How To Treat Burning Pain In The Lower Back?

Brief Answer:
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Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,

Muscles tightening is usually a response to injury and or inflammation. The burning may be from nerve inflammation caused by this. I am not sure what the cause of your tightness and burning is, but here are some suggestions.

I take it you want to bypass NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen, or muscle relaxants such as Flexaril or benzodiazepines. So here are some natural things to consider:

1. Curcumin - (not cumin): this is a substance that is in the spice turmeric. You can take it in capsules or tea. Start with a very small amount at first to see how you and your body like it. I don't know if you take any other medications or supplements, and it would be best, if you do, to make sure they are compatible. It has anti-inflammatory properties. Natural substances can have side effects too, they are not always risk free.

2. Traditional Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture: I tend to be sensitive to many medication and supplement side effects and this is what I use for muscle spasms/muscle pain for myself. Acupuncture is particularly good for musculoskeletal pain, and there is medical research to back this up. I recommend, if you consider this route, to find a practitioner who was actually trained in China (not in the US unless that is all that is available where you live) and who has some years of experience. Some insurances will cover acupuncture. I've been told by a TCM practitioner that if there are no benefits at all in 3 visits, it probably will not work for a particular problem for a particular patient, and I've found this to be a good rule of thumb for whether to continue with acupuncture for a particular problem.

3. Chiropractic manipulation: Some people benefit from this practice. It's worth a try. Most insurances will cover chiropractic visits.

4. Physical therapy: Physical therapists are trained in evaluating muscle strength imbalances and injury and can give you exercises and stretches to help with this. They also use modalities such as ultrasound to help with muscle pain of various types.

5. Massage: A well trained massage therapist can help by breaking adhesions (scarring) that may be limiting motion or causing pain.

6. Warm water gentle exercises: This will not help immediately but overtime can help musculoskeletal pain for many people.

7. Gabapentin: This is a drug, not a natural pain reliever. But in low doses it has few side effects and can help with nerve pain which may be causing the burning. I would recommend trying other things to address what is causing the burning first, such as trying to treat the cause of the muscle spasm. While burning usually means the nerve or nerves are upset, the nerve problem is often secondary to muscle spasm that is pressing on the nerve.

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.

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Brief Answer:
Thoughts

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Did you have an injury prior to the onset of your pain? Is there something that makes it worse (certain activities or body positions?) And how long has the pain been going on?

Sometimes using several modalities can be helpful.

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Brief Answer:
Thoughts o this.

Detailed Answer:
There might be scar tissue and adhesion making it "tight". Possibly a well trained message therapist could help with releasing some of the adhesions over time.

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Brief Answer:
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Yes, I know that getting that scar tissue broken down does hurt - have experienced this! It's possible that a physical therapist may be able to help with this aspect. You might call the PT department and tell them about the surgery and scarring and see if that is something PT can help with. They have various modalities for doing things other than just prescribing exercises.

I'm sorry you have this ongoing problem. Experiment with safe things I listed above,and I hope you get some relief.

Bonnie Berger-Durnbaugh, MD

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thoughts on this.

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Sorry I don't know much about hemp.

Nice website. I live in Wisconsin so not looking in N. XXXXXXX right now but will keep your site in mind - thanks.

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I looked up charlottesweb.com and got the Charolotte Observer. I did a search there for "hemp and pain" but the search came up empty except for some google search sites.

But I looked for this on google scholar and found a research article (new - from 2016) on topical cannabinoids for arthritic pain in animal studies. So there is research going on but it looks like it might be a while before it is to the point of any prescription that you can buy. Still, it is interesting to note how it has positive effects on diminishing pain. Here is the link to the article. It won't come up as a blue "link" so to see it, you will have to copy and paste it into your search bar.

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