Back Pain in the Morning

[SkyerNite]

I'm a 26 yr old Male, who currently suffers from back pains in the mornings. Other than the back pains, I would say that I am a healthy and fit person.

The pain only occurs in the mornings. As soon as I get up and start moving around, and stretching out the back, the pain starts to dissappear, with only a slight tingle left during the day, but not really noticeable.

I've tried so many things:
- Celebrex (this helped to relieve the pain, however as soon as I stopped using it, the pain instantly came back. I don't want to be taking drugs for the rest of my life).

- Chiro, this seemed to only provide temp. relief also, but the pain is still there.

- Osteopath, same as Chiro, however has helped my correct my posture.

- I've tried accupuncture, and again this hasn't helped.

- Fearing the worst, I went to the doctors and told them about the pain, and he ordered an xray for my back and this came back fine.

- I've changed my mattress twice now to one that is designed to support the back.

- I've paid attention to my pillow, and have changed that too, to one that provides greater support (latex - dunlopillow)

- I try to exercise regularly, and pay particular attention to stretching out the back.

I believe that the pain must be associated with the way that I sleep. However how does one control how they sleep when they are unconcious. I sleep on my back and sides (when I'm aware). When on my side I bend my knees slightly.

I've had this pain for about 1 year now, and I'm getting very concerned. Any suggestions?

(***@****)

[wallofchaos]

Does anyone believe that this pain may be comming from say Kidneys?
Depeneding on what you drink the night before.
I seem to think this has something to do with it.

but yet at the same time dont.

Why would the SPINE hurt and not just the lower area of the back?

So anyway im a 32 y.o. male and this has been going on for years.

yes MRI's and Physical therapy ect ect ect. beds, yoga. name it ive done it.

It is something I deal with and have to accept. I dont want to but who has a choice in the matter?

It would be nice to have a site where REAL doctors could answer questions to people in need of just a tad of advice.

By the way. Ice pack for 10 to 15 minutes seems to help.
In my situation anyway.

The pain usually subsides within a few hours.

Thanks for reading.
Comments to ***@****

Sincerely
Dean

[nicholi]

I'm 28 years old and I have been having strictly morning back pain. I wake up from this and have not had good sleep in like a year. I wake up in pain and cannot move from my back to my side with out extreme pain. It doesn't go away until I get in the shower and get dressed and even then slight pain. Hard surfaces seem to be better to sleep on like the floor. Any advice please, thank you.

                                                                                nick

[haley750]

I'm sorry to hear about eveybody's back pain.  Trust me, I know what you are going thru.  I had back surgery a year ago, so I have allot of experience in this area. When you are lying on your back, put a pillow under neath your knees, this will tilt your pelvis slightly, enough to take some pressure of of your back.  Also, when you lay on your side, put a pillow in between your knees, this will help as well.  I have invested in a $2000 bed just so I can have the proper support.  Not saying that you need to spend that much money, thats not the only reason why i bought the bed, but find a bed that is mostly firm but still comfortable.  I would also recommend doing allot of stretches in the morning. A good one is laying on back and bring both knees to chest and holding for about 5 seconds.  Do 10 reps.  If 2 knees to chest is difficult, try bringing one knee to chest. Also, some ice pads might help take the inflammation down if there is any.   I hope some of the things I have said, help.  Good luck!

[SoreBackToo]

Try Multivitamins.

I have had the exact same sore back symptoms in the mornings on & off for the last 10 years.

The pain goes away when I take Pluravit multivitamins (for women) every day. I have to take the multivitamins for a while before they work - about 2 months.
Unfortunately, the Pluravit brand has disappeared from the grocery store shelves where I live, so I am trialling other brands. Cenovis does *not* work. I am now trying Blackmores.

[backpainwater]

I just wrote a long post and then the site lost it (!), so I won't repeat everything here. Basically, I have all of the above and have tried all of the above and what helps is as follows. First, I sleep on my stomach. I never used to, but now it helps. Second, I stay hydrated. If I start to feel the pain and then drink 12 to 24 ounces of water or tea or soda, the pain disappears in about twenty to thirty minutes. Of course, carbonation, caffiene, and alcohol make you pee more, so they may not work as well as water, since they may even dydrate you but after several years of drinking 24 ounces of liquid once in the morning, once at lunch and once in the afternoon, I can't stand water! At any rate, stay hydrated. The doctors thought that maybe I had a urinary tract infection, since the liquids helped, but no tests found anything. Third, I changed my exericse routine. If you do the exact same thing, you may be aggravating your spine or back muscles. For instance, if you run on surface with a slight tilt, you can get repetitive stress injury.

[jessebear75]

I am 31 and have had 3 years of moderate/severe back pain starting ~6 hours after falling asleep each night.  By the time I get out of the shower in the morning it is gone, but I haven't gotten a good night's rest in a long time.  I stretch, take vitamins, eat healthy, exercise regularly, etc.  None of this seems to change the pain.

Although this may not be any consolation to anyone, I am a doctor myself (a pediatrician, not an orthopedist) and can find no definitive cause for the pain.  Obviously, I've gotten desperate enough to search the infallible internet for solutions.  

I do have a few theories.

First, sleep on your back.  If you don’t do this naturally, train yourself.  It keeps your neck straighter.

Second, improve your mattress.  The trouble is not that the mattress is too soft or hard or not supportive enough or not expensive enough.  These are simply marketing concepts.  The problem is that the mattress doesn’t lay your spine out correctly.  I will be the first to admit that I have no idea what "correctly" actually means, but I can tell you that incorrectly is the hammock feeling I get from my current mattress.

I will note that people have body types that vary greatly.  Anyone who is in good physical condition (as many in this post seem to be) will have hips that are narrower than shoulders but with a similar cross-sectional density.  (Yes, I am a nerd.)  This leads to hips that ride lower than feet and shoulders on almost any bed.  Hence, we require a bed that keeps our hips up.  Note that I don’t suggest simply finding a firmer mattress.  Sleeping on a concrete floor will be uncomfortable no matter how appropriate your spinal orientation is.  No, what you need is a mattress that is soft to light touch, but provides greater resistance to heavier loads.  For you engineers out there, imagine the suspension of a BMW (smooth & firm) as opposed to a Cadillac (soft & softer.)  

I bought a new bed a few months ago that is supposed to be *the* bed for back support.  I won’t mention the brand name, but it rhymes with semper-meadic.  My wife loves it, and I hate it.  I guess this entire post is just my way of talking myself into relegating $2000 worth of space foam to the guest bedroom and buying another mattress.