I'm currently seeing a doctor about my back but it's currently driving me nuts. Has anyone got any recommendations that is not a cocktail of painkillers or booze (I'll leave that til last!)?


No harm in asking! :P

Try bees :



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2280700/Bee-venom-sting-pain.html

I have a herniated disc in my upper back/lower neck and there are times when the pain is extreme. I have found that a TENS unit is one of best choices for me to help ease the pain. I bought mine from a chiropractor, one of best investments I've made to help with the pain.

This is the annoying part. This problem for me has came from years of abuse on my back and my doctor telling me it's just my weight. The doctors at my practice had to retire before ANYONE would believe me. So I am now left with god knows how many problems making life a pain and the folks at the physio are not too sure what to do with me.

Really depends. I get pain in my upper back/neck/shoulder shooting through my right arm sometimes. From what I can find it's probably due to a disc in my back there, so I've resorted to doing some back exercises at the gym, got a new pillow (one of those curved ones to support the neck), and sit up straight where I can and it seems to be happening less.

Losing weight would obviously help back problems. If you're going to the gym I'd suggest some back exercises as well as stomach exercises. Only doing one won't help back problems, you need to be supported from both ends.

I have been using one of these for years, and it has kept my back in great shape since I had disc surgery several years ago. If you're a bit on the heavy side, it might be a little uncomfortable to use initially...heck, even if you aren't, they do take a little getting used to, but fortunately, you can control the amount of inversion, and work you're way towards total inversion eventually if you like. I like to use mine just beofre going to bed at night, as the effects carry over during bedtime, since you are no longer on your feet and compressing the discs. Hang in there (pun sort of intended), and best of luck with your back

One of the most overlooked medical devices is the one we use 1/3 of our life: our bed.

Be sure you have an awesome bed that works very well for you. For me, it's the Sleep Number. Just about the only time I have back pain now is when I sleep on the couch or at a hotel.

As someone else said, TENS is awesome. Your back pain is completely gone when using it.

I strongly suggest avoiding pain pills. Anti-inflammation is great, but pain pills don't work well. If your pain is chronic, your brain can learn to overcome the pain and get back to moving. There are back pain boot camps where you're put with a bunch of others with back pain and you're forced to do all kinds of fun activities, but not pills. No TENS. Nothing. And usually a few days into it, you get a breakthrough and your brain decides to turn down the pain receptors' influence. If you're on pain pills, your brain won't get used to the pain very easily and then you'll be stuck in crippling cycle of pain-relief-pain-relief.

I hope that helps! My mother has one of these and I've tried it a few times when staying at her place. Just like you, I like to do it just before bed. It's heavenly on the back and pretty rough on the ankles. But man, it's nice. Even without back pain it's nice.

Besides going to a chiropractor, an inversion table may help. An inversion table tilts you upside down slightly which lets your spine decompress. It works well for disc related problems supposedly.

Yeah, my ankles are always fine, I sometimes get a bit uncomfortable along the tops of my feet, where the particular table I use seems to apply the most pressure. I imagine it's different depending on the table/manufacturer you use. I do know a couple friends who have tried them, and just found the pain from decompressing to be too great/painful, and stopped using it after a few tries, so they are definitely not for everyone. Other folks I know also swear by them, so like anything else, it's a case by case basis if it works well for an individual.

Inversion table for me, too. Sometimes it's good just for temporary relief, but I did have it cure a bad back pain once with one solid POP! That was maybe four years back.

Some good stretch exercises may help with alignment.

And when mine does get to nagging me, it's usually because I've been doing office work for a couple weeks straight. Once I go on the road and do all the lifting, contorting, etc., that my job entails, that usually helps a bit. In other words, get at least somewhat active.

Yeah have a shit ton of problems with my spine too. I'm supposed to go to some spine specialist where they want to put a needle in it and drain spinal fluid or some shit. Been putting it off even though my back kills me every day.

Get a proper diagnosis from a professional to figure out what the actual problem is. More serious issues can require surgery, and if you have something like that then various exercises and such just aren't going to cut it. That said, many back problems arise from poor posture in day to day activities, so evaluating that and improving the ergonomics of where you spend much of your time can help a lot, at least towards keeping problems from becoming worse. If you spend a lot of time sitting then make sure you have a chair conducive to proper back alignment and if you're in front of a monitor make sure it's set up at eye level and that it's close enough that you don't end up leaning forward in your chair subconsciously (doing this for extended periods can really do a number on your lower back and neck). Also, as another poster mentioned, make sure you have a good bed that's not tweaking your back. If you're spending eight hours each day tweaking your back while you sleep then you're going to have problems not matter what else you do. There are also some very simple exercises to strengthen the muscles that wrap around your abdomen (just Google for exercises to strengthen your core) which will make it easier to maintain good posture.

This might sound weird but I was having back pain for a while a few months ago and what I discovered helped a lot was simply concentrating on relaxing my back muscles. I was sitting and walking with my back a lot more tight and tense than it needed to be, which was probably increasing the pain from whatever muscle or disc issue I was having (and may have contributed to the cause).

Probably a weird personal issue but you never know.

If I turn my head to the left, my neckbones like to grind together that is the most painful, weird feeling I've had. And also my right arm and my left leg seemingly at random times like to go completely numb. Using a pillow also fucking sucks, neck pops and grinds, etc.

I hope that I am just too tired, because I was trying to figure out why you were asking strangers about treating your Back Acne.