Jump to content

Pulled or torn back muscle


Recommended Posts

I pulled or tore a back muscle Wednesday and have been in a lot of pain ever since. Now I've broken a lot of bones in my life, but this is new to me

 

I've looked around but most of the info wasn't very helpful. The area affected is the lowest rib down the spine almost to the pelvis. I can actually feel a knot about 3 inches by one inch, just below the rib. I was drilling a panel in an awkward position and when I stood up I felt the pain. I didn't make any sudden movement or anything and at first it felt more like I 'tweaked' it. But after 15 minutes the pain increased to the point where I couldn't stand up.

 

Just glad I had my co-worker with me as we had a 2 1/2 hour drive back to the shop. Felt a heckuva a lot longer than that. Took me 20 minutes to get out of the work van and into my truck.

 

It is extremely painful and just about any position becomes uncomfortable within a few minutes. Needless to say I haven't been sleeping much. Any time I go from sitting to standing, or laying down to sitting causes the muscle to spasm.

 

I had to sneeze earlier and every time the sneeze would try to come out, the back would spasm and cut it off in mid-stride. Unfortunately, I still had to sneeze. So I went thru this cycle of spasms every 15-20 secs for about 15 minutes. I think I invented about 10-15 new swear words during that time lol.

 

I'm considering making the drive to the doc, but driving would be an arduous affair. I got about a foot of snow to clear off my truck (snowed Thursday) and then somehow drive to the doc. Luckily he's close-by, only about 2 miles, but not sure if I could drive at all right now. And I'd hate to make that trip for him just to tell me the only solution is rest. But really can't handle another couple days of no sleep and this amount of pain

 

Was icing it for a bit, but now trying heat and some IcyHot cream but nothing seems to help. Even my regular pain meds don't seem to touch it. Just sitting and typing this is proving very painful.

 

So just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and what they did to resolve it. Read that it could take 2-8 weeks to heal depending on severity. Really can't take that amount of time off from work. Just have way too much to do.

Link to comment

Ouch mate :S

 

It's still important to see a doc so he can check if its torn or just pulled!

Hope you get to one quickly :oooo:

 

Some info if you need it :

 

Depending on the severity of a muscle tear, an urgency and duration of treatment changes.

 

A pulled muscle or a first degree tear can be easily treated at home with cold compresses and rest for a week, followed by progressive mobilization.

 

A partially torn muscle is better treated by at least a primary care physician, who can assess the severity of the tear and decide upon a conservative or surgical treatment. Investigations, like X-rays, ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be necessary for the assessment. Untreated partial tear can lead to a complete muscle tear, if neglected.

 

A complete muscle tear should always be treated by an experienced surgeon, as it always requires operative management. The earlier the operation, the better results, because as time passes, more and more muscle tissue becomes dead. Delay in a surgery leads to progressive fibrosis (scarring) of the injured muscle, making it functionally useless. Hence a complete muscle tear should be taken as an emergency, and prompt hospitalization is a must.

 

Get well soon!

cheers!

Link to comment

Ouch ! :(

 

Very sorry to hear that mate.

 

I'm with Chareos, you really should get yourself to a doctor. I think it's one of things that won't 'just go away', like us blokes often think !

 

Speedy recovery to you,

 

Steve. :)

Link to comment

My wife says call the doc and most probably he will give you an injection. We call this sudden heavy pain Hexenschuss in german. It translates as shot(Schuss) from a witch(Hexe). Back pain can be from spine and the pain isn't felt at spine but can be nearly everywhere. The muscles won't relax cause of the pain and so the spine can't relax too. So a muscle relaxing injection could help. But hard to do a diagnosis in a strange language and then only in a forum.

 

After I changed from being a goalie at soccer to be a goalie at underwater rugby I noticed way less back pain. Swimming is good for the spine. We have now a sauna in the old pigsty. Sauna is good for muscle relaxing too.

Edited by chattius
Link to comment

Yeah I'm thinking it's at least partially torn. I like to think I have a high tolerance for pain. I once put a metal wire thru my right hand and then had to drive 40 miles to hospital with a truck that had a manual transmission. And I don't ever remember that being as painful as this.

 

I did set-up an appointment for tomorrow, though since I did it at work I have to go thru Worker's Compensation. So I don't get my primary care doc at this point. Just more red tape to deal with

Link to comment

Yowch, what a nuisance the body can be eh Knuckles. So sorry about your pain. That must be really gnawing at you eh? Hard to think of something to suggest except a lot of "R.I.C.E.", extra nutrition, over the counter muscle relaxer...

