does marijuana cause back pain?

What is the article that you're talking about? I would like to read it but I didn't see one. Let me know okay?

Once again I'm another person who suffers from muscle, joint and back pain when I smoke. I smoked for about 7 years till I started to get the pains. I pretty much gave up smoking ganja 4 years ago because of it, which was a serious bumber.

Some people on the thread are saying it because the weed was laced with something but I know this is not true, because I have smoked lots of weed from different places, even my own homegrown and still have the same problem.

My thoughts on the pain were, that my body just didn't agree with the marijuana anymore and it was its way of telling me to stop.

Was nice finding this thread cause I also thought I was the only 1 with this problem. Anyone you tell can not understand it at all and thinks your mad.

Now that we've found that we are not alone, we need some kind of solution or remedy to help us get back smoking again. Post up anything you think works :-|

Weed hurts my back and my neck. It's tough for me to get comfortable in bed. It makes me stressed out, nauseous, and anxious. With that being said, there's nothing better than having sex when you're completely blitzed.

Wow! I've finally found some people with the same problems. Once, I ran into someone with the problem, but it's very common for people to determine that it's "all in your head".

My back has been hurting since i was about 18 years old. The worst of the pain has come from smoking. My father was diagnosed with Degenerative Disk Disease in his 30's. I have my fathers posture when walking, standing, and sitting. I went to a chiropractor to get a consultation/ x-ray, and he diagnosed me with degenerative disk disease at age 19. The x-ray showed my bottom disk spacing to be smaller than the others. I eventually stopped visiting his office because of no solution to my pain. Turns out i was still hurting because i was still smoking.

Heavy lifting that i've done at work for the past few years has helped a lot. As long as i use proper posture when lifting, i'm cool. By building my core muscles (abs and back), i think i've stabilized my spine. But still, 95% of the time that i smoke, my lower back hurts and i even suffer from shooting pains in my arms, legs, shoulders, and neck. Sometimes, even the thumb part of my palms will ache, but it's obvious to me that the lower back is the start of the problem.

I'm totally convinced by this thread that the answer to my question is: that smoking relaxes the muscles that have been built to help align my lower back, and in turn, my back is crooked again and pressure is applied to some central nerves. The relaxed feeling also slouches my posture, making matters worse.

I love the initial high, and i love how it fuels my creativity, but until someone finds a cure, i'm hanging it up because it's not worth it. I'll definitely be bookmarking this thread for any breakthroughs.

Best of luck to you all!

I had a shoulder injury several years ago; a torn AC joint. I've always had moderate neck and back problems since high school over 6 years ago. Several weeks after the injury my neck and back started to hurt whenever I smoked pot.

My collar bone was raised which in turn, put quite a bit of pressure on the left side of my back and completely reworked the way my shoulder blade worked. It always felt uncomfortable but when I would smoke pot it made it much worse; lots of cricks and cracks and pulls. I was able to crack my neck and back with much more ease as well.

Had surgery over the summer and been going to PT and doing the exercises. Back and neck still hurt when I smoke pot, but it is getting noticeably better.

Keep those muscles strong is my advice for those with similar problems...

Yeah, I have extremely severe back problems and the same thing happens to me. I can feel my spinal discs slide out every time I smoke, I think its because the weed relaxes the body so much so my discs just relax and slide out. It doesn't really hurt while smoking, but I feel that my back is worse the next day.

Yep the same thing happens to me lately. I don't smoke weed that often, but I do prefer it to drinking in social situations. The pain started happening about a year ago and has increased in intensity, as well I have started getting restless legs (which is a common side effect of some heavy medications, such as those taken during chemotherapy treatments - though I have never had any such drugs in my system). I can't find any information on the pain reaction to marijuana, and actually until I saw this I thought I was the only person it ever happened to!

Based on what people have Been saying here, it seems like it's probably a reaction from the weed mixed with an existing medical condition. It looks like sone of us will have to give it up or suffer the pain, though I would be concerned I have some undiagnosed medical situation that I'm exacerbating. I'm definitely asking my doctor if she's ever heard of anything like this.

Oh brother, when it comes to marijuana related back pain, I've been through hell and back. I would remember 2 years ago when i could barely stand up from the sheer magnitude of pain. But ever since going to a massage therapist , the pain has almost completely disappeared. No joke! It may not be the fix for everybody, but I'm sure this will solve a lot of problems. Ask yourself this, when you get high, does your back feel extremely hard and tense? If so, give massage a try. It'll loosen your back muscles up, and leave you feeling like a new man.

