“How long does a strained back take to heal?”

Hello. Thanks for sharing your question and sorry to hear about your strained back problem. I also appreciate your giving me an opportunity to share my thoughts, tips and suggestions with you. First of all, do you think you have a sprained back or a stained back? A sprain is a stretch, tear or inflammation around a ligament (the fibrous tissue that holds the bones of the back together, around the joints of the lower back). A strain is a stretch, tear or inflammation of the tendons and muscles of the lower back. Sometimes they exist together, and sometimes they arise from an acute trauma. Other times they arise due to overuse (fatigue failure) and can be part of a normal aging process. In any event, the timing of the ‘actions’ or ‘exercise’ depends on the mechanism (‘how) of the onset of the problem, when ‘it’ happened, how often this has happened before, and how severe it is/was. Generally, the inflammation around a sprain/strain needs to calm down before ‘healing’ occurs.

Healing is also a vague word, since some ‘tears’ that occur do not ever heal on a microscopic level, but rather scar tissue (unorganized fibrous tissue with suboptimal mechanical properties) forms and the nerve impulses (the ‘why’ we feel the pain) become less intense. When the pain resolves and you can get back to doing things you like doing for a prolonged period of time without onset of pain, then you may as well have ‘healed’.

If you did nothing but rest and take some anti-inflammatory medications (after the OK from your doctor, topical or oral), you can begin to feel less pain and become more active in 2-6 weeks (depending on several factors: age, physical shape, tolerance of pain, balance of your immune system, quality of the lower back, etc.). But to ‘heal’ and not have another issue like this arise, nothing beats regaining good lower back and core range of motion, flexibility, strength, endurance and conditioning (see this link:
https://www.pop-doc.com/browse.cgi?category1=Lower%20Back). In addition, doing smart things and living a preventive orthopedic lifestyle can also diminish the return of a sprain or strain of a lower back. Finally, avoiding ‘accidents’ can also be helpful when it comes to not straining or spraining your lower back.

I hope this helps.

David T. Neuman, MD FAAOS

If you truly have a strained back, it should take no more than a week or so to heal. Rest, gentle stretching exercises, Tylenol and an anti-inflammatory such as Ibuprofen or Naproxen will speed up the healing. A "strained back" means the muscles in the low back area have been overstretched. Most muscle stretch injuries heal fairly quickly and don't result in long term symptoms. Sometimes what is referred to as a strained back is actually an injury to other structures in the lower back, such as discs or joints. These injuries can take longer to heal and may cause recurrent episodes of back pain. If your symptoms linger or come back again and again, you may want to talk to your doctor to see if something else could be the cause.

Because you can't "rest" your back (like you can an ankle by using crutches and a brace), backs take longer to heal. With proper treatment, 4-6 weeks is required for a back strain to heal. Proper treatment is avoidance of painful activities, NSAIDS, and physical therapy.

Hope it helps!!

Dr. Bose