Does anyone else get back spasms? The only way I can describe them is that they feel like what I imagine contractions feel like. Except at the end, there’s no baby. But what do I know? I’m a guy.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Nope. I don’t get them. Yet.
As my grandpa is constantly reminding me : getting old is hell; but it sure beats the alternative.
I’ve had them, and they’re not like labor. Trust me.
another way to describe them would be like the cramps you get when you absolutely cannot hold in a crap one second longer. Only you can’t get any relief.
But once again, labor beats that out AND I’ve had that have I had the baby. With stitches.
I thought labor may be like my back spasm times 3. It was like my back spasms time 4,000,000,000,000. I’ve been having really bad back spasms the past week and the first thing I say is, “Owwwwwwww, that hurts! At least I’m not in labor.”
i was thinking they were more like early contractions than they ones that actually get the job done. But I’m sure contractions of any kind are far worse.
I don’t know…some contractions ain’t half bad 😉
That is exactly what I’m talking about. The ones at the end, you can’t even feel them since things are being s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d. There are the slight ones like pinching cramps, then the “real” ones come on and there isn’t a pain like it. I think because there’s two extra sets of muscles being tightened and there’s tsunami effect going on.
As for your back, you should get some heat on it for 15 – 30 min. and do the exercises I mentioned below. When applying the heat, you’re better off laying on your belly. If you lay on your back on the heat pad, it can wind up cramping up other muscles. You can always medicate, but the stretches really will help and they can also help with headaches and migraines.
I didn’t have any labor pains 😉
Now, if you tell me that you pushed out a 10lb. baby in 3 minutes with no drugs, I’ll probably have to do bad things to you.
All the way to China.
It was May Day, which is labor day in nearly every country but ours. I felt some labor pain today as a crowd marched past my building downtown….
buy one of those belt with magnets, it work.
I hope you’re not a Sixers fan.
who?
I forgot basketball the moment the Knicks traded Charles Oakley.
Excellent. Charles Oakley is one dude I would not mess with.
I would like to take this opportunity to mention that Isiah Thomas is the greatest Piston of all time – not only did he win championships as a player, but as a GM and coach he went on to singlehandedly ruin one of the proudest basketball franchises around.
oh, they’re not that proud. We had Willis Reed and Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley. That was kewl. And we had Bernard King and Bill Cartwright. That was kewl. And we had Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley. That was kewl. But proud? They’re just the fucking Knicks. We’re proud of the Yankees and Giants. Or the weird people still cling to Joe Namath and Mookie Wilson.
Let me rephrase that : A franchise that is willing and able to spend the money required (and then some) to be competitive in the Eastern Conference and also has the largest media stage in the world.
Ya coulda been a contender, kid.
I do like Ben Wallace because he reminds me of the Oak Man.
Poor Boo. 🙁
Although I’m not sure why back spasms is a deep thought. And I’m sure labor is worse for some women. Because at least your not trying to push a basketball sized object out at the same time. Well, maybe not quite a basketball …
should have read ‘deep pain’.
Are you doing a lot of sitting? I just read this article profiling a guy that argues that chairs are our back’s worst enemy: http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=back.pain&a
mp;conitem=c30bfac68aa59110VgnVCM10000013281eac__
My chiro has me do group of exercises that help relieve the pain and the recurrences. I’ve haven’t gone to the gym in a month or done much exercise–let’s add on serious stress–so my back’s been killing me lately. If I can find the website, I’ll post the link with the back exercise. You can also just look up exercises for pregnancy because it’s the same group of exercises, though you won’t have to do your Kegel’s.
Pain? It’s all Hillary’s fault.
After I graduated from college, my body had a hard time adjusting to sitting at a desk for 8+ hours a day. Lots of spasms and general body restlessness at night, which led to bad insomnia. (“restless leg syndrome, anyone?”)
It was a vicious cycle until I took up a stretching regimen that uses one of those big exercise balloon balls. They do wonders for the lower back. That, along with other exercise/trips to the gym has helped a lot. Though, when I start slacking, my body tells me that its unhappy.
story of my life. Throw in some PTSD to aid in the insomnia and there you have it.
i hear ya. there’s a reason I’m arachnophobic…
You’ll feel like an idiot, but this stretch helps the lower back if you don’t have one of those balloon things.
Does wonders.
If you get this–and it’s no laughing matter, because you’ll get no sleep–get your B-12 levels checked. Mine turned out to be very low, and 1,000 mcg per day cured my itchy, twitchy, jumping legs and let me sleep.
yep, i take a daily multivitamin along with a Stress B-Complex and have noticed a big difference.
Yep. Full-spectrum B’s — AND magnesium deficiency has also been cited too with regard to musculoskeletal problems. Restless leg syndrome, that kinda stuff, too. Most people in this country are clinically deficient in magnesium, studies show, because, well, the gov’t. doesn’t give a damn. Who knew?
