lower backache!!!!!

I'd also suggest getting it checked out by a doctor ASAP. I started having lower back pain when I was 18 and ignored it until I couldn't walk home from class one day. The first doctor I went to was only able to determine that I had a muscle spasm in my lumbar muscles near my shoulder blades, which was causing the entire muscle group to tense up. Later I got an X-ray done, and it revealed a compression fracture in my spine in the T-6 (which is right between my shoulder blades, hence the muscle spasm there). The only way to completely heal it would be to isolate it for 3 months so that it could fuse - essentially, that would have meant a body cast. I took a gamble on the fact that I was young enough that it might not be so bad, since there was no way that I could sit around like that for 3 months. So what followed was a great deal of physical therepy, cold and hot packs almost all the time, barely being able to finish a bunch of my swim practices in college, and being doped up on muscle relaxers for a significant portion of two years of my life. It finally stopped being consistently painful around my 21st birthday, but I still have flare ups here and there. I still think that overall, it was less aggrivating than sitting around doing nothing for 3 months. But, if I'd caught it right away, rather than waiting 6 months, I would have been able to start physical therepy a lot earlier and prevent a lot of the muscle inflamation that followed. My final piece of advice is to not quit swimming and go to another sport - I got this injury while I took a year off from swimming my freshman year of college to row. Oh, the silly things we do when we are young... -Victoria

I'd also suggest getting it checked out by a doctor ASAP. I started having lower back pain when I was 18 and ignored it until I couldn't walk home from class one day. The first doctor I went to was only able to determine that I had a muscle spasm in my lumbar muscles near my shoulder blades, which was causing the entire muscle group to tense up. Later I got an X-ray done, and it revealed a compression fracture in my spine in the T-6 (which is right between my shoulder blades, hence the muscle spasm there). The only way to completely heal it would be to isolate it for 3 months so that it could fuse - essentially, that would have meant a body cast. I took a gamble on the fact that I was young enough that it might not be so bad, since there was no way that I could sit around like that for 3 months. So what followed was a great deal of physical therepy, cold and hot packs almost all the time, barely being able to finish a bunch of my swim practices in college, and being doped up on muscle relaxers for a significant portion of two years of my life. It finally stopped being consistently painful around my 21st birthday, but I still have flare ups here and there. I still think that overall, it was less aggrivating than sitting around doing nothing for 3 months. But, if I'd caught it right away, rather than waiting 6 months, I would have been able to start physical therepy a lot earlier and prevent a lot of the muscle inflamation that followed. My final piece of advice is to not quit swimming and go to another sport - I got this injury while I took a year off from swimming my freshman year of college to row. Oh, the silly things we do when we are young... -Victoria