*
Hello Everyone.
Some of you will remember, in my “Balls” posting, that some kid rear-ended me back in July.
Since then, I have had the ultimate joy that is back pain.
I would like to share some of my discovery in this concern, as follows:
1. http://www.backpainoconnor.com
2. Doctor O’Connor’s book, “Making your bad back better”,
ISBN 0-9664991-1-5
3. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research’s free publications related to “Acute Low Back Problems in Adults: Assessment and Treatment” by calling the information clearing house at 1-800-358-9295. Ask for the Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians, Number 14, AHCPR Publication Number 95-0643.
Hope this helps.
alan joseph samson
[email protected]
http://www.crosswinds.net/~informapauperis
Replies
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Hello Everyone.
C'mon now...I know I am not the only one experiencing back pain.
Or could it be that this message board consists only of the young?
Has anyone found themselves taking more pain killers to do the same amount of work as before? Could it be that this is caused by herniated discs that dont show up without an MRI?
I thought for sure only a fellow carpenter would know about this.
Hope this helps.
alan joseph samson
[email protected]
http://www.crosswinds.net/~informapauperis
*Alan,No, you're not the only one with a bad back. I go to an elder gentleman who is a great chiropractor once a month and I rarely have pain anymore.Not sure about herniated discs though, but a chiro may be able to help.
*Thanks for taking the time to post this Alan, I added it to favorites and will read more of it when I have more time. I should say that after reading things around here for a little bit I have more than a few things to read when that "free time" comes. Maybe I should look at a page dealing with time management. What do you think?
*The standard spiel is that 4 out of 5 of us will experience lower back pain at least once in our lives. I think there have been a couple of related posts on Breaktime in the past, I remember several praising the benefits of sit ups and back exercises in keep their back in working order.I often get mild to moderate lower back pain if I haven't been working out regularly. Surprisingly, I seldom get lower back pain if I regularly do weight lifting exercises that would seem to make it worse - "good morning" exercises with about 100 lb on my shoulders, heavy dead lifts, and various other resistance exercises. When I have been sluffing off on my workouts, I sometimes get what I guess is a muscle spasm that completely immobilizes me for several hours and requires me to just crawl around for a couple of more. Advil seems to work somewhat on this condition. It only happens about once every five years, so I haven't bothered to get a supply of the more powerful muscle relaxants.I sometimes have a mild sciatic nerve irritation, which sometimes is painful walking but not in running up stairs. Let's face it, the human body was not exactly ideally engineered for being upright...Being a computer programmer is surprisingly hard on the back. Sitting for a long period of time decreases blood supply to the back and causes stiffness and pain. Most long term computer users do not get up and move around often enough. I know one programmer who at a fairly early age had to have several vertebrae fused and had to work at his terminal standing up.Most back pain is caused by muscle spasms and most back pain goes away by itself in a week or two. Staying in bed leads to a much slower recovery in almost all cases. Degenerated disks and degenerated vertebrae can also cause back pain. A new alternative to having vertebrae has recently been discussed in the press, a process called "intradiskalelectrothermal therapy". This process along with several other surgical procedures are discussed in the Mayo Clinic link below.I am not a great fan of chiropractic manipulation, although many people swear by it. Be aware that there have been recorded cases of chiropractic manipulation damaging the spinal cord resulting in paralysis, although this appears to be fairly rare.A few sites that pretty much contain the standard medical information on back pain:http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/0007/htm/backsurg.htmhttp://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/lowbackpain.htmlhttp://orthoinfo.aaos.org/brochure/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=10&topcategory=Spinehttp://www.sechrest.com/mmg/back/backpain.htmlhttp://www.looksmart.com/eus1/eus53940/eus53948/eus54701/eus124099/r?l&
*Casey, here's how I handled programming and flying a desk. 1) Read standing up, if you can't con a podium out of your employer, then use a 4-high file cabinet, or even the top of your monitor; but, do not read sitting down. Same at home, curling up with a good book in your favourite easy chair or bed may be nice; but, read your newspaper standing up at a kitchen-type counter, or a raised drafting table, or the hood of a full-sized pickup. 2) make a habit of reaching way up, then slowly touching your toes on a regular basis (several times a day) 3) get some sleep ! Except for "real" direct injuries a couple of times; when my bad ached, it was only nature telling me to get some sleep, and it worked too.
*Mike, you should pick a guy that's "great" more than once a month! My guy's ok a few times a week!....Couldn't resist! sorry.....Jeff
*Alan,I have had a history of bad back for over thirty years and I'm still working as a carpenter. I have been associated with one chiropractor or another for all that time. Within the last ten years I have been going regularly to my wife's yoga classes and getting a regular stretch. The frequency of my visits to the chiropractor have diminished to once every other month or less. I also have a wonderful massage therapist who I have a standing appointment with whether I need it or not. I generally need it more than I know. It is a very humbling experience to be shown how really badly I need the massage. The regular yoga stretches can't be minimized in their importance to a healthy back. If you are recovering from an injury let it heal but start to stretch as soon as you can. I find that those pains in the back and neck can be healed by practicing my yoga. Visiting the discomfort rather than avoiding it awakens the body to the healing that is needed.
*Alan, This book helped me and everybody I lent it to.http://www.backcare4u.com.au/page9.htmlKK
*I only have to see a chiro ( he is my brother-in-law) once a month. My back hurts in the low back and between my shoulder blades. He says that is where most construction guys have problems. He has managed to keep me relativly pain free if I go every 2-4 weeks.
*Spine journal, 1999;24:2080-4A connection between blocked arteries in the abdomen and low back pain: 48% of patients with low back pain also had aortic damage compared to 8 percent of those who had no pain.The loss of blood flow from the aorta through the lumbar arteries to the spine is believed to be a major cause of disc degeneration.Eat your veggies. (OK, that line was an editorial...) ;-)
*Was this part of the research block that concluded that men wore their pants too tight (I recall something about inelastic belts and repositioning of belts and waist-bands when seated) and that sitting in these tight clothes for long periods of time were restricting blood-flow to many important systems causing, among other things, back pain, stomach disorders, leg cramps, and exaggerated motility cycles. One of their recommendations, a repeat from several earlier studies, that men should buy their pants at least 2" over-size and use suspenders.
*http://www.amedeo.com/medicine/pai/spine.htm That's the journal site; don't think it's part of the block you mentioned.Maybe kilts ARE the answer. I know i'm considering wearing a dress from now on when engaged in exaggerated motility cycles... ;-)
*Jeff,LOL.....Maybe I'm just lucky and he twists people into pretzels the other 29 days!
*The book and doctor who totally solved my back-pain problem "Mind over Back Pain", by Dr. John Sarno.
*
Hello Everyone.
Some of you will remember, in my "Balls" posting, that some kid rear-ended me back in July.
Since then, I have had the ultimate joy that is back pain.
I would like to share some of my discovery in this concern, as follows:
1. http://www.backpainoconnor.com
2. Doctor O'Connor's book, "Making your bad back better",
ISBN 0-9664991-1-5
3. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research's free publications related to "Acute Low Back Problems in Adults: Assessment and Treatment" by calling the information clearing house at 1-800-358-9295. Ask for the Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians, Number 14, AHCPR Publication Number 95-0643.
Hope this helps.
alan joseph samson
[email protected]
http://www.crosswinds.net/~informapauperis