How to Heal a Lower Back Injury QUICKLY | Step-By-Step Guide

So if you’re watching this video, it probably means that you injured your back and need some quick pain relief. 

In this video, I’m going to show how to quickly heal a lower back injury quickly, and tell you what you should be doing and what you should DEFINITELY not be doing if you want to get rid of that back pain fast. 

Hey everyone, Dr. Rowe here at SpineCare in St. Joseph, MI. 

I’m not really the biggest fan when I hear that ‘back pain is just part of life.’ Life is too short to live with pain, so let’s work on getting rid of it as much as we can.

Low back pain is really common. So common, in fact, that studies show that up to 15% of individuals are currently reporting that they are experiencing some degree of low back pain.

So if you’re part of that group going through a lower back injury, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Fortunately, most lower back injuries are minor, such as a strain or sprain around the lumbar spine. 

Usually it’s from doing something you’re not supposed to, like lifting an object that’s too heavy or doing a lot of strenuous activity that overwhelms the low back. Putting a lot of strain on the back will cause the spinal joint ligaments, tendons, and muscles to become irritated and inflamed. So if you have a pulled muscle in the back, this is probably a likely reason why.

With a pulled muscle, you’re having increased inflammation in the back. This will cause the low back muscles to tighten up, which decreases the range of motion and flexibility, effectively locking it down. 

We call this muscle guarding. It’s a self-defense mechanism, so you’re less likely to damage the area any further. 

So what’s the best thing to do right away to tackle tight, achy muscles? KEEP MOVING! 

It's natural to think that resting your back (aka hanging out on the couch), and wanting to avoid using your back when it hurts, will help. But for most types of back pain, it’s inactivity and bed rest, that does more harm than good. 

Bed rest can slow the healing process and make your muscles weaker, tighter, and more painful. This can make the back less stable. Make sure to get up, walk and move around as much as you can tolerate. It will help keep the muscles and joints loose and less painful. Activity also promotes blood flow into the injured area, which speeds up the healing process.

Obviously though, you’ll want to skip those activities that make your back pain worse, but try to stay as active as possible. 

Moving on, ice therapy is another tool you can use to heal a lower back injury faster.

Ice is really good for taking down inflammation and pain, especially with a  new or acute injury. When you have slip, fall or accident, ice is the better way to go since it helps reduce swelling and bruising.

Ice also helps reduce pain by disrupting nerve signals. It provides a new sensation of tingling or numbness to the nerves in the area, which will dull those pain signals and offer relief. 

So immediately after the onset of a lower back injury, I’d use ice for up to 48 to 72 hours, especially while it’s inflamed. 

Ice can be applied with a pack, or even just a bag of frozen veggies. All you need to do is put it over the area that hurts for about 15-20 minutes max. 

But make sure to NEVER put ice directly on the skin! Use a towel or thin cloth in between, so you won’t cause an ice burn or frostbite.

After this point, and the inflammation starts to go down, try switching to heat for more relief as it has a lot of benefits. 

Heat will help with issues like stiffness, muscle spasms and aches. It works by increasing blood flow to an area, and helps remove the toxins sitting in those injured tissues. 

Also, heat helps relax muscles, ligaments, and tendons and brings in oxygen, which speeds up the healing process. 

So a couple days after the injury after the initial swelling and inflammation goes down, I would recommend switching to heat only. 

Here’s a helpful tip: use moist heat! Anything that would mimic a hot shower, 15 to 20 mins per treatment should be plenty, and you can do it multiple times throughout the day until you feel the area start to relax. 

Our next tip is to find a comfortable position to decrease pressure off the lower back. When it is finally time to rest, or you just need to let the back get a breather, here’s a couple positions that may help.

One position that works well is to lie on flat on your back with your hips and knees bent, with pillows under your knees. This is a great position to sleep also, since it keeps the spine in a neutral position, and takes pressure off the lower back. Less pressure means less irritation and allows the back to be put in a better position to heal and recover.

Another position to try is lying on your side with your knees bent and a pillow between them. 

AVOID sleeping or lying on your stomach for long periods of time. Sleeping on your stomach places a strain on your back and spine. It affects the neutral position of the spine, and puts undue stress on it. More stress means the body has a lessened ability to heal and you’ll experience more pain.

After the initial inflammation goes down, usually after 24-48 hours, it’s a good idea to start building into stretching. The benefits of stretching are almost limitless, but the ones were looking for are reducing tension in muscles supporting the spine, and improving range of motion and overall mobility. 

If you’re in need of some good stretches for lower back pain relief, make sure to stay to the end of this video. I’m going to show you some that are really easy and effective, so don’t miss out on some quick pain relief!

A caution about stretching: if you feel any low back pain during the movement, stop immediately. Only go to the point where it feels like a good stretch, don’t over-do it! Overdoing it leads to re-injury. 

A good stretching rule of thumb is "let your pain be your guide." If you're doing a stretch or movement, and it aggravates the pain that's related to your injury, decrease the intensity or just avoid the activity completely.

For those injuries that are more serious, such as an injury that’s causing sharp, debilitating pain or sciatica, you need to get it check out immediately by a chiropractor or doctor. Also, for pain that’s not improving after a couple days or is getting worse, you need to get it looked at as soon as possible.

Conservative treatments like chiropractic adjustments have a great track record of helping to speed up the recovery time of a lower back injury, and can give you immediate pain relief. So don’t sit there in pain when you could be getting help right now.

And if you’re just uncertain what to do about your back pain… when in doubt, always get it checked out. 

So by following this guide, it should give you a plan that will help get you back on track quickly from a lower back injury. How quickly the pain goes away and your back returns to normal will depend on how serious your low back strain is. 

Mild cases may resolve in a couple of days. It can take many weeks for more serious strains. Remember that everyone heals at a different rate. Again, most back injuries are just minor, and if treated properly, are likely to repair and heal quickly. 

On average, 50% of lower back pain episodes will resolve within two weeks, and 80% by six weeks. Just remember that everyone heals at a different rate.

I’m going to finish by showing you the stretches I mentioned earlier. If you have any other questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the section below. 

Don’t forget to subscribe too, we’re going to have more videos coming dealing with everything to help keep your back and neck healthy and happy, so don’t miss out. Thanks for watching!