Treatment For Back Spasm
- First 48 to 72 hours: Apply ice for 20 minutes reapply every two hours while lying on your back. Always use an ice pack never apply ice directly to the skin.
- After 72 hours: Apply moist heat. A heating pad is ideal. Failing that, you may find relief by soaking in a tub of hot water.
- Whereas ice reduces inflammation, heat increases blood flow to the area and relaxes tight muscles and irritated nerves.
- Elevating your legs takes pressure off the spine and may also help relieve pain.
Aspirin or ibuprofen can help reduce inflammation and alleviate pain. Consult with your physician or healthcare provider regarding the medication and dosing regimen most suitable for your condition. With low back muscle spasm, combination therapies generally yield better results than one therapy alone.
What Is Back Pain Relief Medicines For Back Spasms
Best back pain relief medicines are the first treatment used to get immediate relief from the symptoms of spasm. Depending on the severity of your case, it can also heal the muscles to prevent future spasms further.
Most acute back pain normally goes away within a week or two. For those who want to shorten the duration of pain, however, may do so by taking general pain reliever drugs in the form paracetamol or acetaminophen as the best back pain relief. Additionally, you may rely more on conservative drugs that are specifically made as best back pain relief if the symptoms of back spasm persist.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is one of the best back pain relief and normally the first medication choice prescribed by doctors, although they are also available over the counter such in the form of ibuprofen or naproxen. As the drug name suggests, NSAIDs are the best back pain relief that has anti-inflammatory properties and is considered mild analgesics. It works by blocking individual enzymes that produce prostaglandin, a substance that signals nerve endings to feel the pain more in cases of inflammation. It is the enzyme-blocking ability is what relieve afflictions caused by spasms.
Answer These Five Questions To Figure If You Need To See Your Doctor:
If your answer was YES to FOUR of the five questions, chances are you have back inflammation. We recommend you discuss these symptoms with your doctor.
Inflammatory back pain may relate to a chronic underlying cause. You need to start contacting your doctor once you feel any increasing and unstoppable pain.
Don’t Miss: Should I Go To The Doctor For Lower Back Pain
Putting It All Together
When you have to endure a back muscle spasm, whether its once or time and time again, it can cause you much pain and suffering. Your muscles become overwhelmingly tight and you may find yourself in search of relief in any manner possible.
Some causes of spasms are beyond your control. These include aging, having other medical conditions that bring about or aggravate your back muscles and taking medications that put your body in just the right internal environment to make it seize and spasm.
And, on the converse, some causes are self-created. For instance, if you currently smoke, you could be putting yourself at higher risk of back related issues and if youre out of shape you may notice more back pain than your in-shape counterparts. Also, things such as bad posture, not moving around enough on a regular basis and allowing your body to dehydrate also result in potential spasms.
In addition, some of your choices may unknowingly be making the spasms either worse or more prevalent. These include not relieving your body of stress often enough, consuming too much caffeine and taking medications that either incite the spasms or inhibit the absorption of vitamins and minerals necessary to stop them.
Now that you know how they are caused, you can take precautions to avoid them. After all, as Benjamin Franklin once said, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
What Are The Symptoms Of Lumbar Strain
. Each person’s symptoms may be different. Symptoms may include:
- Sudden lower back pain
- Spasms in the lower back that result in more severe pain
- Lower back feels sore to the touch
Some of these symptoms may be caused by other health problems. Always talk with your healthcare provider for a diagnosis.
Read Also: What Type Of Doctor Should You See For Back Pain
Use Back Support To Limit Stress On Your Back
When resting in bed, you may find that the most comfortable position is on your back with pillows placed under your knees and a rolled towel or small pillow placed in the small of your back. Also, when sitting in a chair use a back support cushion to maintain a better posture. This helps to support the natural curvature of your back, and takes pressure off the lower back by providing additional support to the area.
Nutrient Deficiencies Or Imbalances
Calcium, magnesium, or other nutrient imbalances or deficiencies are a very common cause of lower back spasm andhypertonicity. Potassium is often cited as another cause but comparedto calcium and magnesium it is less so.
How to treat back spasms from this typeof spasm should be directed at immediate relief as it can be quitepainful. At the same type you should correct the nutrient imbalancein order to treat this spasm in the long term and preventrecurrences.
Immediate treatment may be massage, iceand stretching.
Don’t Miss: Is Epsom Salt Good For Back Pain
Treating Lower Back Spasms
If your spasms do begin after an injury or an activity that stressed the muscles, try alternating ice and heat on your back. Ice will help reduce inflammation and heat may help improve blood flow.
Medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants may help relieve symptoms while the muscles heal. Research supports that muscle relaxants provide significant pain relief in short-term muscle spasms.
Injections of an anti-inflammatory medication may also help. But there are potential side effects with every medication. Ask your doctor about the risks and benefits of these injections.
Chiropractic care may help, but be sure to see a doctor to have your condition properly diagnosed first. Physical therapy to help strengthen your back and abdominal muscles is often recommended, as long as the muscles are healthy enough for exercise.
