“I have pain in my back and legs?”
I started working out recently, I went from hardly being active to doing 30 to 60 mins of working out a day. 3 days ago I did a really strenuous workout, my body felt like jello and I felt sick nauseous after. That night my legs were really weak and I felt sore. The next day I noticed my lower back and legs were even more aches and I had a hard time moving around. I'm still aching and it gets worse at night, sometimes my skin is warm to the touch. The pain goes away if I'm actively moving but I feel stiff.
Female | 28 years old
Complaint duration: 3 days
4 Answers
You are likely dealing with DOMS and consider proper hydration, nutrition, as well as a massage to help evacuate the swelling from the tissues causing the discomfort.
Look up lower back exercises online. Warm moist heat & stretching - 90% of low back pain resolves in 6 weeks. NSAIDs (if tolerated & not allergic) as needed alternating with Tylenol. If not improving or worsening then go to your PCP or physical therapist - if loss of bladder or bowel control goes to the emergency room immediately.
You may have caused some irritation or damage to your spine and the nerves that exit the spine and provide sensory and motor function to your legs. If the pains going into the legs are including, besides pain, any numbness or tingling, you may need a work up (neurological symptoms). If you have rested for several days, it may be time to see a MD and get a prescription for some medications and physical therapy and possibly a work up with, besides a physical exam, some imaging (like x-ray or MRI).
It's hard to say virtually but it's likely one of two possibilities: delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) or exercise-induced rhabdomyolisis (muscle damage releasing a protein into the blood). Both result from strenuous exercise. DOMS is very common when first starting to workout and when going up in resistance or intensity, rhabdo is rarer with exercise and usually is after extremely strenuous activity. The cause of DOMS isn't exactly known but suspected that it's on the lower end of the muscle damage spectrum. It seems to be associated more with eccentric exercises, pain-free at rest, pain with movement and pressure but seems to improve with light activity and icing. Rhabdo is connected with significant pain with movement and sometimes at rest but also can cause kidney injury leading to
brownish urine and reduced urine production. If you're experiencing the latter it would be good to go to the urgent care or ER to get treatment typically with IV fluids. If just soreness and gets better over the next few days especially with light activity and no urinary complaints I'd say still hydrate orally and stay active but can do so at home. Based on your description, my money is on DOMS which is very innocent. But, if concerned make an appointment with a local sports med doc by you to check it out in more detail. Once you plan to return to workouts re-evaluate your form and workout schedule as this could also be a sign of overuse or improper body mechanics.
brownish urine and reduced urine production. If you're experiencing the latter it would be good to go to the urgent care or ER to get treatment typically with IV fluids. If just soreness and gets better over the next few days especially with light activity and no urinary complaints I'd say still hydrate orally and stay active but can do so at home. Based on your description, my money is on DOMS which is very innocent. But, if concerned make an appointment with a local sports med doc by you to check it out in more detail. Once you plan to return to workouts re-evaluate your form and workout schedule as this could also be a sign of overuse or improper body mechanics.
