Injured my Lower back. Please read and inform....

T

tssdetailing

New member
Over the thanksgiving vacation, I squatted down to pick something up at my mother-in-laws. Out of no where my lower back flared up in agonizing pain. Pain so bad that I immediatly fell to the ground and lay there writhing in misery for 8 solid hours until I caved in and called an ambulance. I could not move. The ER shot me up with moraphine and some other drugs. I was back on my feet after an hour at the ER, using a walker to get around. Here I am 2 weeks later and the pain has drastically subsided. I can not work yet, i'm going to physical therapy 2x a week and do some light stretching every few hours at home. Sitting is painful over time, espeically if I drive. I'm on Flexiril and Vicodin and ice my back constantly. I'm hoping that by january I'll be able to atleast to perform express details again for my maintenance clients.



Has this happened to anyone else? I'm in so much fear of catalyzing a reaction while on the job and being rendered in the same position miles away from home.
 
sucks man. i just recently recovered from a bulging disc hat trick. L4, L5, and S1.

personally for me rest was the best healer. i went to physical therapy and expensive vax-d therapy and chiropractor and all that. they all only seemed like temporary crutches.

i spent about the same amount on a tempur-cloud bed and it seems to be money well spent. i stopped going to PT 5 times a week and went once a week while doing my own stretching at home and that worked way better for me.

whatever you do dont sit as much as possible for the time being. that always flared up my back and sent me back to stage 1.



if you dont have sciatica yet your lucky. if you do, go to brookstone n buy a blue memory foam seat cushion n hope for the best lol.





btw if it flared up out of nowhere like that it was already bulging and just waiting to burst or swell. should watch your posture and habits.

also stay away from heat. so many doctors recommend it but my specialist said it just keeps it inflammed. mine lasted 4-5 months but mine wasnt out of nowhere it got progessively bad for a couple years and i just kept shrugging it off.



also look into joint medicine it helps rebuild a lot.
 
I'm a chiropractor. It sounds like either a vertebra shifted out of alingment when you squatted or you had a low level back problem that got aggravated when you did that. When bones get out of alignment, it irritates the nerves coming out in between and the creates problems with the muscles, tendons, etc. What I do for backs like that is use therapy like electric mucle stim and a massage table to loosen up the area then get the vertabrae back into alignment. When the person's symptoms stabilize then we do low tech physical therapy to strengthen the area. I practice in Middletown, not far from you, probably.
 
Mex, I do stretch-but i always stretched my legs (like splits/hamstrings and touching my toes). I was in so much disbelief that this flared up so suddenly over nothing.



The doc is right though-i've had back issues before, about 2 years ago I went to a chiropractor while I still worked a desk job, well before I started any kind of detailing other than for my own car. It went away after 2 months with him and once I started a physical routine of my own (i would walk at lunches instead of just sitting for 8 hours a day, plus I joined a gym). I dropped the gym thing once I was into detailing full time (since this may) because I was getting so physically fit working on cars. I figured the stretching i was doing would prevent this kinda thing, but guess it all built up to a climax.



When i could finally stand on my own, my sister in law (a physical therapist) looked at me and said "you have a severe lean to the left!" That has reduced drastically since then.
 
dude that sucks! my 3 lumbar discs are shot, have been for like 25 years and i'm only 42. i have been to so many dr's that i am tired of it. it all only helps for a small time then it reflares and i'm back to square one, pain!. only others with bad backs truly understand how bad it really is. i am going to another specialist next month to see what they say, last one wanted to fuse my discs and call it a day.



i think stretching really helps, making sure when i get in and out of a car both feet go at the same time, getting out of bed i roll on my side then roll up to a seating position, bend at the knees and not the waist(makes detailing very hard) and the hot tub is my friend. i stopped taking drugs when 3-4 Flexiril and like 6 Vicodin werent enough, at one point 10 750 Vicodin barely got me to sleep. i believe that led to my gall stones and liver failure a few years ago so be careful with masking the pain.
 
sorry to hear that , it sucks

i don`t have any back pain , or major pain , i do fell sometimes that i need a stretch so bad, usually after correction.

i guess you should take it easy
 
jaynick808 said:
sucks man. i just recently recovered from a bulging disc hat trick. L4, L5, and S1.
Click to expand...



I got that hat trick beat...

oct 6, 2010. I was minding my own business in bumper to bumper traffic, when a honda civic switched into my lane... she did not hit the brakes... oh, we were on the highway by the way.

I was hit at 60-70 mph, the impact was so strong, that I broke my seat, and everything from the back of the car to the door had shifted 1/2'' at least!! (my 95 Supra)



I have L5-S1, and C3-C7 bulging, needless to say, I am not feeling well.

