I’m young but that doesn’t mean I don’t go through typical aches and pains associated with not only being active but aging as well.  Earlier this year I had an episode of acute back pain.  This happened after doing a power clean lift, upon receiving the bar I felt an immediate “pain” in my lower thoracic spine, left side.  It immediately hurt to lean back or extend and side bend towards my left side.  I got down to the ground and went into a prayer stretch/child's pose position which was relieving to the acute pain that had just set in.  The next 3-4 days following were rough; I was shifted, walking abnormally and it hurt to stand or walk for longer than 15 minutes.  Was this a facet joint irritation or was it discogenic pain?  I won’t know for sure because I didn’t have any imaging done and still don’t plan to get any MRI’s done.  These symptoms went away after about 1 week and I was good to go (relatively).

This past weekend after a long, hard week of work and working out, I woke up in the morning and immediately knew something wasn’t right in my back.  I got up and realized this was the same pain I had experienced months back.  This time I was confused because there wasn’t an obvious mechanism of injury and there wasn’t any mechanical re-injury in the days prior.  Same symptoms as before; it hurt to extend, side bend left and I had a major trunk shift away from my left side.  This time however I proceeded to workout the same day which only made it worse and made my muscles guard more.  Then it became painful to bend forward to get something off the floor.  I took a few days off from working out, applied ice and took some Percocet.  I didn’t have a prescription for pain meds so this tells you I was legitimately in some pain.

I caved and had a colleague who is a chiropractor x-ray my back to rule out other pathologies that I thought could have been going on.  My spine looked fine beside the fact I was still considerably shifted to the left and had some pelvic malalignment.

Here’s the point: when you have an episode of acute back pain, keep moving!!!  Don’t stay in bed because it hurts to get out of bed or get up, don’t sit on the couch because that’s where you’re most comfortable.  Get up and move within reason and attempt walking as a mode of exercise.  Ice is your friend without a doubt unless you are medically allergic and take some Ibuprofen unless medically directed otherwise.  If you are OCD about working out or exercising like myself, don’t do it when the pain is acute because it will actually make it worse, and there’s no need.  Unfortunately once you have an initial episode of back pain, it will happen again.  When the symptoms resolve or at least lighten, take the time to praise your body and be thankful for how well it functions when you’re healthy and aren’t sidelined by pain.  Physically, nothing is a guarantee and I think it can be easy to take our physical abilities for granted.  Praise your healthy body and treat it right in the meantime.