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Hi! My name is Sergie and i'm new to this forum. I'm a 24 year old dude that lives in beautiful San Diego. I love surfing, snowboarding, and designing websites.
So here's the story...(thanks for reading!!)
From September to December of last year (2010) I had the time of my life. I was working every day and loved every bit of it. I was creative, energetic, social, and active. I have never worked so much in my life and have never worked out so much either. Suddenly in mid December I started to have dull mid back pain (from right below my shoulder blades to where my lumbar spine starts) when i sat at my computer. I didn't know where it came from. After thinking about it, i realized that some things could have caused it: sitting in a stiff wooden chair with poor posture almost every day during the 3 months, and that time i was sick on December 5th but had to work from 10am to 3am to finish a project (18 hrs straight). The mental stress and muscle strain could have easily tensed up my back.
I thought it would go away but it didn't. I couldn't work on my computer for long periods of time (1 hour) without pain, so i wasn't motivated to design anymore. I started getting into a funky depression. I felt like i couldn't exercise because fear of more injury.
The next thing i did was go to a message therapist that my good friend recommended. The masseuse gave me a deep tissue massage once a week for 3 weeks. That helped, but only for a day or two. I saw a chiropractor a couple times from the same building. It also helped, but temporarily. The chiropractor said my hips were out of alignment. Both practitioners suggested i stretch my really tight hamstrings and work on my hips. I had to pay out of pocket because i didn't have insurance.
The next thing i thought of doing was getting health insurance and seeing a doctor. So i did. I got x-rays. I was told I have 8 degree curve from T7 thru L1 (usually 10 degrees is needed to diagnose scoliosis). The doctor referred me to a physical therapist. The PT measured my legs and said my right leg is a little bit shorter than my left. He then prescribed me some exercises for lower back pain. WHY? I have mid back pain, so why would he do that? I didn't trust him and didn't want to spend $100 for poor treatment. I asked my doctor to get leg and hip x-rays to see if my back pain is from my hips or leg discrepancies, but he said no way and prescribed me drugs which i don't want to use. I later visited to my deep-tissue masseur in Sacramento (he knows his stuff) and had 3 one-hour sessions to get rid of the big muscle knots on the sides of my spine. It didn't help all that much. He said that my spasmed muscles are pulling my spine into a funk which is causing all the pain. It makes some sense.
PROBLEM WRAP-UP
I have 8 degree scoliosis (T7 to L1), right leg shorter, right hip lower, TMJ in right jaw, big muscle knots on both sides of spine (longissimus, iliocostalis and some spinalis). I get a deep dull pain in my mid back when i sit for over an hour. My back muscles feel tense. My left hamstring is tighter than my right, my right hip flexor is tighter than my left. My right side (back, arms) are stronger than my left. So i'm all out of balance. I feel more acute pain when twisting my trunk to the right.
MY SOLUTIONS WRAP-UP
So i've been doing Yoga every other day and it has helped some, but pain is still there. Some days it's bothering me all day, other days i feel fine unless i sit. When i'm active it's easier to deal with it. But then again it's risky. I pulled my left latissimus dorsi while surfing in big surf (it hurt to breath in) and that's never happened before in my 5 years of surfing. I was throwing a frisbee with a friend at the beach yesterday and today the muscles closer to the spine felt VERY tight and painful. Tried acupuncture, but it didn't help. I roll on my roller every day and have tried manual trigger point therapy, but that's only helped temporarily.
......
So what do you gals/guys think? I've been told many different things by many different people, but i don't know what's the whole truth. I don't know what to do to relax my back muscles once and for all. What would you recommend? Keep exercising to strengthen the back? Aerobic exercises? I was thinking of seeing a different Chiropractor to get a second opinion. I was also thinking of going to the gym and working on my butt and thighs because i hear that can be the cause of mid back pain (besides sitting a lot).
