Tweaked my lower back yesterday. Need to be in okay shape for Grappers Quest Boston.

[Heidi McCreery]

Muscle relaxers did absolutely nothing for me but make me sick and completely out of it. But that's me. I take about 3 or 4 ibuprofin and that helps most of the time.

[Louis Ho]

Well, I have today and tomorrow to make it better. I leave on Thursday and compete on Friday morning. That's not much time. I'm kinda stressed about it, which in turn could make it worse. Damn. Gotta stay positive.

[Bill Keeling]

Go to a chiro that has a computer controlled adjustment tool, it will work great. Try to go at least twice this week. Hope that helps. I have some disk prob and this helps when it gets bad. Also a light kettlebell, and two handed swings/sqauts will help too.

[Tim Elliott]

You really need to find someone to tell you more precisely what you have done, as for back/neck issues, the treatment for one type of issue might aggravate another type, and you dont have time for trial and error. If your lucky, you will have the type that benefits from use despite the pain, and you can have one of the magic injections.

Watch the stress as that could be the problem and your after that one magical nights sleep which fixes everything.

[Louis Ho]

Bill, wouldn't the kettlebell swings make it worse?

[Lucas Walker]

Something you might consider is buying a 110 volt inverter to plug into the cigarette lighter of your student's car so you can plug in a heating pad on the road. Also, I've always heard that MOIST heat is the way to go, because dry heat can even further "beef jerky'ify" your muscles. Also, from my experience they say that when your back or neck is tight it is your body putting it in a brace saying "don't move me yet." As it heals it should relax on its own or need a little prompting.

[Louis Ho]

Thanks for all the info guys. Denny was telling me about his chiro, Dr. Pete. Also BJ Penn's chiro. He does Zone Healing. Anybody had a chance to try this out? I tried traditional chiro and it didn't do too much for me. Denny says he's gonna try to find a "Zone Healing" chiro for me in Montreal.

[Brandon Woolsey]

Never heard of that, Im gonna look into that myself. I also do the traditional chiro thing and it helps sometimes and sometimes it doest. Good luck.

[Bill Keeling]

Thanks for all the info guys. Denny was telling me about his chiro, Dr. Pete. Also BJ Penn's chiro. He does Zone Healing. Anybody had a chance to try this out? I tried traditional chiro and it didn't do too much for me. Denny says he's gonna try to find a "Zone Healing" chiro for me in Montreal.

Louis, I have been to Dr Goldman. I had mixed results, the first time, I think he "fixed" everything. I felt better and couldn't make myself hurt or weak in any position. Then the next day, when I left I wasn't 100% like the day before. He claimed he stopped Denny from having to get both knees operated on. So I had him work on mine even though it was completely severed (ACL) and now it is connected!?! BJ, and Eddie swore by him. And he did help me, I was just a little better the first day. I wish I were out there to see him on a maintenance schedule...

As far as the swings, they are supposed to help, just use a light bell and two hands to help your form. Of course if it hurts when you try it, don't do it. You don't want to aggrevate the injury, but lightly stretch the entire back. I also use moon boots (inversion)

[AJ Camacho]

I agree with Tim. You need to sort of figure out exactly what is wrong with your back. I've read some things here that would absolutely destroy my back but obviously those same exercises have helped the people that have mentioned them. The back is a very complicated structure and unfortunately it also contains your spinal cord. It's not uncommon for the cause of the back pain to be unrelated to where you are feeling the pain. When dealing with the spinal cord things can get complicated.