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| I've been having some strange strange back issues lately. The middle and upper back are sore - that can be attributed to an extra practice and a really really bad chair at work. But there's a strange sensation in my lower back RIGHT where my tailbone and hip connect. This would of course be easier if I could point exactly where it is and you could see....Over the summer I had this problem on my right side, but it was only during class, and only after certain positions such as shoulder-stand and plough. Going into fish immediately after relieved that targeted pressure. I talked to my teacher, and it wasn't an alignment issue, and it didn't hurt any other time, so I just took it a little bit easier when doing those poses. One night it just didn't hurt anymore. Fast forward 2 or 3 months, and all of a sudden I'm having the same problems, only worse, on the left side. Sometimes it's when I'm sitting, sometimes it's when I'm walking, sometimes laying down. Last night on the way to class it started going crazy and I hobbled to class. I talked to my teacher before we started class and she said that one possibility was that my tailbone was moving and adjusting itself to a more correct alignment. This seemed to make some sense, as I've felt that some of the back pain that I've been having has been influenced by the creation of some length. I guess my questions are
1. does this make any sense at all?
2. has anyone had anything similar or related happen?
3. if this is something that makes sense and is relatively common, what can i do to alleviate the symptoms in the meantime (other than listen to my body, take it easy when necessary, etc)
Yes, I know my yoga teacher is not a doctor, or miracle healer, or super-duper anatomy guru. But she's proven very knowledgable in the past, and using my common sense I trust her. Any suggestions are welcome! |
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| Lora
As you know you should see a doctor. In the meantime, you should do some googling regarding the SI Joint (Sacro-Illiac) and ruptured/herniated discs. Those are probably the two most common ailments of the lower back. Perhaps you will be able to get a sense of what's going on down there. Or if you are a hypochondriac like me, you'll think you have every back ailment there is.
Good luck. |
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| Of course I SHOULD see a doc. That's the part I know. Unfortunately, being a student and part-timer leaves me comfortably among the un-insured. I am currently dropping my gym membership and going to the movies so that I can save up for a couple months to go to the dentist and find out how many cavities I have and how bad - then I'll start saving up for the appt/filling for the worst, and so on down the line. C'est la vie. 
And I definitely see myself having every back problem that has ever been documented! As I said, it's very difficult to explain when I can't point to the exact spot for you. It's not a sharp pain - more of a gripping or someone applying direct pressure. The reason I'm not overly concerned is because this happened on the other side - which now feels better and looser than ever. Does that make any sense?  |
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| I don't know if it will help at all, but about a year or two ago I had the same lower back issues as you, Lora. Mine were much milder, but I would experience lower back pain any time I went to plow or knees to the ears posture. My back was just killing me to the point where I couldn't do it.
How soft is your bed? Mine was as hard as a rock, so I purchased a new one about a year ago and all of my back pain issues are now long gone (knock on wood).
I agree with Keith, you should definitely see a doctor about it. Since money is an issue, do you have a friend who is a medical professional? If so, you could mention the type of problems you are experiencing to him/her... |
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| If the pain is severe, you should really see a doctor sooner rather than later - could someone loan you the cost?
If it's more a muscular ache with a sort of loose sensation to it, then it may just be re-alignment happening as someone else has suggested. I sometimes get that sort of feeling in the lumbar/sacral area either side of the spine if I've been extending the time I hold forward bends such as Head to Knee.
Hope it's better soon,
Fiona |
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| Thanks for the ideas. It's actually completely gone now. The weirdest part is that when it happened before on the other side it cleared up literally the day after I talked to my teacher about it. Same thing now. I don't know what happens, but apparently just saying it out loud to her does something. Very well could be a psycho-somatic issue. Huh. |
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| Well, the past two weeks have been rough - that quarter sized pain in my back was driving me nuts, and I talked to my mom about it....I may have mentioned on here somewhere before that she actually had something very similar - it's a genetic thing that's undetectable without an x-ray or MRI. Anyway. She gave me a bunch of advice (but didn't offer to get me to the doc!), none of which I tried...But here's the strange part....
