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I Hurt My Back...Again!

3+ years ago, I hurt my back and wrote this blog as to how I got better: 

See my blog post here...

Last week, I managed to tweak it again.  I was backpacking in Yellowstone, and bent over to adjust my shoe and felt a twinge (I wasn’t even wearing my heavy pack!!).  Typically, this mechanism of injury (sudden onset in a forward-flexed position) indicates a small tear in one of the discs in the back.(otherwise known as an ‘annular tear’).  They are VERY painful but resolved quickly, if you do the right things.

I followed my same program as 2018 but added a few tweaks:

  1. I took high dose fish oil (4 g) and a supplement, turmeric, to help with inflammation.  I took these supplements for about a week.

  2. I had some muscle soreness in one of my back muscles (quadratus lumborum) and so I saw a trusted spine physical therapist, Nate Hunsaker at Rehab Authority, who did some dry needling in my back muscles.  This is a technique similar to acupuncture and involves inserting small needles into tight/spasmed back muscles.

Again, full resolution of pain within a week.

Keep moving!  MOTION IS LOTION!!

 

~ DR. V

About the author

Sarah Vlach

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