Hello all.

Does anybody out there have a good herbal or otherwise cure for a badly sprained back? I leaned over my work bench witout bending my knees and its been sore for three days.

From the pines. r.v. Bulinda

-- ron bulinda (rvbulinda@yahoo.com), October 11, 2001

Answers

Try a hot sitz bath with Epsom salts,have someone massage you also. Make sure you are getting your vitamin intake and maybe take up yoga to strengthen and relax muscles.

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), October 11, 2001.

Get a buddy to give you a hot pack for 20 minutes, then a massage to get the blood flowing.

Stretch: If you can, lie on your back and slowly bring your knee to your chest—as far as you're able—hold for a count of 10 and repeat with other leg. Do this twice, two or three times a day to help stretch your back and hamstring muscles.

I've been told Capsacin (sp?) works well (and smells better than BenGay). BioFreeze works great, if you can get some from a Physical Therapist.

-- Anne-marie (annemarie@tds.net), October 11, 2001.

Ive had backaches for years. Talk a walk,, with your posture correct,, for as long as you can. Hot showers, water massage, or the like to loosen the back. Stretch when you can,, and strengthen the stomach and back muscles, even 5 sit ups will help.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 11, 2001.

Pick up a bottle of absorbine jr [ not the absorbine with caspien as it is to strong] its about 6$ at the store and this stuff works great!

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), October 11, 2001.

I found the best way was to first lay on ice cube pack. A few days afterwards start the heat packs.

Exercise your back a little bit now to ease the muscles and keep it up to prevent if from happening in future.

Squeeze your buttocks and hold ( do in car, in line at grocery--often)

Do exercises that strengthen your stomach muscles.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 11, 2001.

Colloidal minerals cured my chronic back pains.

-- Bruce (rural@inebraska.com), October 11, 2001.

DO NOT WORK WITH A STRAINED BACK. Once you injure it, it will be weak for the rest of your life. Do all of the above and let it rest and go easy on it. I learned the hard way and have had many conversations since then, both with doctors and people with back injuries. Good luck.

-- Bob (robertblessum@netscape.net), October 11, 2001.

First, take and stay on anti-inflamatories such as ibuprofen or aspirin. The inflamation puts pressure on the area and slows healing. Second, if it hurts, don't do it. At all. I mean ANYTHING that hurts if it can possibly be avoided. (I realize that things like breathing can't be avoided, but that's about where we're going with this.) Be VERY careful about all of your actions until your back is better, and then still be careful. Learn how to move correctly and ALWAYS do it. Also, when they say, "Keep your back arched," this does not mean like a cat arches its back when alarmed. It means, when you bend over to pick something up - AFTER your back feels ALL BETTER - stick your behind out. This is the strongest position for your back. You may have guessed this is the voice of lots of experience talking. I had my first bad back hospital visit around the age of 13. Good luck, and BE CAREFUL.

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), October 11, 2001.

For acute back pain, apply arnica tincture four times a day to the affected area, take black cohosh capsules or tincture three times a day.

For chronic back pain, apply a wintergreen based type liniment several times a day, and take white willow capsules or tincture three times a day.

The arnica tincture works best if applied as soon as possible after the strain or injury, can make a tremendous difference in the recuperation time needed to heal, but is an excellent pain reliever regardless of time used after an acute injury or strain.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 11, 2001.

For a good website to learn more about your sprained back go to www.spine-health.com . My wife had back surgery a while back and we have found a lot of good info at this site. Emory

-- Emory (NE PA) (et@hazleton.net), October 11, 2001.

Just a comment. I had lower back pain, off and on, for some number of years. Finally went to a chriopractor (sp?). He took a full back X-ray and found one of my legs is about 3/8" shorter than the other. This caused the pelvis to be out of alignment, which then affected the vertabra. Once I started wearing a lift in that shoe the problem was corrected. Dr. said this is a common problem.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 12, 2001.

I have to agree with Ken, a chiropractor would be your best bet. I worked for one and can not tell you the difference it made in my life.

My back pain was so severe sometimes I could not stand long enough to do the dishes and I would cry when I had to get out of bed. I now have NO back pain! Just from simple adjustments the chiropractor did over a time period.

Just my 2 cents :)

To help ease the pain (this is what was told to patients in the office) alternate hot and cold packs every 10 minutes always ending with cold, and take ibuprofin to ease the swelling.

-- Primitive Passion (oldquiltlover@hotmail.com), October 12, 2001.

Back-pain can be self-perpetuating. It hurts, so your body automatically tenses muscles to protect itself against the pain; but the muscle spasm creates more pain. Relaxing those tense muscles helps a lot - aspirin-like or panadol drugs, hot packs. There are also straight aspirin-containing rubs - don't smell like linament. In Australia we use small cloth bags of dry wheat grains (say one or two pounds weight) - microwave them two or three minutes, they get soomewhere between warm and hot. Apply (don't need to remove shirt or blouse or dress): if too hot put a towel between them and your back, and note that next time you shouldn't heat them as long.

Learn to lift properly - if you've got a bad back you can't help this anyway, but remember it after your back gets better. Lift with your legs, keep your back straight or just slightly arched backwards. If you need to stand up to something (workbench, kitchen bench, kitchen sink) make sure there's room to get your feet or at least your toes under it - helps keep your back straighter.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 12, 2001.