photograph courtesy fizkes / dreamstime
Few ailments immobilize a human body quite like back spasms. For those of you among the physically blessed who have never experienced this kind of lower-back trauma, I’ll describe. It’s as though the groups of muscles in your midsection decided, as a team, to clench — as tightly as possible — and hold the clench. Plus, now and then, those clenched muscles will further contract. I’m guessing this is the closest a man will come to the experience of childbirth contractions. It is agony.
According to Dr. Moacir Schnapp, though, back spasms aren’t so much a group of our muscles misbehaving, but muscles reacting to another problem, another alarm your body is sounding. “If you look at the vertebrae in the back, they work like a tripod,” explains the medical director of Mays & Schnapp, a prominent Mid-South neuro-spine and pain clinic founded in 1985. “You have the biggest part of the bone in front, then you have the two smaller joints in the back. They’re called the facet joints, and they have capsules. If you overstretch them, you can cause a small tear in the ligament or tendon. Then you get a back spasm, trying to hold it. Now you’re walking like the hunchback of Notre Dame. People think it’s the muscles causing [the pain], but in fact, the problem is deeper. The muscles are actually firing to protect.”
Not long ago, I bent over to grab a plate out of our dishwasher. Few acts are more mundane. And I felt like an electrode fired in my lower back. Couldn’t stand up straight. Tried lying down on the floor to straighten my back, only to have trouble getting back up without excruciating pain. All to get a plate out of the dishwasher.
photograph courtesy dreamstime
But here’s the thing: There’s nothing “mundane” to one’s back about bending over. That’s 50-plus pounds being supported by certain muscles, joints, and bones in the lower back. And they don’t necessarily want the extra work.
“If there’s any weakness [in the back], any arthritis, something mundane can create a lot of problems,” emphasizes Schnapp. “It doesn’t take much damage to the facet joints for it to hurt terribly. There are a lot of nerves in there.”
Among the curses of back spasms is the lingering discomfort, enough to alter a person’s gait, to make sleeping a challenge, and getting into the driver’s seat of a car an ordeal. The sad truth: back spasms subside when your body is ready, and not sooner. “If you damage any part of the back,” says Schnapp, “the pain can last for weeks and, for some, it becomes chronic pain. It’s a vicious cycle where the nerves become too sensitive.” From my experience, the pain and stiffness gradually reduce, but without that “happy morning” of pure relief. Back spasms attack suddenly, but leave quietly.
How are back spasms treated? A quiet body — rest — is the first form of medicine. Alternating heat and cold can reduce symptoms, if not hurry the release of the muscles. Some activity can be healthy, but you don’t want to aggravate an already aggravated area.
“Learn from it,” says Schnapp. “Bend at your knees, so you don’t abuse your back. Heat, cold, or Novocaine can help, but that’s a little like Mama kissing a boo-boo. If it’s a single event, time is the best solution. You learn from it, and avoid doing it again. Now if it’s chronic, there are exercises that can be used to strengthen the spine. If that fails, there are nerve blocks, and [treatment] can go so far as burning certain nerves in the back. There’s a procedure called radiofrequency ablation. It’s almost like a dentist doing a root canal.”
photograph courtesy czuber / dreamstime
As with so many inconvenient ailments — particularly as middle age arrives — prevention is the best treatment for back spasms. Those who practice yoga or Pilates are already fighting back spasms before the enemy even enters the room. Among stretches, look up “child’s pose” or “cat-cow pose.” The idea is to stretch the back its full length, but gently. Furthermore, strengthening core muscles — yes, planks are our friends — provide a larger, more stable support system for those moments your back bends in a way it shouldn’t.
And here’s something important: Ignore the mantra, no pain, no gain. “Once you damage a joint,” notes Schnapp, “there’s some bleeding, some inflammation. You don’t want to push too much. Your body won’t allow it anyway. Once the pain subsides, you start with regular activities. Walking is fine. But physical therapy should be involved; start with supervision. Find a good fitness center. If you keep a good exercise program, you’re less likely to have an episode.”
My first bout with back spasms occurred shortly after I turned 40 and they surfaced because I dusted off my golf clubs for the first time in a decade and started twisting my back muscles in a manner they’d long forgotten. This is a critical lesson in avoiding such an attack: Don’t overdo something new. I didn’t stretch for golf, just hit the driving range and started swinging. We all use our back muscles differently, with different anatomical priorities (for some this includes hitting the fairway). Treat your core and back muscles like partners for those priorities.
“We have to be careful,” says Schnapp, “because one formula does not fit everybody. For some people, the downward-dog position feels great. For others, it’s painful.”
Among the adjustments I’ve made recently in my daily exercise routine are knee bends. I’d like to keep my legs strong (or at least not weak) as I do my cardio, push-ups, and such. But I do my daily knee bends in an unusual place: my kitchen. I do them as I empty the dishwasher. Thank you, back spasms. Lesson learned.
