muscle spasms
 

No guys, not that muscle.

I woke up in the middle of the night with my upper back muscle(s?) going into spasm. Since this happens every couple months or so, I thought "here we go." I can fall back asleep in seconds, so I did, and I woke back up about 5:30 in immense pain and took 3 ibuprofen.

My alarm went off for work and I could barely even get out of bed to shut it off. I can't turn my head without pain, so driving into work seemed a bit unsafe, so I'm home. I took 2 more ibuprofen around 10:30, with little relief. A hot bath helped. Lying down isn't any better than sitting up.

Once it stops spasming it will be really sore for a couple days, then I'll forget about it until the next time.

I think I can attribute the incidents in part to the fact that I'm on a computer all day at work, then come home and play on the computer. I probably never untense certain muscles?

I don't know. Does anyone experience this or have any ideas for prevention, or herbal remedies? Short of quitting my job and my cellar and my games, that is. ;)

Ice is better than heat for short term relief.

Back and ab exercises to strengthen your core for long term.

But heat feels good.

What about Icy Hot? I have some, but it makes me smell like the track team bus.

I dunno about icy hot. The doc told me for my spasms that heat feels good while you're doing it, but doesn't slow down the spasms. Ice does.

I had neck muscle spasms for a week. The doc at the ER told me about the ice. After an afternoon of ice pack (off and on), I was doing much better.

:backrub:

try eating more bananas (for the potassium)

if that doesn't work, try SOMA.

I think exercising and stretching muscles would help. Just get a small barbell or bottle of water and use it to help stretch your shoulder muscles (raise it and lower the weight behind your neck, then raise it again, rinse & repeat) or shoulder rolls. They sound painful, but might be worth it if you can get back rubs out of them. ;)

Aspercreme is the one muscle rub that is actually being truthful when they say "odorless." It really doesn't smell like anything at all, so it's the only one I let Mr. Clod use.

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row row row your boat



upper back exercises would be my best guess too. start slow though.

Thanks. I started putting ice on it (brrr) and I'll get some bananas and start doing those damn exercise things.

That backrub idea is a good one too, though. ;)

I'd wait until it feels a little better before diving into the exercises.

lol...since I can barely move right now, I think that's a given.

Do you have your work area set up so your posture is good? Why not try doing some of those sit behind the desk type excercises that you can do throughout the day to keep your muscles from getting stiff?

I'd go with the ice too. My brother is a chiro and he's the one that told me that heat is rarely the answer to back or neck pain.

It might be worth going to see either a doc, physio or chiro though. Especially if the pain is that intense. There could be more to it than just muscle soreness.

Is it both sides or the right side only? I'm assuming you are right handed.

The first thing I would suspect is a pinched nerve caused by uneven muscular stress (all on one side). I used to have that problem then finally figured out how to make it stop. I moved the monitor, keyboard and mouse way back on the desk so that both forearms were resting completely on the desk (up to my elbow). That meant that I wasn't "holding up" my right arm while my left arm was relaxed. 12 - 15 hours a day of that over 10 years will definitely lead to some back stress.

As far as what to do when it happens, there's no magic bullet that hasn't already been suggested. The best thing is to try to prevent it by relaxing and balancing any exertion on your back equally on both sides. Another thing that helps a lot is to do shoulder rolls throught the day - they melt away stress. Just rotate your shoulders up, out, down and back in a continuous circle.

I've had these types of problems on and off for years and hope you find some of this helpful.