Ask Lemmy

Blacking out from back pain is not normal, though a little back pain is, since most jobs of the century are done on a computer, you should be worried.

Could be posture, especially if you work an office job or something. I used to have pretty bad back and neck pain, then when they sent us home during the pandemic, all my pain just went away.

Pain is never normal but back pain is pretty common. Sometimes it's a past injury that's the cause. For most people though, it's often caused by weak back muscles or over exertion. Or both.

Might try some light yoga focusing on the back, but you should definitely go see a doc. A chiropractor might be helpful as well.

you are not supposed to have any pain at all

A doctor will order scans of the area to see if there's anything obvious requiring surgery, otherwise a physio or similar should be able to provide you some exercises to strengthen the body. You could probably just take yoga, pilates or calisthenics classes as long as you don't exacerbate things.

You don't mention doing any exercise.

After checking for physical health issues, ergonomics, stress, posture, etc, take a look at better shoes. If you ever feel like your heels often hit the ground hard when you walk, and especially if you more often feel pain after having carried something heavy, the impact on your spine might be bigger than you think even if you don't feel it at that moment. Better shoes (and posture, etc) reduces the impact significantly.

I've had slight scoliosis all my life due to being very tall and having multiple growth spurts in my teens. That has bothered me in the mornings pretty much since I was 16. Last year, I started getting increased pain around my pelvis which eventually got diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis, associated with another diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis. I'm 32 now and doing physiotherapy in order to keep flexible, the exercises seem to be a subset of pilates, also been prescribed dicofenac which is like a stronger version of ibuprofen which works well.

Blacking out from pain doesn't sound normal. I've got a degenerative disease diagnosis and have never blacked out - although I have had days where I've struggled to move.

Some form of exercise are better for your back than others.

Pain isn't normal, and 30 is quite young so talk with a doctor, get a couple of physiotherapy session, and find a sport helping your back (and a whole strategy)

I started experiencing this after 30. In my case it's back muscles tightening up, because of bad posture that lead to the weakening of the core muscles which put too much strain on the back.

Got shown some excercises and got better after a while. Got back every once in a while, but usually I managed to get it under control.

Just got back again and wouldn't get away for weeks now. Sounds a lot like what you have. I'm going ti schedule the doctor again, I recommend you do the same. This shouldn't be normal.

How tall are you? If the answer is yes, then it's common

Go to your doctor, take the meds they give you and do the exercises and you'll feel better. Then focus on building back strength so that it doesn't happen again.

This is one of the scenarios where oats and squats actually do help

If you need that spine surgery get it. I wish I had mine sooner. Most people don't need surgery as physical theorpy fixes it. However when a few weeks wasn't showing any improvement they sent me for a mri and that found something that surgery was needed before it parralized me. (Not cancer but still a growth)

hopefully you have the same pains as everyone else but only a doctor can figure out the rare exceptions.

I had really bad back pain when I switched to an office job, which kept going for like 4 years. I finally went to the physio and after a few trial and errors she discovered the issue was in my core strength. I was exercising and generally active, but because I wasn't engaging my core properly that was just leading to more back pain.

She taught me how to engage my core properly and a few really simple exercises for strengthening, and my low back pain is almost entirely gone now.

Go to the doctor or a physiotherapist. If it's not a medical condition then it's most likely just related to your lifestyle and can be improved with some changes.

Editing to add I'm also in my 30s.

Separate note: On my 30th birthday actually I did have a separate issue with my side where the pain came on suddenly. I did go to the doctor for that one and was told essentially "you're just old", but he wasn't totally wrong on that one because it was literally that I had gotten drunk and fallen asleep on a very broken uncomfortable couch that had fucked my side right up. What you're describing doesn't sound like one of these dumb 'old people' injuries though.

I'm almost 40, tall, not in great shape, have bad posture, and have two misaligned disks in my lower back and even my back pain isn't that bad, so I would say that no it's not normal. You should definitely get that checked out.

In addition to spine and muscle issues, there can be other things going on like an enlarged prostate or other swelling that pinches nerves which hurt in the lower back area instead of where the cause is located. Less common than sitting too much, but is another possibility beyond spine or back muscle issues.

I was surprised to find out that could feel like a kidney stone!

Do you have any hypermobility? Even in your fingers?

I've had bad episodes of back pain off and on since I was 11. I'm now 59. I have seen my doctor on many occasions and I'm just told to try to get more exercise. I guess I just put up with it, then

wtf no,not normal i m way over 30, and never had such symptoms

go see a doctor , not normal

I ended up at the doctor with severe back pain at 22. It was so bad I had to call a friend to help me get dressed. Had physiotherapy for quite some time. It'll come back to haunt me at some point because I have mild scoliosis.

Your normal doctor will not have a good answer for you. You need to see a spinal specialist. Or a specialist for your back. No an x-ray will not show you what’s wrong. You will need something better like a MRI. Better to go and know then not go and regret it.

Start weightlifting, more specifically deadlifts. I would discourage you to go to CrossFit and anything that involves mixing cardio with strength.

Also, use as little machines as possible. 99% of the work is with dumbbells, barbells and a rack

/me that had back pain in his late 20-mid 30… and then started weightlifting and had never had a back pain 🙂

Yoga helps tremendously.