Question
Hullo. Looong question. :)

For some time now I have been experiencing a pain in the lumbar and mid to lower thoracic area of my back. Approximately from the middle of my back and downward until it stops at my tail bone. This pain could best be described as a disruptive ache that spreads out to the surrounding back muscles but fades slowly as it spreads. I use the term 'disruptive' because although this sensation is not painful enough to cause me suffering it is definately painful enough to prevent me from sleeping. I only experience this pain when I am laying down on either my stomach or my back, though if I lay in either position for more than maybe ten or fifteen minutes the pain will remain for several minutes before fading though it will be lessened. The sensation is equal on both sides of my spinal column and strongest where the lower thoracic gives way to the lumbar region. When laying on my back this pain can be avoided if I arch my back and stomach toward the ceiling, but obviously this position cannot be maintained for very long.

It does not hurt to stand erect. Nor does it hurt to sit for extended periods of time, although I do experience a very similar painful sensation approximately below my floating ribs if I am not leaning forward while sitting for a period of time that is roughly the length of a feature film. I usually only experience that sensation in movie theaters because I am rarely sitting for such a long period of time otherwise. When standing if I attempt to bend over at a ninety degree angle with my back perpendicular to my legs I cannot do so without arching my back toward the ceiling, and both the mid and lower portions of my thoracic region become noticeably arched above the rest of my back. Perhaps half an inch to a full inch above the rest. While bending over in this fashion my lumbar region cannot be arched downward toward the floor without experiencing sudden painful strain in both lumbar and thoracic regions, unless I allow myself to bend my knees. Attempting to keep my back straight like a board during this 'exercise' cannot be done without the same painful strain and I also experience standard stretching pain behind my knees.

Bending my spine backwards is both painless and easy, and my range of flexibility in that regard remains greater than that of the average person. In fact by laying on my stomach and bending myself backwards - until my torso is upright and perpendicular to my hips and legs at a ninety degree angle - feels very good in the same way that relieving stretch usually does.

Finally my calves and heels seem to carry most of my muscular tension, or at least it feels this way. When receiving massages most people comment that my back feels very loose and free of tension - with the exception of my shoulders - while a massage of my calves has sometimes released so much tension that I have begun to cry reflexively at the temporary relief of it!

So those are the symptoms that I can name. I know they are quite a few and I feel personally that they are all somehow connected. Now for the history: In the seventh grade my physical education instructor inspected all of our backs for scoleosis. According to my instructor my spine had a slight curvature to the left, which we surmised was due to my fencing activities and the fact that most of my exercise (which all came from fencing) almost exclusively favored the right side of my body. Many years later at the age of twenty-two or twenty-three a yoga instructor commented that she had 'never seen a back like mine' when we instructed to bend forward at a ninety degree angle. At that time in my life the exercise was not painful. One of the other students - a personal trainer - commented that she knew what my condition was and if my memory serves she commented that it involved an inversion of the natural spinal curvature on a lateral view. I cannot remember if she was referring to part or all of the spinal curvature, however, nor can I remember the medical name she used to describe it. Neither chiropractors nor physicians have ever commented on this quality of my back however, though to be fair the pain was nonexistant when I was seeing such professionals and so I never asked about it nor did they ever have me bend forward with my knees unbent as part of their examinations.

Finally the portion of my spine at the the base of my neck seems to curve outward rather than inward, and when running my own fingers along my spine it feels as though most of the vertebrae as though are all curved at roughly the same straight angle, with the exception of the thoracic region which bends outward more significantly than the rest and the lumbar which does not seem to curve inward as much as I believe it should.

I have already investigated information concerning 'flatback syndrome' but standing erect causes me no discomfort and - in fact - it relieves the discomfort caused be laying down flat. So I am not sure that this is it. I have never experienced any spinal injuries except once when I fell off a beam the eighth grade and was temporarily stunned and could not move for perhaps thirty to sixty seconds without pain. In fact, I was laughing hysterically during the experience. My back suffered from a migrating ache for perhaps a week or two afterward. I have never had any surgical procedures performed on my back. I am at a complete loss, and I hope you can get an accurate picture from my question. Please help, thank you.

- Emily

Answer
Hello, Emily,

Your description sounds like you have a pattern of contraction along your spinal musculature and that what you are feeling is the pain of chronic muscle fatigue.  

While the lack of curve of your spine is significant, it is the tendency of pain to develop when in a position for some time that indicates muscles held reflexively tight.

I think that your gymnastics accident left its imprint on your nervous system and that a protective reflexive action is still happening in you; that you need to recapture control of the involved muscles from that reflexive action, so they relax.

Please see my article on completing recovery from an injury at somatics.com/page4.htm for more information and options.

with regard,
Lawrence Gold