How do you know if back pain is muscle or disc?

We are looking for 5 patients with low back pain pain who want to get significantly better in the next 30 days, without cortisone shots, physical therapy, or surgery. Click this link and enter the term 'Interested' in the description box to learn more.

Dr. David Geier is a triple-board certified orthopedic surgeon, sports medicine specialist, and anti-aging and regenerative medicine expert. Dr. Geier helps you feel, look, and perform your best regardless of age or injury.

Dr. Geier believes that the best way to return to peak performance after a bone or joint injury is to get the injury to heal without surgery. Instead of invasive surgeries with long recoveries and unpredictable results, he uses innovative treatments, medications, and injections. The goal of this approach is not just to decrease your pain, but also to heal your injury and prevent it from coming back. But it’s not just about your injury and recovery. It’s about getting you back to what you love to do – your favorite sport, exercising every day, or even just playing with your kids and getting through your work day without pain. He aims to help you optimize your performance through improved strength, energy, endurance, speed, muscle and more. He wants to help you overcome your injury but also recharge your entire body so that you feel like you’re back in your twenties.

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[DrDavidGeier]

If you have questions about the injuries or treatments mentioned in this video, or about a sports or exercise injury, subscribe to my channel and click the bell to be notified of my Better Than Ever LIVE! streams, including an Ask Dr. Geier live show I do most Fridays at 12:00 PM ET.

[bobthebuilder]

I have had lower back pain for a few years. I’m only 34 but i hurt every day. the doctors / specialists I have seen seem to disagree as to what is causing my pain, the imaging they have done, they say actually looks pretty good, the years of constant pain have worn me down, i often wish I was no longer alive so I could escape the pain. I don’t wish this on my worst enemy

[PETEYBOY]

I am 27 and I am so grateful to God that I wake up with no body pain. I’m pretty rough on my body and everyone says they start feeling old in their 30’s so I’m just holding on to the feeling of painlessness and cherishing it every day. I’m praying for healing, peace, and rest for all those struggling to manage their pain.

[indysilver_]

I hurt my back about 16 years ago at work lifting up a forklift door trying to set it on the hinges. I heard a loud pop, I turned white and couldn't move. I went the the ER and the chiropractor. 3 X-rays and nothing showed up. I couldn't tie my shoes for months. I picked up a suitcase 9 days ago, and haven't been able to hardly move since, my lower back is absolutely killing me. I'm going to see a doctor and get an MRI this weekend.

[mrrandomfilmz]

Thanks for this doc. I don’t have any numbness, tingling or weakness in either leg and my lower back is in agony following an improper lift resulting in a loud pop sensation on the left side of my lower back. The pain radiates all over my lower back so I’m satisfied this video has removed the possibility of this being a disc specific injury and I’ll continue to treat without a medical professional. Thanks

[aussiegreek]

My job requires lifting all day a few months ago I developed low back pain which my company paid for an mri.The mri showed no bone problems but a strained psoas muscle.What i found interesting was when i was stressed out the pain would be there when i was calm & happy it wasn’t.Beware it sometimes could also be psychological.

[toddleychaos]

I’m going on 3 months and 6 chiropractic visits and still feel pain. I think it’s time I go into the dr.

[homeoftheinepttulpagamer]

I'm going to keep up the tradition of asking for advice on the Internet lol. Just under a week ago I felt a twinge in my back doing nothing in particular other than walking around my house, thought nothing much of it and went to sleep only to find myself unable to get out of bed. Now, my bed is very firm as it's something I've been used to sleeping with some some time (it's a japanese floor mattress but with 1" memory foam just to take out any pressure spots).

In took me 35 minutes to get to an upright position and to the bathroom, at which point I got stuck on the toilet due to muscle agony in the back which pretty much spasming everything from hips to lower torso. It was horrendous. Had to essentially lower myself on the floor and crawl away to the sofa and hoist myself onto it.

I believe it's just muscle sprain. However the pain is immense whenever I try and move and I know some mobility is important so try and do very small stretches here and there and stand up.

I've managed to grab a walking stick that used to go hiking with and can hobble around the house but not use stairs in order to go to the bathroom but we are talking journeys which ends up taking 10-15 minutes unless I crawl which is faster.

Slowly running out of stockpiles of ibuprofen and switched to some Diclofenac gel in the medicine cabinet (taking care not to overdose of nsaids) but it's not working. I've also run out of groceries such as milk and eating whatever tinned stuff is left over. Similarly my bins are full and can't empty them so it's starting to look like a hobo camp.

I physically can't leave the house to get to the doctors and they don't do house calls anymore and feel really self conscious about calling for an ambulance and taxis won't transport injured people but pretty soon I'll run out of options.

The internet is full of wacky videos about fixing your back with this stretch or that but I can't even get my socks on or off without a fight. Can muscle injuries alone be so bad? Surely should have gotten some recovery even if it's only been a week. I keep hoping next time wake up that I can stand up and not undergo a crazy gymnastics routine, it's starting to pull on other muscles to compensate.

