if you go to your back.

A few years ago I got a TempurPedic topper, I guess it was 1 or 2 inches thick, just remember it was thin but effective. Got lucky - found it either new or like new at a thrift shop for $15. It made a trememdous difference in my low back pain, which was diagnosed as facet arthropathy, and in my shoulder pain. Getting some control over my leg movements was the next milestone in helping my lower back pain. Still have some pain issues, but not of the same magnitude. Physical therapy taught me a lot about positions to avoid, etc. If I ignore those body mechanics, my back can deteriorate in flash. Last few months I've been sleeping on a couch. While my shoulder is suffering from it, surprisingly, my back is holding up. I was thinking of looking for a twin size topper for the couch. My daughter walso had back problems when in bed and a foam topper helped hers tremendously. It probably depends on the cause of the back pain whether it would help much or not. My physical therapist advised sleeping on my side with a pillow between my knees and between my arms to maintain alignment.

chunkyfrog wrote:Physical therapy to strengthen the back muscles.

See "fix the back, Stay in the drops" about half way down the page.

http://www.cyclo-club.com/products/item11.cfm

It is 15' of stretching and 15' of strength exercise.
I have been doing this for 5yrs. I don't have lower back pain, anymore.
The yoga programs are also very good, even if you are not a cyclist.

It does require effort and commitment.

I'm with Pugsy on the sleep number bed. Hubby & I have one in our condo and one in the family's country cabin. Love the one with memory foam between the air mattress and the top cover. I have chronic pain, too, and these beds really help. And, because the air mattresses on each side are separate from each other, you and your partner can have different firmness/softness.

ThirdOutOfFive wrote:I'm with Pugsy on the sleep number bed. Hubby & I have one in our condo and one in the family's country cabin. Love the one with memory foam between the air mattress and the top cover. I have chronic pain, too, and these beds really help. And, because the air mattresses on each side are separate from each other, you and your partner can have different firmness/softness.

the things I am trying.
i am now doing an hour a day of trading water - horizontally - in a water tank I've made into a swimming pool.
body hug pillow at night between knees and feet, arm usually on the top to be parallel to the pillow.
new 2nd hand matress which is firmer that the old one.
and some of the back pain was definately at a higher cc, so that part must have been the rib cage movement I reckon.