I've been hurting badly on and off the last couple of months. The past few weeks have been terrible for me. Painkillers and Icy Hot aren't effective anymore. Does anyone here have any recommendations for chiropractors or massage places? Does that help at all?

I'm a lay-expert on this stuff, unfortunately, Achilles.

Start with your spine, and an MD. They'll point you to physical therapy and/or massage, if appropriate.
Chiro failed for me. It may help as a preventative or add-on. I wouldn't start there. JMO.

A spine/pain mgt. doc will often offer injections into the laminar area adjacent to the spinal cord; that's a
steroid shot adjacent to the area of inflammation. Don't be fooled; maybe your shoulder is killing you, for example, BUT the inflammation that causes the pain could be 8-10 in. away, by your spine. There are MANY spinal conditions (degenerative disk disease, extruded disk, bone spurs, stenosis, etc.) that can cause bad, persistent nerve pain in the back area.

Benoy Benny, MD has a Spine/Sports Med practice (offices in Galleria, Sugarland). He does a lot of injections, but you could see him for a consult. You need, IMO, an MRI at minimum for a good diagnosis.

Hopefully, you have muscle pain that just needs "topical" work (massage, etc.), but, instead of messing around like I did....I'd go straight to an MD and inquire about an MRI.

PS- Dr. Benny was previously at Baylor. You could also call their "Physical Medicine" Dept. for an appointment with another Doc...I had good luck w/Baylor (location: Baylor Clinic - Med Ctr).

caveat: I'm not a doc...

Paths in Healing

You want Tim. Your first session will be measuring and assessing what is wrong before he gets to work. HE is phenomenal. He'll find stuff you didn't even know was wrong. I had some major back pain, and he realized a lot of it was that my quads were so tight, they were literally pulling my hips forward, causing undue stress on my back.

Tim Janak Jr is a miracle worker.

Oh, and Achilles:

VERY IMPORTANT.

Don't take OTC pain meds every day, or for more than short intervals without a break.

You will get more pain specific to the rebound effect of too many pain meds...in ADDITION to your pre-existing pain. Which really stinks.

I had good results at both Memorial Chiropractic and Tom Dunn for Physical Therapy.

Good news! I just checked with my dad and you should be able to walk it off and take one or two Alleve tablets.

This would also be his advice for sprains, broken bones, tears, or any other possible injury.

If you are interested, Angelic Acupuncture at 4801 Woodway offers massage and (obviously) acupuncture, if you are interested in that.

I have degenerative disk disease on my lower back (found out about it at young age of 35) so have experience with it for years. In my recommendation, unless you have to have surgery, Chiro and massage only provide temporary relief. You need ask a few questions. Do you sit all day at work? Drive a lot? Exercise, and not high impact like basketball (which I had to give up) or Crossfit, but swimming is great to build lower back and core muscles, and just walking every day. Once i gave up the heavy weights and started walking, and then jogging on treadmill (not streets or park), swimming, etc. my back got better. But its a lifetime maintenance thing.

Short answer. All Chiro's are pretty much the same. Look for Groupon deals.

For Massage, the absolute best is Cassandra Robinson. 713-256-9110 (text her). Waaayyy better than anything at Massage Envy and cheaper. Her place is in Heights, but she will come to you I think. Very nice lady and best massage ever.

Is that you Romo?

Why are you hurting that bad? That's the biggest need to know question and it starts at a physician's office.
Medications, massages, and icy hot are just masking the problem(s).

Chiropractors are useless in cases such as these. Go to an actual MD for proper diagnosing and treatment. A chiro will just manipulate your muscles and joints to where you have to keep going back to them for their "services"

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Good news! I just checked with my dad and you should be able to walk it off and take one or two Alleve tablets.

This would also be his advice for sprains, broken bones, tears, or any other possible injury.

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Are we brothers? Cause my dad would say the same thing.

I'm not sure, but maybe you should talk to a doc before going other routes. Said other routes can be helpful or harmful depending on diagnosis.

Bartann Massage Therapy. Merle is the therapist and she has people fly in from all over the world to come and see her. I started going to her because of back issues I was having about 5 years ago and to this day, I have no issues. She will assess your body and help you in other areas that you may not even know you have issues with yet. By far the best experience I have had with anyone. She will help you immediately and if you follow her stretching regimen, your back problems will never come back. Here is her website: http://bartanntherapy.com/

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....if you follow her stretching regimen, your back problems will never come back.

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I am glad you had good luck with your massage therapist. The quote above is, however, WAY over the top, overly broad and is assuredly NOT the case in many, many back/spine cases. You're one of the lucky ones.
Many have more serious problems and massage would be a bandaid on an open gash.

OP- Most here say "see a doc" if you're still hurting. I agree. Hopefully massage or PT is sufficient. Many times it is not.

Don't know if this is too late or not, but before you go pay anyone any money, try this - go to Walmart. In the pharmacy there should be a display for Dr Scholl's inserts. It should have a machine there. Take your shoes off and follow the instructions on the machine (no cost). Buy the inserts it recommends and try them for a while.

Worked miracles for my back. Have had virtually no pain since I did the above whereas before I suffered frequently.

Good luck.

^ I'll second the inserts/orthotics. I ended up getting some several years back, although mine were custom from the podiatrist and for a foot/ankle issue. They really helped clear up lingering issues from a herniated disk in my lower back from about 15 years ago. Win, win. I'd start with the Dr Scholls before dropping $500 on the custom ones though.

I was having chronic back pain and decided to see an Airrosti doctor...they're kind of like Chiropractors but manipulate the ligaments and soft tissue. Their goal is to get you out in as few sessions as possible. I saw mine three times back in March and my back pain was gone. I had no idea what Airrosti was and it sounded kind of weird, but it was great.