[Setting Sun]

I suffer from chronic back pain after rupturing a disk in my lower back three years ago.

Surgery relieved the severe acute pain I was having from the disk pinching the sciatic nerve in my left leg, but I have been left with chronic back pain, some days better than others, but always there to some degree.

Most of my back trouble is due to "guarding." I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I've had spasms in my back so severe that I've had to crawl on my hands and knees.

Because of those spasms, I tend to "guard" my back and keep it tense. I also tend to not use my full range of motion because consciously and subconsciously, the pain from those spasms is always in the back of my mind.

I tried using n*rcotic pain meds, and I can't use them for more than a few days because I quickly become tolerant and need increasing doses. They also have this side effect of constipation, which I can do without, thank you very much.

As I mentioned in another post, marijuana has been a godsend for me medically. It helps to relax my back muscles and I've had more relief from using medical marijuana than from any other therapy.

My muscle tension and resulting back pain responds better to sativas than to indicas. Sativas seem to distract me and make me forget about my back more than indicas do for some reason.

great topic, thanks,

SS