extreme lower back pain

Hey Ricky, suspect your troubles may have simply occurred due to your previous lack of exercise, then engaging in the P90X program, which as you've learned is fairly strenuous. would recommend you try a pain-spray recommended to my better-half by her chiropractor. i've used it, on occassion, with terrific results. personally, i shun any form of medication or surgery, unless absolutely necessary. either way, hope this helps

 

just an update of my situation:

well on new years had a few beers and decided it was a good idea to wrestle with my little cousins on the floor and mess around with them, BAD IDEA. those little kids whooped my ass and put a good hurting on me, didnt feel it till the next day because i was pretty out of it but I couldn't even get out of bed.

called my mom had her pick me up some pain relief stuff (no where in my town had biofreeze as the guy above mentioned) so she got some other stuff, it seemed like it worked the very first application for maybe ten minutes, but after that it was worthless.

took off work a few days, laid in bed all day every day for 2 days, i felt 5000x better, using the heating pad regularly and only getting up to piss, get a bottle of water, and let my dogs outside. then on that second day i went to pick up the pitcher of sweet tea off the bottom shelf of the fridge, BAD idea. i bent down and BAM my back just went from a 5/10 to a 100/10 pain level. so i tried laying in bed for another day, but then i had to go to work the next day (friday) so that probably didnt help, and im at work right now, which obviously isnt helping because im up and down and walking around all night. i finally talked myself into going to a chiropractor, gonna see what they think, take some xrays, and go from there.

 

Sorry to hear that. Thought by now you'd be better. Time to get an adjustment.

 

OP, I read most of this and I have had lower back pain for 15 years. Started out as herniated disks where the pain was so great, I was taking hydro 20's, two every three hours and it wasn't even touching the pain, just made me nauseous. I was literally falling to the floor in excruciating pain like someone had just stabbed me in the spine.
From 15 years of pain, chiro, massage therapy, general practitioners and specialists, I will tell you what has worked and not worked for me.
I am NOT a doctor, so don't sue me if you take my advice and it doesn't work. Keep in mind I am aware of your $$ situation and lack of insurance so I'm trying to make this cheap to free. I have used chiro and was actually told by my chiropractor that alignment was not my issue, muscular was. I use deep tissue massage and it works well.

-Stop P90x ! Push-ups and pull-ups are he'll on the lower back
-Stop the inflammation. Ice not heat. Heat will make the inflammation worse. Ibuprofen max daily for two weeks.
-NO lifting, shoveling, wrenching on your truck or basically anything over 5lbs for a month.
-Stretch- gently, for ten minutes, twice a day. Google "stretches for back pain" and print them out. As soon as you even feel discomfort, back off! You are trying to heal, not become a contortionist! I also found a DVD called "Yoga for back pain" that really helped me.
-An inversion table might help. Probably find one on Craigslist free or super cheap. Do NOT hang upside down. Just go a little past horizontal to the floor to take pressure off your spine. Put an ad on Craigslist asking for one to help you with back pain. Someone may feel for you and give you one. I borrow one from a family member when I screw up my back.
-Find where there is a massage therapy school near you. Many schools offer cheap massage so their students can practice. I used to trade services to a massage therapist. She had an old VW that always needed work, and garage time was about the same $per hour as massage. I fixed her car and she fixed me.
- Once you are feeling better the goal will be to keep your weight under control (I have no idea of your size, but being overweight can damage your back),
Avoid heavy lifting and twisting. I can go right back to being screwed up from a day of shoveling snow.
Get your core strength up and KEEP STRETCHING DAILY!

I hope some of this helps. Back pain sucks and is hard to treat. It's like trying to track down an intermittent electrical gremlin in your truck.

Feel free to PM your phone number to me if you ever want to talk. If you have already done the damage, chances are you won't fix it, just keep it under control.
Good luck!!

 

update::

on tuesday or wednesday (bad memory) i went to the chiropractor and had an xray done first taken by the HOT assistant girl. she told me to get undressed into the gown thing and i didnt want her to leave

anyway, after the xray she took me to a room where i waited for the doctor(or chiropractor guy) to come in, he said my xrays were fine, nothing looked off. had me stand up straight and bend down and try and touch my toes, it wasnt happening. my legs are too tight, and he said thats why my back was hurting so bad. whenever i pick something up from the ground it puts all the weight on my back instead of my legs which isnt good, so he took me through some simple leg exercises he wants me to do for a while or else ill have bad back problems when i get in my late twenties.

anyway again, he laid me down on my side, and like cracked my whole body, neck to lower back, bones i didnt even know i had. i could just tell i felt better instantly. then he laid me on my stomach and started doing some shit on my back like pushing and blah blah. whatever he did i feel good today (was sore the day or two after, but now i feel 100x better with little to almost no pain)

then after that he took me to another assistant, who was HOT, and actually a sister of a girl i know, so i had to flirt anyway she laid me on the massage table and turned it on and adjusted the settings and stuff, felt good of course, but wish it was her hands

made an appointment to go back next week. he told me after 2-3 times coming i should be good to go.

 

I have had back pain on and off for 20 years. Fortunatley the chiro helps me. All depends on what the exact promlem is. I personally don't like Dr's. I do not like taking drugs which most will perscribe for most back pain. You have to find a good Chiro, maybe someone can recommend one. The good ones will be honest with you if they can not help you they will tell you. The Chiro can not fix all back problems. I do know most Dr's don't like the Chiro's and most Chiro's don't like the Dr's.

 

True, my wife is a chiro. They don't like each other. Being around her school friends made me hate chiros as well. Some were so full of themselves it made me sick. The school has some issues as well, but that's another story.

A good one is worth their weight though and they will be honest with you and refer you out if your problem is beyone their scope. They should know what theyre talking about and want you to get better. The catch is to keep checking in once a month or so just to not let things get out of wack again. Think of it as preventive maintenance on your car.