Stretches For Lower Back Spasms
Stretching reduces muscle tension and can stop muscle spasms. Many people experiencing sudden spasms are reluctant to move, but simply getting up and walking may help.
Some simple stretches for lower back spasms include:
- Child’s Pose. For this yoga pose, kneel on the ground with your knees apart. Stretch up and then fold forward, bringing your chest down to your thighs. Stretch your arms forward in front of your head, with palms downs down and elbows resting on the floor.
- Hip lifts. Lie on your back with knees bent and feet on the ground. Place your hands by your side. Gently raise your hips a couple of inches off the ground and hold the position. Repeat 510 times.
- Cat-Cow Pose. Get on all fours on the floor with your knees under your hips and your hands flat on the ground in line with your shoulders. Take a deep breath and arch your back while extending your head back. Then exhale and round your back while pushing your chin toward your chest. Repeat 510 times.
Some people find that experimenting with different stretches or that rolling the painful area on a foam roller offers a better stretch.
You May Like: Why Does My Lower Back Hurt In The Morning
Avoid Rushing Into The 2 Most Common Mistakes For Treatment
MISTAKE #1. Do not to rush into basic strengthening exercises such as sit-ups, crunches or lower back extensions. This may help for some, but in most cases, these areas are already tight, short and strong. Tightness and overly strong muscle conditioning is usually the case with the lower back and hamstrings.
MISTAKE #2. Simply resting and returning to your daily whatever. Werent you doing this JUST BEFORE it happened? No, my friend. There needs to be a plan and you are here for actual solutions right?
Observe the degree of your pelvic tilt. The three common positions are neutral, anterior and posterior. An excessive angle can trigger another spasm.
Exercises such as sit-ups and crunches can help but should not be done first as they are considered as isolation type exercises. They do not condition the core muscle groups to protect you. If you are in need of some specific exercises, begin with these 10 exercises.
Conservative Treatment For Back Spasm
Conservative treatment is one of the option tried prior to medications and surgery. Conservative treatment helps to treat spasm in most cases. Conservative treatment prevents patients exposure to side effects of medications, interventional injection therapies and surgery. The intermittent back spasm often responds to conservative treatment if cause of spasm is not irritation or pinch nerve. In most cases combinations of conservative treatments are recommended. Conservative treatment is prescribed by primary care physician or specialist. Occasionally patient is referred to chiropractor or osteopathic physician. The services rendered by a chiropractor or an osteopathic doctor helps to get rid of the back spasms by reducing pressure sensitivity of trigger points that initiated muscle spasm. Massage therapy helps to relieve back spasm by enhancing flexibility, improving the blood flow to muscles and diminishing muscle tension.2 Therapeutic massage reduces muscle stiffness and diminishes sustained muscle contraction.
Choice Of Conservative Treatment For Back Spasm Are As Follows-
- Rest
- Yoga Therapy
Medication-
The medicines that are used in treating back spasms are the following-
NSAIDS- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. Most often motrin, naproxen and celebrex are prescribed to treat back spasm.
Tylenol- Acetaminophen is used as a pain medication. Tylenol does not work as an anti-inflammatory medication.
You May Like: What Kind Of Cancer Causes Back Pain
Look Into Getting A New Mattress
How old is your bed? You may be surprised to learn that the average life span of a mattress is less than 10 years. Theres no hard-and-fast rule, says Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, chief of the division of pain medicine at Stanford University, but if your mattress is sagging significantly or is more than six to eight years old, Id think about getting a new one.
Something else to consider: A firm mattress may not do your back any favors, says Carmen R. Green, MD, a physician at the University of Michigan Back & Pain Center. A number of studies over the years suggest that people with lower back pain who sleep on medium-firm mattresses do better than those with firm beds, she says.
Even The Nonprescription Pain Relievers Are Not Risk Free
Medicines like ibuprofen and naproxen can be helpful, but they can cause stomach inflammation and ulcers, as well as possible bleeding, and even kidney damage, especially in the elderly. Muscle relaxants can be sedating, and can interact with other common medications. Benzodiazepines and opiates not only can cause sedation, making it hard to think clearly and function normally, they are also addictive. Basically, for acute and subacute low back pain, the risks of these medications outweigh the benefits. Other medications, like acetaminophen, steroids, antidepressants, and anti-seizure medications, were not significantly helpful for acute and subacute low back pain at all.
You May Like: How To Relieve A Lower Back Strain
More Advanced Care Options
Surgery When other therapies fail, surgery may be considered to relieve pain caused by worsening nerve damage, serious musculoskeletal injuries, or nerve compression. Specific surgeries are selected for specific conditions/indications. However, surgery is not always successful. It may be months following surgery before the person is fully healed and there may be permanent loss of flexibility. Surgical options include:
Implanted nerve stimulators
- Spinal cord stimulation uses low-voltage electrical impulses from a small implanted device that is connected to a wire that runs along the spinal cord. The impulses are designed to block pain signals that are normally sent to the brain.
