Chronic Lower back pain for 10yrs! Please Help!!

Hi there, i have had a deep muscular pain in the lower left side of my back for the best part of 10 years (i am 25) i got this injury from playing Gaelic football (aussie rules) the muscle pain is deep in the left side of my back in the kidney area. when i first got this injury i had the pain in my back and also a sharp shooting pain in running down my buttock at in my hamstring. i recieved chiropractic treatment for nearly two years, this treatment cured the sharp pain runing down my leg, but ive still got this dead pain deep in my back. In the time over the years ive had acupunture treatment i also had a MRI scan which found nothing. i gave up all sports for years because if i was to train for two weeks soilid the pain would become unbearable. recently i started really exercising again and the pain again became to much, i went to a back specialist who treated me, he tried to break down the muscle on the left side but cudnt. i have also invested in orthapedic insoles for my shoes, i have had them now for over 4 months, there has been no change in my back pain. i really dont know what to do any more. i would really appreciate some advice from any experts out there. what i am thinking of doing next is to look into supplements to help try an heal this damaged muscle i have had for years an do core exercise to strengthen my back. should i do this?? Advice from anybody would be greatly appreciated

Myofascial trigger release, Stretching and strengthening exercise, Massage, Hot pack, Ultra sound.. and all will help you.. Core exercise is good to strength your back.. also try acupressure also..

Hey Sean

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the muscle pain is deep in the left side of my back in the kidney area. when i first got this injury i had the pain in my back and also a sharp shooting pain in running down my buttock at in my hamstring. i recieved chiropractic treatment for nearly two years, this treatment cured the sharp pain runing down my leg, but ive still got this dead pain deep in my back.

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Based on that one can never be sure without a proper examination. However it sounds like it could be trigger points and over activity of the Quadratus lumborum muscle on one side of your back. Or it could be one of the other closely related muscles. Hre is a site showing the quadratus lumborum muscle. THe Xs show where the tender points in the muslce are and the red shading shows common areas of where the pain radiates to.

http://buckheadbodyworks.com/index.p...rticle&view=34

Trigger points may arise in a chronic problem due to muscle imbalance - often the case is the quadratus lumborum is overactive and too tight and antagonist groups may be weak and lengthened out.

A good approach to this is being assessed for muscle imbalances - so a thorough assessment of your posture, alignment and muscle activity in your trunk and legs. The treatment often involves:

• learning how to stop switching on the over-active muscle in your activities - sometimes this can be simply taught and sometimes it takes quite some learning. For example, what is it that you are doing in your training and general movement that makes the muscle overactive.
• strengthening up the muscles that aren't work like they should
• some lengthening exercises for the tight/overactive muscles

This is a detailed approach and you need to see a physio who is interested in this approach. Ask around if the physio has done some courses with Shirley Sahrmann's approach (movement impairment syndromes). there are other methods that are somewhat similar but this is the method I am most familiar with

If this is what you have this approach may be more effective in the long therm than trigger point therapy as it addresses the reasons for the trigger points in the first place. It takes some time and commitment to the specific remedial exercises but you sound like the motivated sort anyway.

There are a few clues that you have given

Chronic pain for 10 years,
MRI found nothing
gave up sports
no change with treatments

I will try to be succinct;

once back pain has gone on for this long it becomes more than a mechanical or structural issue. It is not helpful to think in terms of somthing that needs to heal. It is likely that there is no longer a pathology in the joints or surrounding tissue. The problem evolves from the initial injury into a problem with sensitivity of the nerves that supply that part of the spine.

Normally any movement, position or tension on the tissue set off neural messages to the brain. In a long standing issue like yours these messages get interpreted by the brain as a pain message. These abnormal messages can make life very miserable and thus aggravate and perpetuate the situation.

This is why your scans don't find any structural reason for the pain. (its also the same thing that happens to amputees who don't even have a limb yet feel phantom pain)

This is why nearly all mechanical based treatments, painkillers etc etc dont change things.

It took decades for this complex situation to be understood by medical science yet there are still people put there who are still searching for a treatment that works or the tissue to "heal".

See if you can find a practitioner who can work with you to correctly strengthen your spine and help you reverse the years of deconditioning.

Search for an understanding of the pain mechanisms and the best strategy in my experience is to "not attend" to the painful interpretation of the abnormal messages. Obviously this is not easily done but having a positive attitude and doing a gently exercise programme can make a huge difference.
:)

Hi sean s

vam44 is absolutely right and I stand corrected. vam44 is giving you advice that is based on sound research into chronic low back pain. So I would go along with what he suggests as a first point. A therapist with skills in dealing with chronic back pain can address deconditioning issues - so a whole package is needed: appropriate strengthening, improving posture and also increasing your aerobic fitness are all important components.

And vam44 says about managing the painful messages can be very useful.

I suffer from chronic back pain and have tried many methods so far. After several years of microwave heating packaging, I found a electric neck-back heating pad that can control the level and duration of the thermotherapy. I got a comprehensive heat treatment from neck to shoulder and the entire spine, which is what I need. I hope to help you!