Muscular Back Pain

One year ago, i decided to help a friend of mine (my track and field coach!) to do his moving out, so we carried some very very heavy stuff (washing machine, a huge fridge...) through a bad and narrow stairway. At this time, I felt in a very good shape, strong, enthusiastic, as I used to work out, and run, and train hard.At the end of the day, I felt exhausted, but nothing wrong, my back was OK - well, that's what i thought...

Exactly three days later, I started to feel something rather strange, some very nasty contractions in my back. The day after, it was a horrible pain, and i have to admit that i felt a rush of anxiety as the pain was getting louder and louder...To sum up, my horrible back pain lasted about 8 days, then was partially released by an osteopath. But it was not over, and my back was still painful, in everything I did, and even while resting.

The days went on, the weeks went on, and i tried to run again. I did feel better, but it was not as it was before. Not really painful, but not flowing. As I felt better and better, though, I decided to start serious training again. But when it came to speed training, everything collapsed: one hour after, i felt the same pain that i had experienced two month before. I also felt the same rush of anxiety, and i just burst in tears. It is hard for me to confess that, but it's the truth. I was smashed down, blown apart. Then again, the pain lasted for several long weeks. Then i felt a bit better. But every time I tried to use my muscles, just to move stuff of insignificant weight, i felt the pain again. And this pain set up in my back for a long, long time...

After 6 months, it got worse: after several days with a wedged low back because of the tensed muscles, I suddenly felt a creak, rapidly followed by a pain in my buttock and my leg (sciatic nerve pain). Since then, nothing has changed. I saw several doctors, and physiotherapists, and almost nothing has changed. MRI's and X rays has revealed nothing really bad.I don't have "trigger points" so i guess i don't suffer from fibromyalgia.

I am now considering tension myositis syndrome as the real cause of my back pain, because when I look back to the last years, i realize that I had felt depressed and anxious for a very long time. My depression got worse when I lost my loved grand mother. I think I have a bad underlying mental state, which I unsuccessfully tried to eradicate with sports, and everything arose with the moving out, which triggered the back pain...SO WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW?

I am considering going to the psych. If anyone has a better idea, please let me know. I think I have a lot of mental efforts to see an end to all this...

I wish good luck to everyone. Keep faith in you and in your body. Drugs may help, but they rarely cure this kind of disease.But... cheer up! we're not alone. We're tens thousands of people, and we'll not put up with jeering of (still) healthy people!! - Raphael