Chronic Back Pain - Triathlon Training - Help

[Dr Damien]

Dear Dekkly

Thank you for your replies...

ill let you know what my thoughts are based on your reply then ill let you know what the problem(s) might be...

You had a traumatic onset from your reverse dips, the problem is not postural but posture may be aggravating it now....
You have a discomfort that is there all the time...something is out of place and its getting inflammed from being out of place
It does not affect you at night, so its not very serious...but has the potential to be since the discomfort is constant
It is a dull ache, i presume its deep and its now affecting some structures around it, tiring them out...
It responds to anti-inflammatories--definitely supports the thoughts so far
Heat helps,- maybe muscular, or maybe keeping the spasm controlled temporarily, if it was purely muscular, the benefits should be maintained as the muscle heals
You have hip, knee and tendinopathy issues...seems like degeneration is evident in your general musculoskeletal system
You havent had this problem before...its mainly caused by that initial trauma
you not losing appetite, and you feel well, no illness--not anything serious, not an organ---so no worries there (blood tests would unlikely show anything)
lifting you arms up do not influence it...unlikely to be muscular mainly...especially muscles attaching your scapular to the spine and neck
Mainly occurs when you turn to the side...suggesting a spinal problem
it gets sore and stiff...suggesting spinal issue

My thoughts
You probably have a subluxed rib...where it joins with the vertebrae at the back (which one im not sure)
either this or you have torn a muscle, imbalances are occuring...but if this was the case...positions will definately make this problem not evident 9it wouldnt be so constant)
another possibility is torn ligament near a vertebare causing excessive movements there...

More questions
what happens when you cough? what happens when you laugh? when you take a deep breath
what happens when you clap your shoulders together?
what happens when you bow your back?
what happens when you bend backwards like you wanna look up to th ceiling?
what happens when you bend forward like you wanna touch your toes
which side do you turn to that makes it painful? one side or both?

please reply and we reason this out together...

it might be worth having some radiological investigation before considering anymore physio or chiro...(at least to be cost effective)

cheers

[drekkly]

thanks for the help so far. much appreciated.

More questions:

what happens when you cough?
no pain at all

what happens when you laugh?
no pain at all

when you take a deep breath
no pain - if I really go for it and suck it in so my shoulders blades go backwards then some discomfort

what happens when you clap your shoulders together?
by this u mean squeeze the shoulder blades tgther? if so then this hurts. it's one of the exercises I have been trying this week. Shoulder up then back then down then forward then up.

what happens when you bow your back?
with my head up - then nothing

what happens when you bend backwards like you wanna look up to th ceiling?
discomfort rather than pain between the shoulder blades

what happens when you bend forward like you wanna touch your toes

this hurts the most of all - middle back - between shoulder blades

which side do you turn to that makes it painful? one side or both?
after this morning both sides but this week it has been sore turning to the left - in the shoulders

one more that I may add - if I put my chin on my chest then it hurts my back in the usual place. If with my chin still on my chest i turn to the left or right then it hurts more - but higher up towards the neck