- Dorsal root ganglion stimulation also involves electrical signals sent along a wire connected to a small device that is implanted into the lower back. It specifically targets the nerve fibers that transmit pain signals. The impulses are designed to replace pain signals with a less painful numbing or tingling sensation.
- Peripheral nerve stimulation also uses a small implanted device and an electrode to generate and send electrical pulses that create a tingling sensation to provide pain relief.
When Should I Call My Healthcare Provider
- Can’t stand or walk
- Temperature over 101.0°F
- Chills
- Frequent, painful, or bloody urination
- Severe belly pain
- Pain or numbness in your leg
- Pain in a new area of your back
- The pain isnt decreasing after more than a week
- Pain radiating down the leg.
- Pain that is accompanied by fever or chills, leg weakness, or loss of control of the bladder or bowels.
You May Like: Can Depression Cause Pain In Back
When Should You Call Your Doctor
“Acute back pain with a muscle spasm should not last more than eight to 12 hours. If you are still having persistent, severe pain or spasms after 12 hours, call your doctor. You should also call if you have pain with weakness or numbness or any loss of bowel or bladder control,” Dr. Cornett says.
The AAOS recommends that you call your doctor if you have residual back pain that has not gone away in a few weeks. Small disc tears that occur with aging can last for weeks or months. Discs can also shrink and collapse, called disc degeneration, or protrude out between the spinal bones, called disk herniation. A herniated disc can cause pressure on your sciatic nerve with pain, weakness or numbness shooting down your leg to your foot.
What Does A Back Spasm Feel Like
A back spasm can feel like a tightening, pulling or twitching of the muscles in your back. With some muscle spasms the muscle will be hard to the touch or show a visible twitching.4
The intensity and duration of each muscle spasm can vary.
A back spasm involving the piriformis muscle in the lower back may also lead to leg pain called sciatica5 .
Read Also: How To Get Instant Back Pain Relief
How Long Do Back Spasms Last
Back muscle spasm caused by muscle fatigue lasts for 2 to 5 days. Rest, adequate fluid intake and treatment of pain helps to recover from muscle fatigue in 3 to 5 days and pain subsides in intensity from mild to none. Back spasm caused by muscle weaknesses remain for 2 to 4 weeks or longer. Muscle weakness caused by dehydration and mineral deficiency gets better when condition improves that may take 1 to 2 weeks. Back muscle weakness caused by long term chronic disease may take 8 to 12 weeks to recover after once the chronic disease is completely recovered.
Back muscle spasm caused by over use of back muscle gets better after 2 to 5 days of rest. The muscle overuse by manual worker or an individual lifting heavy weight may cause muscle tear. Muscle spasm associated with muscle tear often takes 6 to 8 weeks to heal. During healing period back muscle undergoes on and often in spasm.
Where Can I Get More Information
For more information on neurological disorders or research programs funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, contact the Institute’s Brain Resources and Information Network at:
Office of Communications and Public LiaisonNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and StrokeNational Institutes of HealthBethesda, MD 20892
NINDS health-related material is provided for information purposes only and does not necessarily represent endorsement by or an official position of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke or any other Federal agency. Advice on the treatment or care of an individual patient should be obtained through consultation with a physician who has examined that patient or is familiar with that patient’s medical history.
All NINDS-prepared information is in the public domain and may be freely copied. Credit to the NINDS or the NIH is appreciated.
Read Also: How To Relieve Lower Back Pain Pinched Nerve
Fill Out The Form Below To Get Your Free Copy Today
Featured Image by The Health Sessions
Anyone who has experienced a back spasm knows that it is extremely discomforting, as they can weaken your muscles and affect your spines health negatively. Fortunately, you dont have to keep struggling with this condition.
If youre tired of ineffective treatments for back spasms, youve come to the right place. Keep reading this article to discover simple, trusted remedies for relief. Well help you understand the different causes of back spasms, home treatment methods, and how you can prevent it from occurring.
Whats The Best Position For Sleeping
The best way to sleep is on your side with your knees bent. You may put a pillow under your head to support your neck. You also may put a pillow between your knees for added comfort. If you sleep on your back, put pillows under your knees and a small pillow under your lower back. Dont sleep on your stomach unless you put a pillow under your hips.
Use a firm mattress. If your mattress is too soft, put a 1/2-inch plywood board under the mattress to add support.
Also Check: What Is The Treatment For Herniated Disc In Lower Back
First Aid For Intense Pain From A Pulled Lower Back Muscle
A pulled muscle in your lower back can send intense flareups of pain, spasm, and stiffness, causing many people to end up in the emergency room. When this injury happens, its smart to know what you can do to immediately and effectively bring down the pain to a tolerable level while also helping your body heal.
Pulling a lower back muscle can lead to muscle spasms. SeeLower Back Strain Video
As a general guideline, rest during the initial day or two after your injury, moving slowly and gently to allow your muscle tissue to recover and begin the regeneration process. You may use a back brace intermittently for additional stability.1,2
Below you will find effective treatments that you can employ at home to soothe your muscle soreness.
