Back problems

[mummyanxious]

Does anyone suffer with problems with their back and spine? I have a possible curvature to my spine which has been caused by years of bad posture and stress. I'm having an X-ray next week to diagnose the damage.
Apparently the place where my back is worst can affect a lot of areas inside such as indigestion etc. I've had a lot of work done already to correct my spine and have noticed a great improvement with my indigestion. I'm terrified as to what they'll find wrong as they'll be able to see into my chest :(

[Annie0904]

I go for physiotherapy for lower back pain and it is helping. I hope the xray goes well for you, try not to think of worse case scenarios as I am sure it will be fine and they will be able to identify the problem and help you.

[anxious_thoughts]

I'm not sure if this relates to your back problem, but every 5 months or so I seem to get this REALLY bad lower back pain. It's the entire lower back and in my hips and it worsens with movement.

Especially when I sit down for too long, when I tried to get back up I could barely walk, it was almost like my leg was stuck, and it's SO painful. Just like you, I also have bad posture, so maybe it's related. I haven't gotten checked yet because I'm scared :(

Good luck on your x-ray!

[Annie0904]

Jenn yours sounds a lot like mine. The muscle across my lower back and bum is very tight. Physio is helping and I am also going to Pilates which is also helping.

[anxious_thoughts]

Glad to hear physio is helping.

Did you ever get an x-ray for it? I hope mine is nothing serious

[Annie0904]

Yes I had an xray on my back. It is just muscular tension.

[Jsp]

I have a scoliosis at the top of my back and also at the bottom of my back, both causes significant pain some days in the local area of the curvature, and nerve pains going down into my arms, along with sciatica in my right leg. I'm only 18, but this is caused by my terrible posture, and I notice it is worse when I'm on the computer a lot or when I'm stressed/anxious. I saw a physiotherapist who confirmed it is due to posture and lifestyle factors, he said exercising will definitely help any pain from re-occuring. This makes sense as I'm most likely to get the pain when I've been idle for a few days. Even just a walk makes a big difference.

[mummyanxious]

They say I may have a degree of scoliosis at chest level of my spine (thoracic?) and I'm worried as to what this is doing to me as stupidly I googled (yes I know, but I was trying to find out more about it in general) and there was a lid of health implications from scoliosis.
And it said poor posture doesn't cause it. And how would you get to mind thirties without it being diagnosed???

[Jsp]

Poor posture most definitely causes scoliosis. My chiropractor AND my physiotherapist said that my scoliosis is due to poor posture and lifestyle factors, such as not exercising as much as I should. You know what Google is like! The majority of things are not written up by professionals, so just take what Google says with a pinch of salt and try to stay away with it, as it will feed on your anxiety.

The main problems with having a scoliosis is you could eventually get a hunched back as you get older, but this is only if you don't stop the habits which are causing the curve in your spine, and is also rare. Also, if you have an EXTREMELY curved spine, which you would definitely know if you had one as you would have a very bad hunched back, it can press onto your lungs causing difficulty with breathing. On top of this, having a curvature in your spine is just unpleasant and painful, and there's a risk it can press on nerves and cause problems like sciatica. Again, this is not serious, but just unpleasant.

I really would not worry as you'd be surprised how many people have a curved spine, a lot of people don't even know it. My chiropractor said the majority of people don't get diagnosed past there late 20's, but the problems almost always start in your teens.

[mummyanxious]

Mine is from slouching to the left and hunching up with the heart fear. Apparently a stress reaction causes us to ball up in some way. So I have pain in my upper mid back, I think it's t4 or something which can cause heartburn issues. And it follows the ribs round to the front sternum. It hurts to touch my ribs etc at the front.

[Jsp]

I have heartburn issues and my curve is in the upper mid back region too, so our curves may be in the same place and causing similar issues. Slouching is a big no no, I slouch forward when sitting and I sleep with my back curved to one side.

The rib pain sounds like it could be costochondritis - a problem I also share. It's nothing serious, it's just the muscles around your ribs get a bit inflamed. You could rub some ibuprofen gel (if you are able to use ibuprofen) over the areas it hurts about 2-3 times a day and see if that helps after a week or so :)

[mummyanxious]

The ribs pain doesn't seem to be getting any better which us frustrating as I've been going a few weeks now. I'm worried the curve is pressing on my heart and this is causing me problems. I slouch constantly. My lower back just has no strength to sit up straight at all. My backs a complete mess really and I can't believe I've done all this to myself!

[yenool]

Back pain is extremely common but the vast majority of the time it is not due to anything serious at all. A few years back I had quite bad low back pain with pains going down my leg (sciatica), the scan I had was basically normal but the pain persisted and became more widespread.

Anyway, I started reading up on this area and it turns out a lot of the time the level of pain has no connection with any underlying disease or damage - people with really severely abnormal scans can have no pain or disability whilst others with 'normal' scans can be in agony.

Unless you have 'red flag' symptoms the best thing you can do is keep active with gentle exercise aided by pain killers.