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| Back pain and middle back question |
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Question:
I'm having some back pain. It's located in the middle of my back.
I've noticed that when I run I get some pain in each stride but not a
lot and it does NOT shoot pain down toward my legs or butt.
The pain seems to be deep in my back under the spine. Or at least it
feels that way. I've also noticed that if I lift my weight off my
butt with my arms when I'm sitting in a chair that I feel some pain as
the spine is stretched and again (but more intense) as the spine
compresses as I put weight back onto my butt.
I've had some similar pain about 10 years ago that was caused by
sleeping way to much (I was in college and sleep was easy to come by)
on a terrible dorm room mattress. Lately I have been sleeping between
8-9 hours a night and more on weekends as my wife is pregnant and
sleeping more now than she used to and I'm doing the same.
Questions:
What are the possible causes of this type of pain?
Can I keep running and still get my back to recover?
If my sleeping quantity is causing this will reducing the amount of
sleep I'm getting correct the problem if I continue to run?
What sleeping position is the most beneficial for people with back
pain similar to mine?
Answer:
I herniated a couple of discs in my lower back 10 years ago doing
construction work. Every doc or chiropractor I saw said to QUIT
running, well, I didn't. If you can get your MD/GP to write you a
script to get physical therapy, there are a whole mess of exercises for
you to learn and do the rest of your life to strengthen and stretch the
muscles to your pelvic girdle that supports your back. Also, if you
have much of a beer belly gut, drop it, as this will pull on & off
balance the back muscles.
It seems most back injuries do occur in the lower back or higher towards
the neck (I've had both.) But I've never heard of a middle injury as you
describe. I do get some muscle soreness there occasionally, but nothing
disk related.
I also went to a chiropracter that works with runners. He was
able to adjust it a bit and noticed that some of the muscles around
the problem area were swollen.
He was confident that after another adjustment that I should
be running pain free again. Yes I am taking all
this with a grain of salt. But, for $25 a visit including the x-ray I
can't complain too much.
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