My boyfriend is having really bad back pain.
Earlier on this week, he dug up a septic system by himself and put in a new one, within 2 days.
He works for an auto shop.
Yes, this guy that he works for is a crook. I could describe him in better words, but I'm afraid the censoring on this site won't allow it. I'm too classy, too.....I wish.

Anyways, he got home yesterday night, took a hot bath, and as soon as he got out, his back started to hurt terribly. I looked in "Take Care Of Yourself", matched the symptoms, and it basically describes it as a typical pain from an injury of some sort. He didn't injure himself, or fall. He says it's not a muscle or bone pain, it's a nerve pain, but we don't know what to do about. He used a heating pad which helped slightly, he refuses to take medicine, and he had to call in sick today because I made him.
I didn't do it to exert my womanly prowess over him, I did it because I knew that the minute he got there, he'd be slinging around tons of tires, and the wrong move could seriously screw him up. Not do I know that anyways, but the book also put that in bold. "The first 24 hours you should not exert yourself, or if you have to, be very, very careful."
That's almost word for word. My question is, is there anything he can do to alleviate the pain? If it's still the same, should he go to work on Monday? He already took Saturday off, he has Sunday off, but I know he feels weird being out of work. I don't know what to do. I don't want to be overbearing, but I don't want him to make the wrong decision, either--go into work to make his idiot boss happy, or sacrifice a week from work, and let himself get better before he makes the wrong move and messes up his back permanently. Saying it like that, it seems the answer is obvious, but we don't know what's wrong with it. And I don't think he has medical insurance. If anyone read my story of his mother with the stroke, I'm pretty sure she kicked him off her medical insurance when he left her.
I don't know what to do! I'm so worried and I don't want anything terrible to happen, and it's so frustrating to see him hobble around and not being able to do anything to make it better for him. I've been waiting on him hand and foot, which makes me feel better, and makes him feel special and a little guilty, but that's all I know to do.
Help!

Something else that just occurred to me, can he get seen through his work? He hurt his back at work, but if his boss doesn't have coverage for his employees, is that oppurtunity not available at all, or is it still possible through some government program?
By the way, to show what a nasty bugger is boss is, the whole time my boyfriend was digging the hole for the system, he just stood there and was saying, "C'mon, now. I don't wanna see half-shovels, get whole-shovelfuls in there. C'mon, do it right. Work harder."
I will get revenge when he quits that place. Just gotta think of something good.

Has he not filed a workers compensation claim? If injured on the job, this may be your best recourse (but watch out for the boss - it will affect his workers comp rates and he won't like that one bit).

It seems that immediate medical advice is warranted. This is the type of problem that doesn't need to be a nag on him forever.

The back does have nerves running through it, it is also layers of muscles that run in several diagonal and horizontal and vertical directions, it could be a deep muscle tear which could feel like a nerve and not respond too well to applied heat. Could be. Without a medical examination and a screening of movement to see where the pain is exactly and which moves cause more pain its hard to say.

If it is a torn muscle (most likely) the first two days it will hurt like the dickens, the third day the pain will be markedly less than the first two days, but will be accompanied by stiffness. Light stretching on the third day before going about routine work is highly recommended, but then slinging tires is not routine work.

Light massage may help - that is LIGHT massage. I will assume you will be doing that, I would suggest applying gentle circular motion at first just the finger tips to see if there are any knots or lumpy spots. If there is a lump or knot they you can pretty much figure that it is a muscle issue. Applying gentle pressure to the spot in circular motion will help to loosen the muscle.

In the case of muscle tears they prescribe a muscle relaxant, relaxing the muscle takes the tension off the torn muscle. This is different than a pain reliever. However a over the counter pain reliever like aspirin (or what ever he can take) should help a little.

Have him lay on his side, the leg against the surface should be straight while the leg on top is bent at the knee, with the knee before him sort of like the number 4 where the back of the number 4 is the knee extending out - it helps to have that leg raised up and sitting on a pillow, this position takes the most tension off the back.

A second postion is to lay on the floor, flat ont he back, knees bent and raised off the ground, or in a "sitting" potion with his lower legs in the seat of a chair. This causes the back to flaten out and takes the stress of the "arch" of the lower back. No pillow under the head, arms flat along his side or hands folder on his abdomen. Laying like this will help to relax the muscles in the back.


Ideally he should see a doctor and have the doctor decide how many days he needs off. His doctor will give him a "work release" slip which will specify that he needs X number of days off and his boss must, by law, acknowledge and accept that slip of paper as a good reason to miss work. Since you are dealing with a A-hole (I'll say those nasty words for you, OK?) I would suggest getting a copy of that slip just in case he wants to make waves.

Monday morning if your boy friend wakes up in pain, call a doctor and make appointment or, if there is no medical insurance, go to the county/city hospital ER where they will treat you and charge you even if you don't have insurance. Back injuries should never really be underestimated, nor should one press their luck and continue working with an injured back.

If there is a family Doctor he/she may be able to see him for a nominal office fee (around $50.00 I assume) as long as you are not getting blood tests and what not like that.

County/City hospital will have a program of a sliding pay scale for doctor/hospital visits. Even if you have to pay the whole amount, the nice part is that you can make monthly payments of $25.00, $50.00 per month. Going through ER you will be screened for payment type, they will provide you with payment options.

Since this was an on the job injury you will want to bring that up with the hospital who in turn may assist you in figuring out if it is worth pursuing a claim against the employer. Since back injuries can have long term impact, the soonest you get this all down in a medical file the better for him in any civil law suit against the employer.

The hard part may be getting a connection between the job and the injury, especially if no on the job injury form was filed at work. However since it is very possible to injure your back and not know it until hours sometimes even days later it is possible that this kind of injury can be connected easily to the job.

In any case, if he is in pain Sunday, then Monday he does not need to be slinging tires around - no reason what so ever. Get a doctor to sign him off of work until he can move about without doing more injury.

David

BTW muscle issues are usually nearly always a "torn" muscle. Even over worked muscle is "torn" Body builders purposefully "tear" their muscles by over exerting the muscle on purpose, the healing process causes the "torn" muscle to rebuild thicker and stronger.

This is how I am using the word "torn".

We figured out today that because he is under the age of 21 and a full-time student, he has medical insurance with his mother's company no matter what.
He was in pain today, not as bad as yesterday. He slept with one pillow under his head, a pillow under his chest and then one under his abdomen. He felt better when he woke up, but during the course of the day, his back started ache again.
He's calling in sick tomorrow.

Thanks for your explanation, D, and coldfuse, his boss doesn't have worker's comp. He doesn't have anything. This is why we are going to be looking for a new job for him.
Neither of us think it's a particularly good idea to be doing that kind of physical work and mechanical work without some kind of coverage. We're going to try and find him a job with some kind of company, that pays him in company checks and gives him overtime. At this job, he works 58 hours a week for 6.50. He was promised at least 7, and the other two guys he works with who sit on their butts and hardly do anything get paid 9-10.
I'm grandly annoyed.
I made him take naproxen before bed last night, so we don't know or not, because I also doused the room with Olbas Oil, which always helps you sleep.
I tried massaging, didn't help. It felt good, of course, says he, but it didn't help alleviate the pain. I'll try to get him to try the exercises later. Thanks.