 

My shoulders have been in rough shape for a while, (had to take 3 breaks during this post). Over time I've found that a hot bath face down feels good and relaxing. Takes a bit of getting used to but it seems to be the most relaxing for me. I started taking baths on my back and letting myself sink in, holding my breath and relaxing like that for 30-60 second bursts but I found because of the way I float it was putting my head/neck a bit too far back for my comfort. I switched to laying face down and propped up on my elbows, took a deep breath, and then submerged. Putting my arms by my sides instead of under my head made the real difference. laying face down with arms at sides really de-activates my arms shoulders and entire back. Really feels good. Better than simply laying down on a couch or bed. Course I can only do it a minute at a time but it's still great. Even thought of buying a snorkle or something so I could stay under longer, lol.

Not sure if that'll work for yah but there you go. You've got a much larger frame than me so a typical household tub won't do it for you but a whirlpool or any pool would be perfect. Granted I don't think putting heat near an injured muscle is a good idea until 2 or 3 days have passed.

 

Hope you feel better real fast Knuckles. :)

Link to comment

Though I was chatting with you all morning about this Knuckles, I just want to post my sympathy for your back. I have read much about folks with terrifying and terrible back pains, Schot's tribulations now makes that pain a part of reality.

 

I hope that relaxation is having it's effect Knuckles, rest rest REST!

 

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment

Well the back was beginning to feel a little bit better so I thought I would take it real easy and try to clean my truck off a bit.

 

Bad move, really bad bad move. I re-aggravated the injury and now think I made it worse. At least the bump/knot is bigger now :o Someday I'll learn I just cannot do it all myself. Mostly did it because I have an appointment to get my taxes done tomorrow morning with my doc appt in the afternoon.

 

So I called up to see if I could push it back a week and my rep asked why. I explained the situation and she said she'd come to my house to do. She's done my taxes for the last 15 years or so and I never once thought to ask or that they would even do that.

 

So all that for nothing since a friend came by and said he'd drive me to the doc and got a royal 'chewing out' (with my daughter smugly nodding her assent thru the whole thing :) )since I didn't call him to clear off my truck or driveway or to get ride to doc. Of course he is friends with my boss too. So an hour after he gets done with me, my boss calls and he picks up where my friend left off.

 

I believe I am properly chastised at this moment (kiddo still nodding her head). Plus he knows me too well. He said if I'm not well enough to work he needs a note from doc.....then he hesitated for a moment and then said if I AM well enough to work, he wants a note for that too lol. He knows I'll ignore the note and pretend I didn't get one if I feel I'm ok.

 

Known him for over 15 years, guess he's pretty much figured me out by now :D

Link to comment

Good god Knuckles. Do you want to be in pain?! I mean come on. You severely hurt yourself and THEN you go off and try to do some work? Well! With an attitude like that maybe you should be in pain huh! *insert shaking finger*

 

Is that kinda how it sounded? lol. Awh Knuckles. I think we may have to just tranquilize you for your own good. ^^

Link to comment

Good god Knuckles. Do you want to be in pain?! I mean come on. You severely hurt yourself and THEN you go off and try to do some work? Well! With an attitude like that maybe you should be in pain huh! *insert shaking finger*

 

Is that kinda how it sounded? lol. Awh Knuckles. I think we may have to just tranquilize you for your own good. ^^

 

 

Well it kind of sounded like that but it was more descriptive and lasted much longer lol. My daughter has promised to call and squeal on me if I do anything at all. So much for blood being thicker than anything else

Link to comment

That really bites big wind...

 

One thing I can recommend wholeheartedly - provided you've got access to it - acupuncture. It can do some fairly amazing things. My right shoulder got whacked out of commission a bit over a year and a half ago. I could barely move my arm beyond horizontal. I would probably have been in for it if I had any sorta legal problems and a cop wanted me to put my hands over my head. I just couldn't move my arm that high.

 

My regular western doctor said it was arthritis. And as such, I was doomed to spend the rest of my life with that condition. And that I would be given pain killers that did little to nothing for it. But then he suggested I check out acupuncture that they were doing at the clinic on Thursdays. I did.. And surpisingly, it helped immensely. I've now got pretty much 99% of my full range of motion back in the arm, and most importantly, NO PAIN!