I used to have restless leg syndrome…since I was about 13. Sometime in the last year, it just stopped. I don’t take any vitamins so I have no idea what I did to stop it.
Oh swell, another vitamin I should be taking. :/
My doctor already has me on a vitamin D supplement because of the combination of less sunshine in Seattle and lower milk consumption. I take a bunch of other stuff too, from melatonin to garlic. in addition to my prescription medication. Sometimes I think I’m taking the green round pill to counteract the actions of the oblong pill, and I take the oblong pill because it counteracts the football-shaped one, and of course I have to take the football-shaped one because it neutralizes the green round pill.
I get that, too, or used to. I recommend finding a deep massage person and then learn about Qi Gong exercises and Taiji. I haven’t taken an ibuprofen in almost a year. Also, arnica is a pretty good homeopathic med (topical or little pills).
Feel better, Booman.
I have fibro myalgia so half of the muscles in my back are spasming as I type — with little electric tingles, too. One thing I’ve learned from decades of dealing with this shit is, just fucking ignore it. Seriously, go about your life, make your necessary movements and put your mind away from your body.
If that doesn’t work, go to a chiropractor because most back muscle spasms are related to your spine being out of whack. If you can find a Pain Management Specialist who does massage and back cracking, you’re totally covered.
Feel better BooMan.
It works. It really really does. I used to get them, esp. when I was working 12-14 hours a day at the computer with little to no exercise.
Took it up regularly about 6 years ago and no problems since.
Especially, kundalini yoga has some great stretching exercises for the lower back. Always, do this yogic stuff with moderation, particularly at the start of a session. Massage is good too, also certain vitamins as mentioned above. Try a number of different things. Stick with what works even if it involves finding a newt under a full moon.
If everything fails, find a shaman. You may have spirit possession and need a spiritual solution to a physical problem. Really.
Oh, the glory and beauty of it all.
Moderation and slow starts are the key. Be very careful of certain yogic and meditative techniques like Kundalini unless you have a good teacher who knows what they are doing.
Especially if you do have PTSD or if you have other emotional and/or mental health stuff in your background that wells up unexpectedly from time to time.
No spasms here. I just seem to have an aching back most of the time anymore. Part of this is because I’m short for my weight. I should really be over nine feet tall. I know I need to lose weight, but so far it ain’t happening.
Sometimes my shoulders hurt, but this is apparently an occupational hazard among banjo players. I’m just glad I use an open-back banjo, which doesn’t have the big wooden resonator on the back that weighs as much or more as the rest of the instrument.
I’m height-deficient for my weight also. I’m still waiting to grow into my baby fat. 🙂
As an acupuncturist, I treat back spasms regularly. This happens to people, primarily men, who sit in chairs in front of computers all day. I kid you not.
I suggest getting up regularly, like twice or more an hour, drink more fluids, and learn some simple forward bends, as in hatha yoga basic postures. Keeping the legs/thighs stretched really helps too.
Heating pads help, but mostly it’s preventative actions that will tone the stiff back muscles, and keep blood circulating in the muscles. The problem stems from the musculature being compressed for long periods of time, thus restricting blood flow. The tissue is literally starved of oxygen and glucose, and the electrochemical properties that operate muscles goes haywire — electrolyte imbalance from fluid loss and lack of oxygen and food from the blood cause the muscles to contract uncontrollably.
I sit all day and write. At the end of the day I go to my club and do yoga or pilates, depending on the day. I started doing this when I noticed my other friends getting back pain, and once when I got seized up on top of Jay Peak and couldn’t get back down because I could hardly move. It was a message.
You need to do exercises that strengthen the muscles that lie along the spine. Pilates is that exercise.
I’ve had labor, a c-section, sciatica and back spams. Trust me, they’re not at all alike.
The only way I can describe labor is … imagine your intestines are being torn from the inside out of your stomach and the alien that’s shredding them to pieces is just trying to vomit them so they’re fighting to tear a hole of your stomach so they can go out.
THAT’S LABOR.
Like Alien, the Ridley Scott movie, but with real blood.
When I worked as a clerk at a VA hospital I’d work behind a desk most of the time. And then once every three months a nurse would ask me to help lift a patient and I’d end up pulling something in my back. Back then it was codeine and flexeril, which took care of the pain, but it took until the prescription ran out and I got back up moving around. I got a job at the post office, and even though I had to carry thirty pounds on one shoulder, kinda awkward, most of my back problems were gone. Walking around helps back pain, not only to help a bad back get better, but also as a preventative.
But drugwise, flexeril. And if the pain is bad, flexeril with a glass of scotch. It may interfere with blogging though.