I have headaches every single day, and I am in pain all the time!!





The best thing, keep going to therapy (I go 4 times a week) and try to stay off your feet, and not move any weight!! if you absolutely have to bend down for anything, go down to one knee slowly, and when you stand back up, nice and slow!!! I do this even to pick up a pen, and the one time I overlooked it, I almost went into tears!!



Goodluck with the healing, take it easy!!
 
Danilo said:
I got that hat trick beat...

oct 6, 2010. I was minding my own business in bumper to bumper traffic, when a honda civic switched into my lane... she did not hit the brakes... oh, we were on the highway by the way.

I was hit at 60-70 mph, the impact was so strong, that I broke my seat, and everything from the back of the car to the door had shifted 1/2'' at least!! (my 95 Supra)



I have L5-S1, and C3-C7 bulging, needless to say, I am not feeling well.

I have headaches every single day, and I am in pain all the time!!





The best thing, keep going to therapy (I go 4 times a week) and try to stay off your feet, and not move any weight!! if you absolutely have to bend down for anything, go down to one knee slowly, and when you stand back up, nice and slow!!! I do this even to pick up a pen, and the one time I overlooked it, I almost went into tears!!



Goodluck with the healing, take it easy!!
Click to expand...



sounds like what happened to me, but i was on a bike doing zero and the car was doing 35+ needless to say i went for a little flight landing on my wrist which shattered into different pieces poking out of different places. never was the same after that
 
When the time comes that the pain subsides, I would recommend doing workouts to strengthen your back. After my buldged disc episode my physical therapist have my a sheet with numerous workouts to strengthen the muscels around the back. So long as I stay disciplined and stick with the workouts, after a full detail I am usually fine or the pain is very light and is gone in an hour compared to much greater pain lasting much of the next day. I can e-mail you those workouts if you like. Again, they are for AFTER your back feels better, not now.
 
Bert, if my PT doesn't give me some, i'll get them from you. I'm not patient enough and could end up doing them now instead of waiting.
 
I have a TON of scare tissue on my intercostal muscles in my back. About every 8~10 months I get enough fascia inflamation that I become cripple until I have a professional break it up. My back and shoulders actually seize up and pull back and together. It is incredibly painful, despite only lasting about 3~5 days. For that time I can not do ANYTHING. the last time it flared up I was in the middle of a job. Thankfully, I had my assistant with me and I was able to lay down while he finished up.
 
When I was about 40 I was folding clothes one night in the bedroom and sneezed real hard; talk about back pain. I slept that night flat on my back, the next morning I showered and thought I would tough it out. When I couldn't sit on the bed and bend over to tie my shoe laces was when I relaized I needed help. Saw a Chiropractor that day which got me feeling much better. After a few days, I was back to normal. Over the next few years I began to wake up in the morning with a stiff back. I was 175 pounds at the time which was the biggest I had ever been (133 in HS). Started running over 3 yrs ago (run 6-8 miles 3 to 4 times a week unless training for a race); now at age 47 and 140 pounds (~136-138 after a hard workout), I feel great.
 
if you have access to a pool, do a little swimming. it helps stretch the body and there isn't much impact (easy on the bones/joints) on it as well...
 
Just letting everyone know I'm back in the game and have been since right before christmas. It was difficult to work through and every once and a while, If i bend a wierd way I'll get a little "warning" from back there so I stop and correct my posture before proceding. The therapists showed me proper ways to bend and reach which kept pressure off of my back. I'm no longer utilizing a Kreepstool which actually created more issues on my lower back. Instead i wear pads and kneal down on one knee when doing lower parts of the car.
 
Good to hear. Backpain is no fun at all. If I am doing a large degree of polishing I will often use my four jack stands and lift the car about 18 inches off the ground and sit on the ground when doing side panels. I will also use one of those stadium seats you see people take to football games with stands rather than seats so they can lean back. I am sure I look goofy but the ability to sit up straight rather than leaning over and being able to lean back help quite a bit. When doing the lower panels, sometimes I lie on the ground. I am sure people look at me funny but oh well.



I think Picus actually had a lift installed in his shop. I would love to have that but cannot justify the cost.
 
tssdetailing said:
Just letting everyone know I'm back in the game and have been since right before christmas. ...I'll get a little "warning" from back there so I stop and correct my posture before proceding. The therapists showed me proper ways to bend and reach which kept pressure off of my back...
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Glad to hear things have gone OK.



I once ended up hospitalized over a sudden-onset lower back issue, took forever to return to normal, so I take this seriously. Once you're truly recovered (without any frequent "warnings"), you might want to look into a well thought out exercise regimen. I've been able to avoid any further problems and I'm hopeful that you can too.
 
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