Muscle strain in lower back

Lower back pain rarely goes away - See a doctor immediately!!

Yes, see a Dr asap. DO NOT stretch, twist, etc! Probably muscle strain, but could involve nerves. Heat pack & ice may help a little, with motrin/advil for inflamation, till you get diagnosis. 

Are you a pitcher?

Not an uncommon injury for a pitcher - probably batters too?  Both of our baseball/pitcher sons have dealt with this more than once.

Advice above is spot on - see a doctor.  He/she will give you exercises and you will need to rest from the repetitive functions in baseball.  Good news is it will get better if you follow the doctor's orders.

Where are you located?  Perhaps I can recommend a good doc in your area.  Feel free to PM me.

baseballmom posted:

Yes, see a Dr asap. DO NOT stretch, twist, etc! Probably muscle strain, but could involve nerves. Heat pack & ice may help a little, with motrin/advil for inflamation, till you get diagnosis. 

Are you a pitcher?

Thank you for advice ....I play second base, pulled my back while hitting...talked to trainer at school and he said he thinks it's definitely a muscle strain.

1. You should see a doctor no matter what the trainer thinks. 

2. Lower back muscle strains will take 1-3 weeks to clear up (if that is what it is). Even then you could still get flare-ups. 

3. Best thing is REST. 

Good luck. 

Find a good Chiropractor.  If you are in the DC metro area, I can recommend one.

I would not see a chiropractor. 

If it's muscle strain, only time & rest, some light massage & heat therapy. Exercising will aggravate it. Sleep with a pillow or 2 between legs, to keep hips parallel. I'd stay on a 4 hr schedule of Advil for 2-3 days to reduce the inflammation...Tylenol won't work. 

Please... a chiropractor "worth his/her salt" should be able to resolve the issue in 1-3 treatments.  It's important to understand the actual mechanisms of injury; almost all true "muscle strains" will resolve themselves within 24 hours, if it doesn't there's something else going on and a good chiropractor can definitely help.

structuredoc posted:

Please... a chiropractor "worth his/her salt" should be able to resolve the issue in 1-3 treatments.  It's important to understand the actual mechanisms of injury; almost all true "muscle strains" will resolve themselves within 24 hours, if it doesn't there's something else going on and a good chiropractor can definitely help.

I will say that most of my adult life I thought of chiropractors as "witch doctors" and "scam artists." However, after my son experienced a pulled glute last year, and after doctor visits and after spending weeks with a Physical Therapist, my wife talked me into letting him go to a chiropractor. Bam! Pain gone. I now take him every couple of weeks for an adjustment and he comes out of every session having lost all the aches and pains he entered the office with. I've still never been to a chiropractor myself, but I'm now convinced by my experience with my son that they can do miracles for everyday strains, aches, and pains.

Some of you crack me up. 

Bulldog 19 posted:

Some of you crack me up. 

Same brother!

baseballmom posted:

I would not see a chiropractor. 

If it's muscle strain, only time & rest, some light massage & heat therapy. Exercising will aggravate it. Sleep with a pillow or 2 between legs, to keep hips parallel. I'd stay on a 4 hr schedule of Advil for 2-3 days to reduce the inflammation...Tylenol won't work. 

 

Very helpful thank you

i have injured my back weight training on 2 separate occasions.  x-rays showed nothing either time.  very tight and stiff.  hard to even put my socks on. very frustrating.  i visited a chiropractor for both injuries.  for the first injury i don't think it helped very much.  for the second injury, it actually made it worse.  what did work was a 6 day methylprednisolone dose, a series of stretches performed twice a day, ibuprofrin after the oral steroid, and rest.  here are the stretches.  http://solentmuscletherapy.co....g-for-back-pain.html

Baseballmom has good advice and may have had a bad experience with a chiropractor.  I will add that they do the massage and heat and just because you are in a chiropractors office does not mean he should provide spinal adjustment.  I've been to two types.  The first would adjust on both sides regardless of symptoms - never going to this type again.  The second traveled with the US Olympic track team and only adjusted as necessary.  I had an issue and will not bore you with the details, but depending on how I felt and what he saw that day, he would not adjust, no massage, no heat, no charges, or anything except talk about my plan outside the office to keep me moving forward with my plans.  I put him in the type you want to find bucket. 

