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| Early morning back pain |
Question:
I've been suffering from back pain
for 2 years now. Although some 'features'
have changed, the one constant is
that it comes on in the early morning
while I'm in bed, but gets easier
or disappears during the day. I had
a really bad spell about a year ago,
when I would regularly be woken up
at 4am (or thereabouts) with chronic
pain in my lower back that could only
be eased by getting up. I used to
resort to falling asleep in my chair
- lying down was just too painful.
Sometimes I could barely move to get
out of bed for the pain. Needless
to say I became exhausted, and this
didn't help me cope with the pain.
I also often had a sharp pain from
my back to my leg that was painful
when I walked on it. The thing I found
strange was that once I was up and
about after about 30 minutes / an
hour of moving around, the pain would
ease dramatically, even the sharp
pain down my legs. It was almost as
if my back ceased up over night. I
sleep on my side and have tried different
beds & pillow arrangements.
I started seeing a physio who said that my problems stem from bad
posture and inflexibility. He gave me some exercises which really
helped. I started swimming every week, and now things are much, much
better. I no longer have the sharp pain down my leg. However, I just
can't seem to shift the early morning pain - it doesn't wake me up at
4am that often any more, but my back is always very sore in the
morning, and it doesn't let me have any lie-ins past about 7am. At
weekends, I usually wake up early, and doze, being very aware of the
pain, but too tired to do anything about it, until it becomes
unbearable.
Once I'm up and about, I rarely have pain during the day, unless it's
been a particularly active day, and my back is just tired - this is
just "ordinary" back ache, though, and different to the pain i get in
the mornings. I know there are lots of things I could try but I'm at a
loss as to where to start. The physio i saw seemed surprised that i had
this pain coming on in the mornings - he couldnt' explain why it would
happen like that. Has anyone experienced the same problems? Does anyone
have any practical advice?
Answer:
You should investigate the bed issue again. A harder mattress is not always
better for people. You're going to have to play Goldilocks until you find
the one that's just right.
A lot of the high $$$ beds like the Craftmatic, whatever that "memory foam"
bed is called, and the Select Comfort all have some type of trial period.
Don't get scared about the price of these big buck beds, just do the test
drives and send all of them back, even if you find the "just right" among
them. Hopefully you will, but you will also be paying monstrous full mark up
retail prices if you keep the one sent directly from the factory. Once you
find the one that works, get on the net and comparison shop. The price
difference can be in the thousands of dollars.
I can't tell you much about the "memory foam" bed, but my in-laws have a
Craftmatic and they love it. you can set it up so you're sitting and
reclining rather than flat. I don't know if they have adjustable support to
make it harder or softer, but that's the selling point for the Select
Comfort bed. That's what we have and we've been really happy with it. The
wife likes it softer than I do and it's set up so even if I'm spinning like
a wheel during a bad pain flare, or am back and forth to the john a couple
times throughout the night, she cant feel a thing on her side of the bed.
That was really the best part for me (the adjustment is pretty nice as well
and makes a huge difference). So even if I wander all night, at least I'm
not making her share those miserable nights. Making changes to my support
level, which can take a bit of trial and error, definitely has cut down on
how long those pain flares last, as well as frequency of the flares.
Sleeping in a chair is not a good thing. You have to give your body a rest
period from the forces of gravity. It can lead to circulation problems,
leaving all of the fluid in the lower extremities and causing fluid build
up in the legs, which can be a bit painful on it's own.
There's a natural curve to everyone's spine called the lordsis. It's what
defines your posture and if you laid on a hard board you should see a space
between the board and the lower back. That's the spot that needs the support
while you sit or sleep, if it doesn't get it, you're going to hurt.
I did a little bit of surfing and found a page with links about beds and
chairs and back pain. You may want to take a peek:
http://www.spine-health.com/topics/conserv/chairsandmattresses.html
Just remember what ever you do, be careful about what you're buying, and
especially what you're paying for it. The difference can be real big buck$.
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