What do you think is the best thing for my back?

Question

I'm 15 years old and never had back problems when I was younger.

2 years ago I injured my back in gymnastics by hyper extending it- and that seemed to start it all. I got better after many months from that injury and started gymnastics again, but injured my back once more.

I quit gymnastics after that and eventually took up dance. I've had countless injuries from dancing - from not stretching before-hand, twisting the wrong way, over-exerting myself, etc.

I used to dance a little every day, and the last 2 months it seems I rarely have more than 5 minutes without pain, which means I haven't been able to dance.

Some days the pain is so bad I can't get out of bed. I've had many MRIs and X-rays, blood tests, and a bone-scan... everything - and no one can find anything wrong. The doctors have said its muscular, that there may be some inflammation and I've been put on many, many medications for it over the last year - of course nothing has helped. I go to massage therapy once and a while but its expensive and only loosens things up for a day or two. Ice and heat do nothing, and even the strongest meds seem to have no or close to no effect on me.

The pain is worse than ever nowadays and I feel like some 90 year old cripple! Is there anything out there I haven't tried? Anything that might help me cope, or eventually lessen the pain? At this point I'm desperate - I'm just a kid! I'm not supposed to have these problems yet!

If anyone has ANY suggestions, I'd appreciate it to the extreme! =)

Thanks

Answer 1

if it's lower back pain you could try a back straightening exercise:

stand against a wall with your upper back against the wall

then push your lower back to also touch the wall (should feel a little weird)

hold this for at least 20 seconds

Why the heck did you try to destroy your back like that?

Answer 2

Go see a physical therapist... they're trained in healing sports injuries.  If you have health insurance, they should cover up to the first 12 visits.  If not, then you may have to pay the full price, but it's worth it to see if there's any exercises you could be doing to help your back.

Answer 3

Chiropractor  seriously in cases like this they can help you a lot more

Answer 4

Hey, don't panic, and it is rare for this to happen, but if the doctors aren't finding anything then it's time to look for other things.

I say this because about three and a half years ago I suddenly started having major problems with pain when I hadn't actually hurt myself, months after I had an accident onstage (I'm an actor). 5 months of medicines, physiotherapy, different ideas and tests, etc... nothing.

Turned out that I had fibromyalgia, which can appear to be... nothing. As in, tests don't show it up, everything comes up negative. I'm not saying you have it (I'd have to know more than I do right now, and only a rheumatologist could actually diagnose), but you might have something else that isn't connected the way you think it is.

My fibro was, they believe, a result of the accident I had onstage, even though it's a totally different illness to the injury I had. It simply triggered it. Maybe something else is happening that is similar to you.

If the meds don't work, it's a neurological thing, and they won't. Talk to a doctor. It's worth asking about the things that don't show up-- ask them that if they totally ignored the original injury (eg-- if it had never happened), what they would think it was? they shouldn't ignore it, that's for sure!

Good luck.