Thanks for reading all of this!! I really appreciate your help (correcting my knowledge, suggestions, personal experience, anything!).
-Sergie
So here's the story...(thanks for reading!!)
From September to December of last year (2010) I had the time of my life. I was working every day and loved every bit of it. I was creative, energetic, social, and active. I have never worked so much in my life and have never worked out so much either. Suddenly in mid December I started to have dull mid back pain (from right below my shoulder blades to where my lumbar spine starts) when i sat at my computer. I didn't know where it came from. After thinking about it, i realized that some things could have caused it: sitting in a stiff wooden chair with poor posture almost every day during the 3 months, and that time i was sick on December 5th but had to work from 10am to 3am to finish a project (18 hrs straight). The mental stress and muscle strain could have easily tensed up my back.
I thought it would go away but it didn't. I couldn't work on my computer for long periods of time (1 hour) without pain, so i wasn't motivated to design anymore. I started getting into a funky depression. I felt like i couldn't exercise because fear of more injury.
The next thing i did was go to a message therapist that my good friend recommended. The masseuse gave me a deep tissue massage once a week for 3 weeks. That helped, but only for a day or two. I saw a chiropractor a couple times from the same building. It also helped, but temporarily. The chiropractor said my hips were out of alignment. Both practitioners suggested i stretch my really tight hamstrings and work on my hips. I had to pay out of pocket because i didn't have insurance.
The next thing i thought of doing was getting health insurance and seeing a doctor. So i did. I got x-rays. I was told I have 8 degree curve from T7 thru L1 (usually 10 degrees is needed to diagnose scoliosis). The doctor referred me to a physical therapist. The PT measured my legs and said my right leg is a little bit shorter than my left. He then prescribed me some exercises for lower back pain. WHY? I have mid back pain, so why would he do that? I didn't trust him and didn't want to spend $100 for poor treatment. I asked my doctor to get leg and hip x-rays to see if my back pain is from my hips or leg discrepancies, but he said no way and prescribed me drugs which i don't want to use. I later visited to my deep-tissue masseur in Sacramento (he knows his stuff) and had 3 one-hour sessions to get rid of the big muscle knots on the sides of my spine. It didn't help all that much. He said that my spasmed muscles are pulling my spine into a funk which is causing all the pain. It makes some sense.
PROBLEM WRAP-UP
I have 8 degree scoliosis (T7 to L1), right leg shorter, right hip lower, TMJ in right jaw, big muscle knots on both sides of spine (longissimus, iliocostalis and some spinalis). I get a deep dull pain in my mid back when i sit for over an hour. My back muscles feel tense. My left hamstring is tighter than my right, my right hip flexor is tighter than my left. My right side (back, arms) are stronger than my left. So i'm all out of balance. I feel more acute pain when twisting my trunk to the right.
MY SOLUTIONS WRAP-UP
So i've been doing Yoga every other day and it has helped some, but pain is still there. Some days it's bothering me all day, other days i feel fine unless i sit. When i'm active it's easier to deal with it. But then again it's risky. I pulled my left latissimus dorsi while surfing in big surf (it hurt to breath in) and that's never happened before in my 5 years of surfing. I was throwing a frisbee with a friend at the beach yesterday and today the muscles closer to the spine felt VERY tight and painful. Tried acupuncture, but it didn't help. I roll on my roller every day and have tried manual trigger point therapy, but that's only helped temporarily.
......
So what do you gals/guys think? I've been told many different things by many different people, but i don't know what's the whole truth. I don't know what to do to relax my back muscles once and for all. What would you recommend? Keep exercising to strengthen the back? Aerobic exercises? I was thinking of seeing a different Chiropractor to get a second opinion. I was also thinking of going to the gym and working on my butt and thighs because i hear that can be the cause of mid back pain (besides sitting a lot).
Thanks for reading all of this!! I really appreciate your help (correcting my knowledge, suggestions, personal experience, anything!).
-Sergie
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