“The researchers found that only one treatment — the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, like ibuprofen and aspirin — was effective at reducing short-term, or acute, low back pain. Five other treatments had good enough evidence to be considered effective at reducing chronic low back pain. These were exercise; spinal manipulation, like you might receive from a chiropractor; taping the lower back; antidepressants; and the application of a cream that creates a warming sensation. Even so, the benefit was small.”
Lower Lumbar Spinal Stenosis here. Worst pain I’ve ever experienced. Worse than 2 heart attacks and open heart surgery. So bad that when I found out Dick Cheney had it, my response was “Oh, that poor man.”
I spent a year on vicodin. The pain was always there, but it was like someone pounding on a door 3 doors down. I knew it was there, but I could ignore it.
Only thing that really gave me relief was taking a gallon of really, really cold water and centering the jug on my lower back.
Some stretches helped, this one felt really good:
https://youtu.be/dDR82tz36kw#t=2m48s
When it first happened the doctor asked my pain level and gave me a look when I said “10.” So I explained that I was doing everything I could to not be actively groaning/sobbing/screaming out loud because society reacts poorly to huge dudes behaving like that. That I’d spent most of the drive over screaming in my car. That I’d puked a few times the night before from pain.
I finally summed it up as, “if you tell me now that I’ll still feel like this in two weeks, I will go home and kill myself. Because that’s my estimate of how long I can endure this.”
Ended up getting into a physical therapist and eventually got cortisone shots. Fixed most of it, thank god
Yup. My brain was trying to tell me that my spine was actively broken and that I could feel the broken ends grinding against each other. Just a ridiculous level of pain.