Do you go to a chiropractor for ulcerative colitis and he gives you methylprednisolone?  Nice

my primary physician prescribed the methylprednisolone and i felt 75% better the same day.  it was a godsend.  it restored almost full mobility within 24 hrs.  eliminated 90% of all pain.  i rested and did the stretches and then advil the second week.  this worked for my injury.    i had visited the chiro for 2 weeks prior to going back to primary.  my chiro cannot prescribe medication.  

I'm sure you know I was trying to be funny.  There are lots of doctors out there good and bad.  Find the good ones and stay with them.

Not every injury requires running straight to the doctor. Most aren't going to tell you anything different than the AT anyway, except they may be even more conservative than necessary. We treat low backs here all the time. Give them one week and see how they respond. Have had two come back as stress fractures. The first one our doctor even saw in the ATR and agreed with us. Kid saw him in office 4 weeks later and that's when it was discovered. We work closely with our team doctors for this reason... 

no worries.  just sharing my experience to help the op.  lower back pain can be debilitating.  i tried chiropractic treatment first.  when it didn't help, i went pharmaceutical.  

What did your HS trainer tell you that you did not like? They must have give guidance on what to do, what to take, rest, etc.   I'll assume they gave you guidance on how to deal with a back injury and you came here looking for an opinion on how to get better faster.  They are all different, some good, others not so good.  Does your HS team have a team doctor? Ours doesn't. Go to a professional doctor (this includes chiropractors). The longer you wait, the longer it will take to get back in the game.

Lower back? in the C3/C4 area? It is more common in baseball than most realize. Muscular imbalance from lack of core strength and poor hip mobility. I've seen it more in pitchers at the freshman and sophomore ages. You will need a referral from a doctor to get to a PT. A good physical therapist can get him on a path to recovery.

2forU posted:

Baseballmom has good advice and may have had a bad experience with a chiropractor. "

Nope...re bad experience.  I just think that a Doctor would be better able to confirm what his trainer told him. And, if needed, he would prescribe the appropriate treatment.  In the meantime, common sense & son's experience with lower back/hip issues dictates my suggestions to the player. I have a feeling, he'll be fine. 

Honestly, if it were Winter and not beginning of season I would be giving diff advice. Son had same issue, same time of yr. we saw dr who sent him for PT because it was not improving w rest, stretches. Took 6 was until he was back to normal. Back issues can be tricky, your a Sr. in Mar, see a dr. 

Bulldog 19 posted:

Some of you crack me up. 

Ditto!

playball2011 posted:

Honestly, if it were Winter and not beginning of season I would be giving diff advice. Son had same issue, same time of yr. we saw dr who sent him for PT because it was not improving w rest, stretches. Took 6 was until he was back to normal. Back issues can be tricky, your a Sr. in Mar, see a dr. 

I agree with seeing a doctor because of the timing.

Folks, best advice is never give medical advice on a message board  over the internet, regardless of  your good or bad experience.  

Player needs NOT to hide this and go to his parents with concerns.

structuredoc posted:

Please... a chiropractor "worth his/her salt" should be able to resolve the issue in 1-3 treatments.  It's important to understand the actual mechanisms of injury; almost all true "muscle strains" will resolve themselves within 24 hours, if it doesn't there's something else going on and a good chiropractor can definitely help.

A chiropractor can help with some things but a true strain is a muscle fibre tear. A fibre tear won't heal within a day or two. You don't necessarily need to see a doctor ( although it is a good idea to do it) but you will need at least a week of rest depending on the severity of the strain. Don't try to play through it or it might become worse. If it is not better after a week of rest definitely see a doc.

So the kid's back started hurting him a few years ago. Started out as just a little pain. Finally became enough we took him to his doctor. Said he had aggravated his sciatic nerve. Didn't get better bring him back and we'll give him a shot of steroids. Didn't get better. Not being keen on a GP sticking a needle in his back we took him to a spine specialist. He gave us some bad news. Said he had Scheuermann's disease. Sports most likely over. Got second opinion. Confirmed diagnosis but blew it off as a very mild case. Not the problem. Found a crack in a bone. Stated it wouldn't heal,  could play but would always hurt. Saw another specialist who basically said same thing, playing days most likely over. 

Parent on our TB team gave us the number of a chiropractor who helped their son. Dude assured us he would get our son back to as good as new. Did too. He was the only one who seemed to care about the kid and his future. The specialist just wanted to operate. Before all this I too looked at chiropractors as so many witch doctors.

To the OP. My advice is to get it checked out. I wish I had insisted on an MRI instead of letting people guess what they thought the problem was.