How Massage Helped Me Get Rid of a Bad Back Ache

The following post is an account of a terrible back ache that came only at night. I hope this helps someone who is suffering with the same.

Take it from me, it’s extremely uncomfortable to deal with rare diseases. Nobody around you understands you problems and feel that you are just over-reacting. Doctors fail to help you. To top it all, online forums make your worries worse.

But then I believe that even a common cold tortures you for at least three days even though everyone goes through it so it’s all okay. Yes, I take happiness in world’s problems!!

Anyway, so I had this nasty back ache that I want to document here for anyone who searches for fellow sufferers. The keywords here are:

Wake up after 4 hours of sleep at night with back ache

Back ache at night only

Midnight back ache

Can’t sleep at night because of back ache please help

You go to sleep in an absolute normal condition. You suffer from no back ache at all during the day. But when you lie down, in about 4 or 5 hours, you get up with a bad ache. You don’t understand where that pain is coming from 'cause it really moves all around your back. As soon as you get up, the pain magically goes away. You walk around for 15-20 minutes, and you can get 4 more hours of sleep.

Frankly speaking, it is not the pain that is bothersome. A good night’s sleep is very important and when you wake up in the middle of the night, it’s absolutely awful. I thought to myself – this is how new mothers feel like.

Anyway, so this started in April 2014. I went to my physiotherapist who had no idea what it was. I went to an orthopaedic who asked me to exercise my back. I did it all. I took regular physiotherapy sessions and exercised. I even took calcium and magnesium supplements.

But nothing helped. For two months, every night, I was up at 3 a.m. sitting on my sofa, trying to sleep in that position for about 30 minutes. It was getting frustrating really. The online forums scared me further. I read cases where people were suffering with this for years and could not find a cure. I read about doctors advising surgery. Also read that it could be arthritis or even cancer! 

I was about to give up when I thought of asking the help in my house to give me some back massage. Well, within a few days, I was sleeping for six hours!! And now, 9 months later, I am sleeping for full 8 hours. I still can’t sleep for 12 hours which I badly miss on weekends. But atleast I am getting a good night’s sleep.

I still get massage at regular intervals. The trick is to ask someone to massage the sides of your lower back in an upward direction. I realised my pain was more on the right side. So I even tilt on the right for better circulation. Start with the area where your waist ends and your hip starts and go in an upward direction. Also, get this massage every day till your sleep gets regular. It will not work if you massage only twice a week even in the beginning. Ask someone at home to help you with it if you can't get professional help. And yes, I used sesame oil because I've read it's good for muscles.

Believe me, no pain killers, no deep heating, no machines, no change of mattress, no scans, can help you in this. Only massage will. I stopped massage for a month in between and woke up only once with these symptoms. Hopefully I will be able to get it off completely.

I don’t know why this happened. I read somewhere that this was because of prolonged sitting that puts pressure on the lower back. I am really not sure of that. But it was definitely scary and super frustrating. I hope someone who is suffering with the same will read and be able to get rid of it. Ask me if you need further help.

All the best! And never take sleep for granted!