 

It may not actually fix the problem you've got - but it will go a very long way to making the pain go away and as long you don't do anything silly to stress the problem out and make it worse, it should heal a bit faster - and without all those nasty drugs.

 

Even the Devs of Ascaron approve...

 

post-14586-0-86648900-1296279574_thumb.jpg

Link to comment

Good for her! Tell her the check is in the mail, lol. :P

 

I knew it was you ! :tease:

 

 

Hehe, whoops! Shhh! You never saw anything! :whistle:

 

 

@wolfie:

 

Oh yes. I'll be trying that out shortly. Your story sounds familiar wolfie. Just a week ago I met a GP for the 5th or so time with results of my xray. He basically told me that the pain I've been having is just something I'm going to have to deal with for the rest of my life. Ha! Yeah right... Anyway. This clinic, (Canadian here so visits are at no cost), is usually quite good but the doctor that makes it so great is on holidays and for some time and the replacement doc is trying to just run through the patients as fast as possible. I'm lucky if I can get him to talk to me for more than 10 minutes! My Xray says I have "very early" Degenerative Disc Disease and otherwise my spine is normal. Degenerative Disc Disease is not really a disease btw! Not a big deal. But the whole problem with my docs interpretation of what the Xray specialist wrote on the report is that nothing has changed since my last Xray. In 2007! ... GPs are such a nuisance for stuff like this... Anyway. I've been getting massage from an excellent specialist which is great in the moment and a little after but not so useful long term I'm finding. So I think I'll give Acupuncture a try. A member at my Tennis Club said it really helped her with her Elbow pain. Said she felt the pain literally melt away on the table.

Link to comment

My wife says it is contraproductive to give advices:

 

How to do a spoiler now?

 

Continue reading only if you never plan to suffer from back pain.

 

You are warned!

 

Read at your own risk!

 

One of the problems is: you fear to do some movements because of the pain you exspect. So the muscles never relax. So in 50% of the cases placebos do a good job. You think it will help and don't fear the pain in advance, so the muscles are relaxed, ... But pain is a warning sign of your body that something is definitively wrong, you shouldn't ignore it.

Link to comment

Actually the worst thing now is lack of sleep. Takes forever to find a comfortable position and when I do fall asleep......

 

 

I wake up basically screaming. At some point I move while sleeping and the back will spasm. Waking up to that and trying to find a position that the back will stop spasming is no fun. Almost want to go and get a week's supply of No-Doz or something.

Link to comment

well just got back from the docs and I got a grade 3 ruptured erector spinae muscle. I couldn't see it but the whole area is swollen and dis-colored. Got a corticosteroid injection and some anti-inflammatories to take and have to wear a brace/corset for a week or so. They're trying to immobilize the muscle and if it works I'll just be doing a little re-hab. If not I got surgery coming up.

 

Why does surgery always seem to be lurking for me lol

Link to comment

Ugh triple post...sorry :Just_Cuz_21:

 

Well the back went south (literally) last night. The brace doesn't seem to help at all and neither do the anti-inflammatories. Up til last night, when the back tightened/spasmed, they would last a max of 10 secs or so. But last night the back seized up on me and dropped me to the floor for about 15 minutes :blink:

 

All I did was try to apply some IcyHot and just the cold feel of initially applying it caused the muscle to cramp/tighten. Least that's what I think happened. The pain was pretty incredible. I couldn't even shout or anything as for some reason I felt like I had to keep holding my breath. At least when holding it, the back didn't hurt quite as much.

 

So back to the doc today, just waiting on a call from him. If he can't see me, I'm going to the emergency room to hopefully get this resolved.

 

Worst thing was on Saturday it was feeling ok. It never spasmed unless I moved a little too quickly. But yesterday it spasmed right when I had my flash drive in my hand and I dropped it. When I went to reach for it, the back spasmed again and caused me to push my chair over it, crushing the usb connector.

 

So I went to Staples for another since I wanted to transfer a few project files over to my work pc Monday morning and the kiddo wanted a few school supplies

 

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I went over the first speed bump in the parking lot. Was barely able to get in store, get stuff and get out. The rest of the day has been one spasm after another, culminating in my 15 minute super spasm.