I can't believe there is no more information on this. There is nothing at all anywhere else that even mentions the possibility of marijuana use leading to muscle spasms and/or back pain. And believe me I've looked.

Sounds like everyone had some pre-existing medical issue or a new injury that accompanied the onset of the painful spasms. For me, it was a jaw injury that lead to TMJ symptoms. I'd been a regular smoker for around 6-7 years when this happened and had never suffered any of these symptoms until a few weeks after my initial jaw injury. I assumed the problem was just the TMJ but even after going through all the treatment I still suffered the muscle spasms.

I have continued to smoke despite the muscle spasms for a few years. I do not smoke as often or as much as I used to but I still smoke. Now my muscle spasms are not as intense as when I had the TMJ issues but they still occur in my lower back and cervical spine. I began seeing a chiropractor and it's been fairly helpful. Interestingly enough, he found that I have sublaxations in my lower back and cervical spine... the same areas that ache the worst when I smoke. It seems to me that the marijuana is causing muscle spasms in areas that are injured. As my spine returned to normal the muscle spasms intensity would subside. They are still there but they are less intense and I can manage. As the other guy mentioned, massage therapy helps a ton. A massage every few weeks keeps me feeling fairly good.

That being said, something is obviously not right. I suspsect it has to be neurological since it's being affected by the marijuana and its nerve-related since we're getting muscle spasms.

I have a few ideas from research that might be disorders that could cause the symptoms we're experiencing. Has anyone been diagnosed with, or treated for any of these?

-Polymyalgia Rheumatica
-Giant Cell Arteritis
-Ernest Syndrome (I was diagnosed with)
-Splenius Capitis (sounds more like what I suffered from than Ernest Syndrom)
-Sacroiliac Joint Syndrome
-Facet Joint Syndrome
-Fibromyalgia

Also, for those old posters and anybody who reads this... Has anybody referred a doctor to this link? I would imagine that this effect could draw some kind of interest to pain management doctors, nuerologists, etc. Aside from just being interesting and odd, depending on exacty what's going on, marijuana could be a useful diagnostic tool, or contributing cause to other medical problems.

Just put vapo rub on it and it will feel like a new type of high...

DONT stop smoking!! Go see a chiropractor, get an adjustment, and see what he recommends. Smoking shouldn't effect your back that much, you are probably out of alignment, most likely from bad posture.

WOW!!!!!I also thought i was the only one experiencing this pain in my lower back......about 2 weeks ago I injured my back just by leaning over for a long period of time (possibly a back sprain) and when i got up i had the worst pain of my life...i couldnt stand and was stuck in bed for about three days once i got better i noticed this dull pain in my lower back that wouldent go away weither i massage it or use the hot and cold method...its like a very uncomfortable feeling and i cant really stay still to long....well turns out i also smoke alot of weed and have been doing so for many years....well i had a feeling that the weed might have something to do with it so i tried not smoking for a whole day and i felt great....no pain...but a batch of purple kush came my way and was too tempting so i smoked up later that night and sure enough the pain came right back....i really love weed....but not as much as i hate this pain so until i find another way (maybe brownies) thats it for me....i can also agree with someone elses comment that being smashed on hard liqour before blazing seems to keep the pain away so i guess theres one way i can still enjoy the herb!!!!!

Man, i have the same thing except my ribs dont get indented. the only suggestion i have is... stop smoking weed. I made myself stop and i never get pains anymore but every time i do. it hurts like hell and i shake like a madman and have spasm dont smoke weed its terrible for you and im afraid that its gonna kill me so i stopped... dont smoke weed

so ive been having the same problem, and i think i have an idea as to why the back pain occurs. I have never had great posture, and i have worked many jobs where i had to physically lift and move objects that weigh 100lbs and up. i have injured my back several times snowboarding and skateboarding, and have seen a chairopractor several times for re-alignment.
THC has muscle relaxant proporties and most likely relaxes the tissue around previously injured/healed areas in the back/neck. moving too quickly of forcefully when high can probably cause the back to slip out of allignment in this overrelaxed state, especially around these weakend areas. I have taken a break from smoking, and started doing stretches and exercises. also i've been paying more attention to my posture, and have noticed a significant decrease in the pain over time.

smoking relaxes your muscles, thus causing one to slump or shrug, therefore your posture is negatively affected. solution? Work out regularly to ensure a stronger back and core, and be mindful of your posture as much as possible so you can correct it.