Back pain = back muscle?

So, nearly two weeks ago I feel down the stairs, it was silly, I missed the second step and slid off it. This made my back pain 20 times worse then it was. Before it was just my lower back, and now it spreads all the way to my neck. It recently started spreading to my head and giving me severe headaches. I haven't done any real exercise in a few months, so I can't imagine my back being very muscular. Now when I go to press on my back and put some pressure on it, my back feels like it has more muscle then it did before. And its not fat loss, if anything I've been gaining. So I want to know, is it possible?

Your back is a very complicated bit of kit.  If you get a spasm in one muscle and it's left untreated you can find the pain starts to spread elsewhere and other muscles go into spasm.  What you describe sounds a lot like sciatica but you should really get it checked out with your doctor.  You may need some physiotherapy to stop it getting worse.

Your sciatic nerve runs down your leg, I doubt that is what it is. However, you may have a herniated disc, esp if you've had lower back problems prior to your slip. You may have thrown your body out of alignment. My suggestion to you is to go see a doctor to determine if its muscular or skeletor, there are a number of ways to treat it. Til then, take it easy and if pain prosists, either heat or ice your back.

I went to the doctor a few days ago and she said it was unlikely that I did something too bad, but I'm getting an x-ray soon just in case. :)

I Really feel for you its horrid ive been suffering with bk pain since christmas i get pain in all the muscles particuarly in my buttocks i had an mri scan which showed no fractures which puzzles me . i fell on saturday and made it worse :(. i start physio  next week which i hope helps i also use ibuprofen gel which is good have you tried that ?

good for you! if nothing else, a massage or two may even fix you =)

Original Post by bri927:

Your sciatic nerve runs down your leg

But it originates at the spine in the lower back.  I had problems there myself after having my first child, which is apparently pretty common.  And as gi-jane mentioned,  the back is pretty intricately linked and tends to share around the pain.

That said, though, it could be any number of things.  If you've been to your doctor, hopefully you'll get to the bottom of it soon.

The muscular feeling is probably do to the fact that pain causes your muscles to contract defensively, so you'll feel hardness where those muscles have tightened.

Original Post by corellia40:

Original Post by bri927:

Your sciatic nerve runs down your leg

But it originates at the spine in the lower back.  I had problems there myself after having my first child, which is apparently pretty common.  And as gi-jane mentioned,  the back is pretty intricately linked and tends to share around the pain.

That said, though, it could be any number of things.  If you've been to your doctor, hopefully you'll get to the bottom of it soon.

The muscular feeling is probably do to the fact that pain causes your muscles to contract defensively, so you'll feel hardness where those muscles have tightened.

 can this cause pain in the hips and buttock are ?

It can, but there could be other causes, too.  I know that when I had sciatica, my cousin immediately noticed that I "walked like my back hurt," whatever that meant.  The pain was in my lower back and hips mostly, but it made my upper back tighten up as well.  I'm grateful she noticed, because I just thought I'd been sleeping badly or something (even though it had been going on for months) and she convinced me to do something about it.

One thing I noticed is that yoga, particularly moves that straighten and stretch the back, really eased the pain.  It's become my first reaction to minor back pain, and it usually does the trick.  But it doesn't work for everything, and you shouldn't do it without talking to a doctor.  If it's something major, you can do more harm than good.

Original Post by corellia40:

Original Post by bri927:

Your sciatic nerve runs down your leg

But it originates at the spine in the lower back.  I had problems there myself after having my first child, which is apparently pretty common.  And as gi-jane mentioned,  the back is pretty intricately linked and tends to share around the pain.

That said, though, it could be any number of things.  If you've been to your doctor, hopefully you'll get to the bottom of it soon.

The muscular feeling is probably do to the fact that pain causes your muscles to contract defensively, so you'll feel hardness where those muscles have tightened.

your sciatic nerve doesnt "run up" the spine. it flows down. (im a massage therapist, i physically deal with it everyday)

it is the usual suspect in lower back/hip pain. but a number of reasons can aggravate the localized area. not every person that receives this pain has had a previous injury... the things we do in our day to day lives catch up to us. suggestion for (us all!) is to strengthen the core during workouts. it is one of those things that will save our backs inthe future.

Original Post by bri927:

your sciatic nerve doesnt "run up" the spine. it flows down. (im a massage therapist, i physically deal with it everyday)

it is the usual suspect in lower back/hip pain. but a number of reasons can aggravate the localized area. not every person that receives this pain has had a previous injury... the things we do in our day to day lives catch up to us. suggestion for (us all!) is to strengthen the core during workouts. it is one of those things that will save our backs inthe future.

Right, I didn't think I gave the impression that it runs up the spine.  I just said it originates from the spine in the lower back, which it does.  And then it goes down the legs.

I couldn't agree more on strengthening core muscles.  It's nice to hear agreement on this from a massage therapist, who deals on a daily basis with problems that can often be traced back, at least in part, to lack of support from the core muscles.