 

Got a gut feeling I'm getting surgery...and there's a possibility I might not be around for a few days. So just wanted to let everyone know (especially my wiki co-workers) that I may not be around to answer pm's or be on IM for a bit. I'll try to update as soon as I can

 

Best case scenario is I get a couple injections and muscle relaxers but I got a feeling it's more serious than that. (sorry, didn't mean to write a book - just wanted to say I might be absent for a few days :P )

 

 

And here I was thinking 2011 might be a healthier year lol

 

xray.gif

Link to comment

Toi toi toi

 

To prevent the envy of evil spirits we did a ceremony in germany by not saying a wish or wishing good luck. We did some protection ritual by spitting 3 times over the shoulder of the person and thinking about but not speaking the wish. This sounds a bit like toi toi toi. So I thought it couldn't be wrong to invoke some protection magic in your case.

 

http://www.threes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2038:toi-toi-toi&catid=69:colloquialisms&Itemid=48 quotes:

toi-toi-toi: (an old European custom translated into words to wish you good luck). Saying toi (pronounce: toy) THREE times is derived from the custom of spitting three times over someone's shoulder for good luck. I guess it is easier to say toi-toi-toi than to actually spit.

 

A funny article about the tradition of toi toi toi at opera singers, read here:

http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/04-15-10-if-you-hear-someone-say-toi-toi-toi-at-tonights-opera-performance-dont-be-surprised/

Link to comment

I think you better start praying or something Knuckles to fend off those nasty spirits that keep tripping you up. Yeesh! *performs Toi toi toi ritual* Spit_Spit_by_the_ace_chef.gif

 

Despite the obvious I really hope it isn't too serious. You really gotta stop movin around though dude. I know they say that a bit of movement is good for circulation to injuries but I think mean like basic walkin around the house in cases like yours. I'm pretty sure you should have at least one day of full bed rest with the icing and all.

 

Do let us know though. Got my fingers crossed that it will heal surprisingly quick. Eat well!

  • Like! 1
Link to comment

I gotta agree with schot on this one. I think you need lots of rest and a good supply of pain killers for a while. Drink lots of OJ and take you vitamins once you get better. None of us are getting any younger and the cold seems to affect me at least much more than it used to. I get back spasm when I get too cold (winter frequent occurrence here) that make it hard to drive so I can only begin to imagine the pain you were in. Probably something close to when I aggravated/herniated my L4/L5. That was 2 weeks of doing nothing for me when that happened.

*hugs* ,good luck and dont be afraid to ask for the good stuff from your doc. Demerol is a wonderful drug :D (its what I needed to turn the corner on my back issues that time, just one shot and 5 hours of pain free sleep made a huge difference)

Link to comment

@ Knuckles - Whatever you do -- do NOT travel to Ancaria to have any Ogre Shamans by the name of Brartisartfass do the operation... Gotta wonder what back alley he got his medical training in.

 

@ Schot - sound advice. When you've been injured like the way Knuckles was, you really have to think about moves you make before you make them. And even then you have to move carefully.

Link to comment

lol wolfie...and to think I was considering him too...docs don't seem to know what exactly is wrong though the last doc finally gave me meds to combat the pain/spasms. All I have been doing since monday is sleeping. Guess I'm catching up on the 5 days without it.

 

latest guess is either I pulled a rib out of place when the muscle ripped or it took a piece of rib bone with it when it tore. I had some xrays and mri's taken. Wow those were fun, since I cannot lay down. They had to inject some demerol directly into muscle so I could lay down for mri's

 

I find out tomorrow morning what they found/going to do. But right now the meds have me pretty much pain-free (and very sleepy)

Link to comment

lol wolfie...and to think I was considering him too...docs don't seem to know what exactly is wrong though the last doc finally gave me meds to combat the pain/spasms. All I have been doing since monday is sleeping. Guess I'm catching up on the 5 days without it.

 

latest guess is either I pulled a rib out of place when the muscle ripped or it took a piece of rib bone with it when it tore. I had some xrays and mri's taken. Wow those were fun, since I cannot lay down. They had to inject some demerol directly into muscle so I could lay down for mri's

 

I find out tomorrow morning what they found/going to do. But right now the meds have me pretty much pain-free (and very sleepy)

 

Or it could just be the demoral. That stuff is quite potent when it comes to pain killing. When my gall bladder got infected just about 20 years ago, I wound up having to check into the hospital - and they gave me plenty of it. I think my back end wound up being asleep for like 3 months after I got out. Before I went in, it felt like I had someone sticking me with several sharp implements from the inside. All I know - I slept for like oh... 10 days straight for the most part while I was in there. That's including the 5 days of being pumped full of antibiotics, plus the day I was in surgery and the 4 days afterwards recouperating from it.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up