[AleksaLjubisavljevic-nc]

i felt for 4 months some kind of pain and tense only in the morning when i woke up and only on the right side of my lower back, just somewhere below the last rib but quite next to the spine. After waking up and just walking around a little bit, the pain would disappear until i would go to sleep again and the same pain would kick again in the morning of the day after.
So, I did an x-ray and checked my right kidney but it resulted to be everything ok. Even the muscle tissiues showed no ruptures. Visually you could not see anything.

I did 2 relax massages, 2 sport massages, 5 times chiropractic adjustments, 1 hijama, 1 dry cupping therapy with dry needeling but nothing could solve the cause.

However, i noticed that it started to get better after time, so i continued to do stretching exercises of some of the deepest muscles in our back. After stretching my right QL and Psoas muslces it started to get even better, but it has only alleviated the pain and tense feeling. At the end i realized on my own that the problem might be linked to the diaphragm, ribs and those intercostural muscles. So i stretched them and this helped me to solve the problem at let's say 98% ..

It might be helpful to someone experiencing a similar problem as mine, to know that rib muscles can cause some sort of back pain at the level of TH12.

[مُحمّد-شذط]

Doctor thank you very much, you helped me identify the problem

[richo]

Thank you, Doctor. This was very helpful!

[robbellphoto]

Great information thanks you !

I work in healthcare and while pulling a patient up in bed felt a small twinge in my lower back. Now I have constant pain, relived somewhat with NSIADS but feels incredibly sore. No leg tingling but hard to stand without feeling a stabbing pain in the lower back area ! Super annoying

[AlonsoArayaAudiovisual]

I´ve had back pain since I was a teenager but 2 doctors that saw me didn't know what caused it. I've had 3 severe pain episodes in my life. After my second serious episode, when I was 33 years old, a doctor found anterolisthesis on L5 and espondilosis between L5 and S1 with protrusion. It hurts on my right side mostly but never expanded to the leg. So until this day I still am not sure if it is muscular or nerve. Although it seems it is nerve cause the images show the injury. Now I have a mild pain most of the time, especially after being standing for too long or be seated for too long.

[scottmcphee]

I have upper & lower back pain .... but my right arm will not stretch vertically straight up above my shoulder and head... it can only go so high...and I have pain that can shoot down from my bicep area near my elbow or can start in my elbow And go down the rest of my arm....it makes it painful to take T- shirts off & put them on.... whereas my left arm stretches normally straight up vertical....I do have a stretching strap to stretch my hamstrings it's very beneficial when I do this....But my arm is not getting better nor is my back.

[Julesgonewild]

I have chronic sciatica and two years ago this horrible pain started along the right side of my spine and now it's my rib cage. It feels like the muscles are cramped up and twisting left or right is ALWAYS uncomfortable. It never lets up. Sleeping is not my friend anymore. I haven't gotten a good, painless nights sleep in two years. Some days I wake up and it's so painful I feel like a mummy waking up from a hundred year sleep 😅 my shoulders will hurt, too. I can't tell if it's a disk or what.. recently my neck has been hurting. I take Advil almost every day and this is not a way to live anymore. I'm very depressed. I am only 32 and I know it sounds dramatic, but I cannot imagine aging anymore with this pain. My goal this year is to solve this mystery. I need an MRI

[Nimblemonk]

I have had low back pain for 13 years. In the initial days, I went to a doctor, he took xray and there was no issue. After which the pain never really went away and I am living with it. As per my analysis my pain is muscle driven and goes away with heat. I have a habit of cracking the lower back (knuckles). This gives temporary relief. I have been doing that for about 16 years. I think its due to this cracking knuckles that i have muscle pain. I am planning to stop it, and do core strengthening exercise. What do you think?

[Pardesiraja]

Please make a video for back muscles spasm

[huero]

Ive been having pain on my back for years from mid back to lower back. For 1 year already its been severe only on my right lower back and numbness lower to by hip and but. Its getting worse as i sleep on that side

[dadugvt]

I have lower back pain from 2 years and i am 36 years... No exercises helped me...i dont know what pain it is..

[davidwilkins]

I have been training for a 10k. I'm 58 years old. I was running every 3rd day to allow adequate rest, but doing weights the next day to build joint and muscle strength. I had a sudden pain in my lower back while starting a 5 mile run that stopped me instantly due to it seizing up. (I ran .25 miles when it struck, but had run 5 miles three days earlier with no problem). I think the jarring of running affected my back much like the jarring on a knee. Especially since two days prior I did squats. Can you please provide a video explaining how running affects the lower back and potential causes of severe lower back related to that, if that's even a thing? I had no idea a person could strain a back from running. By the way, the squats were only 100 lbs, which isn't typically an issue for me. However that may have created strain and I didn't realize it. Any educational stuff on the subject would be cool to see.