I did a home practice last night, going fairly easy on myself, and making doubly sure that I didn't sink into my lower back at any time. Went into shoulderstand and plow at the end, and felt nooo pain in either one. I had to take a long time getting into svasana, however, as my back was grabbing me and trying to get every muscle and nerve in my body to clench up...I ended up bringing my feet in towards my rear, and lifting up my hips a bit to ease my back into it and kept breathing as deeply as possible. After a minute or so of staying at a certain level I lowered just a little bit. I got about halfway down, and felt a series of about seven or eight pops in my back - almost like sliding coins into a vending machine. My entire back released, my shoulders opened back up, and it felt completely loose again. Today? No problem at any moment. I have little to no real knowledge of anatomy, so does this make sense anatomically? Is this what a chiropractor or rolfer does? It felt great, and I finally feel "normal" again! |
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|  Lora, even in case that now your back has snap-crackle-popped back to normal, please, by any means go and see a doc!!!
And psycho-somatic my a$$! It's just the trigger. As my wife has learned the hard way with her MS, psycho-somatic illnesses are not less real than others. Her cat-scans (sp?) did clearly show all the inflammated nerve-ends.
Edited by afroyogi 2005-01-29 8:24 PM
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| Again, it's not a matter of not WANTING to go to the doc. I just can't. I quit my gym membership tonight so I can start saving to get some cavities filled....I'm in that category where I don't qualify for any kind of aid, but yet I can't afford to go either. (cue that song "stuck in the middle with you"...) Since there is a genetic tendency towards this, when I do get to a doc, this is the first thing I'm making them check. In the meantime I'm just going to be quite the careful one.  |
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| I'm with yoga guy on this one. I had a similar experience last April. I have to watch it now. Recommend Core Yoga and Pilates. On Pilates, do the kind where you do a few reps right, not an extensive amount. One of the best helps for me was holding the stomach in tight when I do a bench press.
At all times be careful, especially on the forward bends. |
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| Lora, I don't wanna get political again but aren't you from the country with the supposedly bestest medical system in the whole wide world? How come that people are living with untreated illnesses?
I know, I know, once your spine is messed up completely you will be treated in the ER for free. But then it's too late, isn't it?
There are so many things I just don't understand...
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| My point exactly, Stefan! I'm definitely not debilitated by whatever is going on back there, so I'm outta luck. I can pay my rent and buy my food and even go out with my friends here and there - so I don't qualify for any help. I'm responsible, with very very little debt other than my student loans, dont have any crazy useless expenses. But I don't have enough to shell out to get a cavity filled or go to the doc. Maybe if I got myself knocked up a couple times and had a bunch of kids I could get some aid? |
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| When you said "Hip meets the tailbone," it confused me. You're talking right alongside the cocyx, kind of in where... the good lord split'cha?
I've had that. The bursa gets tweaked and the tailbone feels just a tad like it's out of it's groove, doesn't it? But it's pretty isolated, yet painful?
My teacher, Jenny Otto, checked me out and simply lay her finger against the tailbone, on the side not hurting, to influence the bursa back into place. "Bursa" might be the wrong word; I'll check. Then she checked to make certain my hips were in line, and they were not. One was higher, so she made an adjustment and it was back even. Now I'm fine.
Jenny is the Master Trainer for Therapeutics in Anusara, though, and you might not have a teacher that well trained. Anusar focuses on therapeutics and healing, but if you don't see things all the time, teachers don't remember. My point in this is that it might just be the small, rather intense adjustment you made on yourself.
And no, I'm not sending you to a doctor. Have an Anusara teacher make certain your sacrum isn't out, practice Janu Sirsasana with incredible muscle focus, i.e. not flopping over into a forward bend, but working your legs and the twist, and you'll probably not have this again -- if it's what I'm thinking and have experienced!
In the meanwhile, I hope you stay feeling better.
Christine |
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| LoraB,I'm new here but not new to yoga or back issues. :-/I thought I'd suggest you try going to the school nurse or if your school has a medical clinic or something similar you start there. Good luck, I know you'll find a way to address your pain issues. |
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| Christine, you hit the nail on the head. It's so hard to explain the exact where and what of it without being able to point and say "Look! Right there!". But your, um, description, was spot on. .
I'm thinking whatever tweaked things back into place the other night did the trick. I just got back from a fairly intense practice with a lot of hip stuff and forward folds. I made triply sure that I was not doing any kind of weird crunching in the lower back and that I really really really extended out of it. Again, no problems of any kind. Even my shoulders, which had started to hunch back in and crawl up around the ears once the pain started, are opened back up and away from my ears. There wasn't a single clenching muscle in svasana - like a brand new body!
I'll definitely try to hit the local Anusara studio and see what it's like. I think they just got rid of drop-in classes though.... |
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Anatomy Question
