yes, it is true. If it gets really bad, your muscles will cramp up badly.

Diego, you sound like your worried about this. Is it recent? has it been getting worse? Is there anything that makes it feel better? On a scale of 1-10, how bad are we talking? Do you have any other signs/symptoms?

I don't think it is normal to have muscle stiffness all the time. I only have muscle stiffness after I work out really hard. Then it goes away after a day or two.

When is the last time you saw a doctor?

I'll answer you tomorrow, it's late here.

Buenas noches

tigerlilly wrote:Diego, you sound like your worried about this. Is it recent? has it been getting worse? Is there anything that makes it feel better?

Go there:

http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=32352

http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51622

tigerlilly wrote:On a scale of 1-10, how bad are we talking?

5 or 6.

tigerlilly wrote:Do you have any other signs/symptoms?

Nope, just stiff back muscles and pain. Those are so stiff that pull my column to the left between cervicals and dorsals. Sometimes my neck, left shoulder and arm's muscles are hard and sore too.

tigerlilly wrote:When is the last time you saw a doctor?

I visit my physiotherapist when the pain increase to 7 or 8, he is also my masseur. Last time I visited him was on April 19th

Now that I'm reading about back pain...

I have had annoying to severe pain in the same area, off and on for 13 years. Then I retired and stopped sitting in front of a computer all day (except for SP!), stopped using my right hand to manipulate the mouse... and the problem is mostly gone.

Can you get an ergonomic evaluation of your workstation? Can you get up and do gentle stretches every 15 minutes?

Well, I'm not a doctor, but it sounds like you have a ruptured disk in your neck.

check this out it has some helpful information:
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?top ... urn_link=0

1) find an orthopedic surgeon ASAP
2) get a physical exam
3) get an x-ray, MRI

Let us know how it goes. My husband is going through this now....not fun.

MoapaPk wrote:Now that I'm reading about back pain...

I have had annoying to severe pain in the same area, off and on for 13 years. Then I retired and stopped sitting in front of a computer all day (except for SP!), stopped using my right hand to manipulate the mouse... and the problem is mostly gone.

Can you get an ergonomic evaluation of your workstation? Can you get up and do gentle stretches every 15 minutes?

I've taken care about my workstation's ergonomics and I have a software that gives me a stretch table at regular intervals

tigerlilly wrote:Well, I'm not a doctor, but it sounds like you have a ruptured disk in your neck.

I bet that if I had a ruptured disk in my neck I couldn't move as I can and neither go play basketball, carrying a backpack in the mountains each 2-3 weeks...

check this out it has some helpful information:
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?top ... urn_link=0

tigerlilly wrote:1) find an orthopedic surgeon ASAP

I tried to visit one but he changed the meeting day for going on holidays and I decided he was not going to be my doctor.

tigerlilly wrote:2) get a physical exam.

My family doctor could have done it when I visited her.

tigerlilly wrote:3) get an x-ray, MRI

I got an x-ray. My phisiotherapist saw the radiographs and said that my muscles are pulling my upper column to the left because of their stiffness

peladoboton wrote:i would actually go see your family doc first or an urgent care.

I visited her and was not sufficient in my opinion.

peladoboton wrote:if it is improving and it responds to conservative management (ibuprofen/ice/stretching) it is likely not a ruptured disc but just a strain on muscles and/or tendons, and this is often helped markedly by some physical therapy, most of which consists of stretching and strengthening.

I'm doing stretching all days. Is ice good for the back My physiotherapist always recommend heat but not cold.

peladoboton wrote:if you go see and orthopod before basic workup has been done by primary care, they either will not see you or they will charge you out the nose for that basic workup.

As I've already said I stretch my back all days and follow flexibility, stabilization and relaxing exercises' tables one or twice per week. I also go for a short walk almost everyday. Somedays it's medium-distance

OY.

So, make another appt with a different doctor. Get a MRI. Xrays dont show enough.

My husband has this and he is quite mobile. In fact, he just climbed down off our slate roof a few minutes ago. (no joke) Basically, he was better in about 3 months after doing nothing. (He found bananas did NOT help... !) It was recommended that he NOT go to a chiropractor. Basically they told my husband that he has a high tolerance for pain - and dodged getting surgery. You most likely, have a high tolerance for pain as well.

thoughts?

OY What's doing nothing Was your husband recommended not to be back massaged My physiotherapist doesn't massage my column.

I'll wait your answer putting cold below my back...

MRIs show much more (than X-Rays) when it comes to slipped discs...

My boss had a gradually progressing tingling in his left hand. It was so gradual that he didn't notice how bad it had become. He continued practicing his hobby -- Judo (in which he held a black belt).

Then his wife convinced him to go to a doctor. He had lost 40% of the strength in his left arm, and MRIs showed a collapsed sub-arachnoid-space in his cervical spine. He lost another 10% in the weeks before his operation, and was beginning to lose all feeling in his left arm.

If both potassium and magenesium levels are low, you cannot correct potassium levels without first correcting magnesium.

I've stopped taking Mg and never taken K. I'm taking a vitamin complex with includes few Mg and K