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How did I come to know about chronic lower back pain? Several years ago I participated in an intense strength and conditioning program. The 2.5 years I spent in extreme fitness came to a halt in 2011 when I acquired a lower back injury. I didn’t know the extent of my injury at the time. I only knew that it was impossible to move forward with the program. Shortly after, I decided to go back to school which involved a highly sedentary lifestyle and abnormal degrees of sustained stress due to my stage in life. My back rarely bothered me during the next few years. You see, I had built up such tremendous core strength that it protected my spine and injury point. Thus, I had actually forgotten that there was ever an injury to start with.

I forgot, that is, right up until the spring of 2016. One week before my honeymoon on a cruise ship, I found myself in excruciating pain, bed-bound, and barely able to move. I knew what it was from, so I decided to self-medicate with ibuprofen, hot and cold therapy, and old pain meds. And it worked. I recovered by Friday, got married on Saturday, and boarded the cruise ship in Sunday. Life was good. Until about six months later. All of the core strength I had was completely gone. My back injury flared up so intensely that I could no longer work, had to take “Incompletes” for classes, and practically crawled to a reputable chiropractor. That guy immediately took x-rays of my back and sent me to my general practitioner for some chronic lower back pain relief. In fact, it was so bad that the chiropractor refused to treat me until the chronic lower back pain and inflammation had calmed some.

Chronic lower back pain treatments

Treatment One: General Practitioner

I happen to have a great relationship with my general practitioner. He has treated me and my family for 17 years so he knows me well. This is a luxury that not everyone has. I usually only visit him when I feel like I’m dying or if I know I can’t treat the issue myself. He knows that and trusts me because my diagnoses are accurate most every time. So when I told him I’d seen a chiropractor for my back and that I was in agony while I waited for chronic lower back pain relief of some sort, he gave me the medication I needed and sent me on my way. If I needed a recommendation of any kind, all I had to do was make a phone call. He supported my decisions and left it to me to work my way through this in whatever ways I was comfortable with. Again…not everyone has that luxury. I recognize that, but finding a good general practitioner is worth the process until you get what you need.

Treatment Two: Chiropractor

I was introduced to chiropractors at a young age so I am familiar with them, although I have rarely been. I also know that their brand of medicine does not always coincide with traditional medical practices. And I recognize that, like some physicians, there are certainly chiropractors who can be classified as so-called “quacks.” But really it’s just a matter of incompetency and over-confidence, both characteristics that can be found in any profession.

The x-rays my very competent and humble chiropractor took revealed some “minor” injuries. These included a cracked disc, two bulging discs, a lumbar sprain, and an arthritic joint. I say “minor” because he and the other practitioners I visited after him all used that word. However, they all graciously acknowledged that everyone experiences chronic lower back pain differently and did not doubt my excruciating and debilitating experience. My chiropractor thoroughly evaluated me, attempted various in-office treatments, kept me on a steady regimen of ibuprofen and cold packs, and added some herbal pain relievers (Formula 303) as well as magnesium supplements (Natural Calm). He also gave me what I needed to get a temporary handicap parking pass through the state. That was the best six months of parking I’ve ever had!

After one month of treatments at three visits per week, as well as following his instructions almost perfectly, I was not improved anywhere close to where he thought I should have been. So, he sent me to the next option to make sure there wasn’t something worse going on.

Treatment Three: Microsurgeon

A microsurgeon does what you might expect from the name: they perform surgery with high-powered magnification and thus, in very tiny spaces. The microsurgeon carefully evaluated my x-rays, story, and a mild physical examination of the injured location. He told me that my injuries did not appear bad enough for surgery, especially at my age. He said that kind of surgery is far too invasive and that I was much too young for it at 40 years old. He then sent me to what turned out to be my best solution for treatment options.

Treatment Four: Physical Therapist

At my initial visit with a physical therapist, I explained how I received the injury in the first place. He was intimately familiar with the kind of training and conditioning in which I was formerly involved. He had several patients come to him from the same exercise method, all of our injuries stemming from the same activity: kettle bell swings. At any rate, the physical therapist met with me three times and prescribed specific exercises each time for me to practice at home. And it worked. I started to get better and was able to reclaim my life again. By this time I was enrolled in my last semester of school where I was also taking a yoga class to help with the stress of school and the chronic lower back pain.

I eventually discovered classical Indian yoga that is much different than the brand of yoga we practice here in the West. The practices I learned began to do more for my back than the physical therapy. And so that is what I do now. The key is to keep doing it. I don’t mean every day of my life. I mean I have to be consistent with at least two or three times a week at minimum. That keeps my back from causing problems. Recently I got sick with some strain of the flu that prevented me from practicing my yoga for a month. Guess what? My back just about gave out on me again. I’m working to get it back to where it was, but it’s definitely a process.

There are many reasons for chronic low back pain, including injuries, stress, or even fibromyalgia. And there are many symptoms ranging from nagging aches to debilitation. Furthermore, as you can see from my experience alone, there are many treatment options as well. If you are experiencing chronic low back pain, see a healthcare practitioner about this as soon as possible. Otherwise, you may end up like me and find yourself struggling for a year just to get around. Have you found something to treat your pain? Tell us about it.