Walking and Low Back Pain

[wascaly]

I am almost 4 months post-op, and am finally walking a little over a mile! I'm excited about that; however, now I seem to have low back pain after I've walked. I know walking is good for you, but the pain is really bothersome, and makes me feel like I'm overdoing it. That can't be, can it??
BTW, what are "tags?"

[asccbodypro]

low back pain

wascaly,

Congrats on the mile but sorry to hear you are having low back pain afterwords. My guess...and I am just guessing, maybe you just need to stretch the low back muscles. Now since I haven't had surgery yet I have no idea how one goes about it lol. Are you able to lay on the floor on your back and pull your knees into you chest? If you can, that would help to keep your lower back stretched. This definitely will help with some of the discomfort. Also, keeping your hamstrings stretched out is a major factor in low back pain. A good hamstring stretch for you to try is this...sit on the edge of the couch with one leg stretched along the front of it(you are sitting almost sideways and not facing forward)...sit up as straight as possible(that part should be easy for you now you can also lean forward if this is possible with the fusion, even if it's a tiny bit to get a better stretch. Hold for at least a count of 10 or whatever is comfortable, and then switch facing the other direction to stretch out your other leg. Hope the explanation makes sense. I think I have picture directions somewhere and will try to find it and if I can I will post it. As I said, since I haven't had my surgery yet I have no idea if these stretches are possible, just trying to be helpful! Hope they work for you!

[Susie*Bee]

wascaly-- yes, hooray for hitting both the 4 month date and the one mile milestone...

I don't think it's uncommon to still get lower back pain from what you're doing. I still get it some at 21 months post-op-- but not anything that I very often need an OTC med for... just a little achiness sometimes. My understanding is that it can just be from the hardware and all that's been done to you.

As far as those stretches go that Susan suggested-- here are some ways my PT gave me for working those without being too difficult on my fusion and condition at that time. First, if you have a pretty firm bed, you can just do it from there (I know I couldn't have gotten down on the floor like that at that time). It may not be quite as solid, but it will be ok. Of course, at physical therapy, it was a padded table. He had me work on my hamstrings by using a towel or theraband-- while on your back, put it (towel or band) behind your knee and straighten your leg (working towards a 90º angle from your body-- in other words, straight up) as much as you can and hold it-- building up from a 10 count to a 30 count with time. Alternate legs-- and then repeat it, starting with 5, and building to 10 or whatever.

I'm thinking it could well be that it's not muscular aching, but downright bone aching that you are feeling, but those stretches will be good regardless. Good luck! And just remember not to bend or twist. Logrolling is always recommended when moving to or from lying on your back.

PS-- I don't know much about tags, but this is a link to the FAQ area where it talks about them: http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/faq.p...l&titlesonly=0
And then I think somehow you can search for tags for a given subject... but I haven't noticed anyone really using them-- but it may be one of those things that only a few people (and not me!) know how to do on our forum...

[LynnMarie74]

congrats....

Congrats on walking the mile!! My right side by my hip always hurts or annoys me when I walk for any significant distance. Im 6 weeks post op and just started (last week) walking about 60 mins a day. 30 in the morning and 30 in the evening. I always have to hold my right side when I walk...and Im not sure why. I have my post op on Thursday, so I guess I will find out then. Hopefully its nothing too serious as its a weird rubbing/pushing feeling that goes away when I put pressure on it. Before you stretch out, Id check w.you doctore or PT on which ways are best for your fusion. Take care & best of luck!


Lynn

[fierceliketiger]

Hi wascaly! Congrats on getting to the mile and on being 4 months out.
I am walking a LOT (my surgeon is a drill sergeant), and not too far behind you as far as the time frame goes. I also get a lot of low back pain from walking. However, it has decreased a little since I went to physical therapy and tightened up my rear end muscles. For whatever reason it has helped significantly and I can walk longer than before.
Hope that helps!

[wascaly]

Thanks to all for those suggestions, and for sharing your experiences with low back pain. Sometimes, I have visions of strange things happening to that hardware inside me, especially when I do have this pain. I, too, have a nagging pain in my left hip when I walk that I guess is attributed to the degenerated discs he fused on that side. I see the doc again at the middle of this month, so maybe he will be able to tell me more. In the meantime, I'll just keep on truckin.'