don't know how to keep going

[Taff855]

 

The joys of firewood and this time of year.

 

I am nearing 40 (so im still young) and my body has had enough.... recently, for the past 3 months at least I can barely walk let alone play with a saw. 

 

At the moment I'm awake at stupid o clock with backache and havent slept and know I have to be up in 3 hours to start my day..... is it just me or do we all feel like this all the time?

 

if it's not just me how do you get on with it.. I love the firewood game but it seems to be killing my body.... 

 

 

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, Taff855 said:

 

The joys of firewood and this time of year.

 

I am nearing 40 (so im still young) and my body has had enough.... recently, for the past 3 months at least I can barely walk let alone play with a saw. 

 

At the moment I'm awake at stupid o clock with backache and havent slept and know I have to be up in 3 hours to start my day..... is it just me or do we all feel like this all the time?

 

if it's not just me how do you get on with it.. I love the firewood game but it seems to be killing my body.... 

 

 

Sorry to hear this Taff .Do you split by hand ?  If so what about investing in a splitter or processer ?  Maybe employ someone to help ? 

[Dan Maynard]

Sounds bad - seems to me if your back's been bad 3 months then it is not going to fix itself so you need to make some kind of change, would be a shame if that is give up firewood if you love it.

I think you will have to look at all the parts of the job and see which are twisting or bending you worst so you choose where to spend, there are so many options of firewood machinery.

Also I like Stubbys idea to employ someone, even if it's a few days or weekends getting a bit of help it would hopefully give you chance to recover.

[Mick Dempsey]

Back problems can gnaw away at you, everything is an effort, till it is affecting your life in ways you don’t realise. Snapping at family and clients etc.

 

I suffered on and off for 30 odd years, a few years ago I’d had enough, so I did what you should do, take action.

 

Go to experts, some will tell you it’s this or that and they’ll be wrong, go to other experts, don't accept that you’ll have to grin and bear it.

 

It can be a boring exercise, waiting for appointments and taking treatments that you know aren’t working just to eliminate it.

But you have to do it.

[Woodworks]

As Stubby says sorry to hear this. Firewood can be hard on the body. I had a scare a few years back with my back as like many I have a slipped disc which used to play havoc from time to time but then brought me to a grinding halt. I have now mechanised out most of worst heavy jobs but very hard to completely avoid heavy lifting. 

 

No idea of your set up but these are some of the thing I have done to help but sadly they haven't come cheap. 

 

A log splitter with a winch to lift large rings onto the table. If thats not an option there is no shame in dissecting rings down into easily manageable pieces.

 

A processor. My god they take so much work out of the process. Just the conveyor is almost worth 1 man. Combined with a log deck or a log lifter that is an option on some processors.

 

My latest is a rotator to go on the loader. Logs are dried and stored in IBC crates and I was spending literally several working weeks a year just hand-balling logs out of these and into the truck. With the rotator just lift crate over truck and at the press of a button the whole lot is in the truck. It's magic.

 

When my back was bad ringing up on the floor was very painful so I would set the rounds up on other rings to avoid some of the bending.

 

The best thing for me was one phrase from a chap who trained in massage. He said to engage my core. This has taken some time to learn but now when lifting I am trying to lift using my core muscles and not my back muscles. This has been a revelation and now the painkillers live in the draw most of the time. No two backs are the same so this may not be applicable to you but it has been more effective for me than all the treatments I have had over the last 30 years. As Mick says hunt around for treatment that works for you.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by Woodworks

[Woodlover]

If its affecting your walking you need to see a neurologist. I have 4 slipped discs (2 in neck,2 in lower back) and one that's bulging. I had a disk taken out in my neck a few years ago as it was affecting my walking ,it even started to make my willy feel numb, thank god the op fixed it... my back is ok now if I don't use it at all. The worst thing with slipped discs is they do seem to get better ,they shrink(dehydrate) in about 6 weeks once slipped so they usually stop pressing the nerve that affects your walking or balance pain ect but new pressure is put on the surrounding discs, so you think your better but in fact your body is weaker than before and its easier to slip another disc. I now try to avoid any lifting but just putting a full wheely bin out or picking up my 4 year old daughter for a cuddle, carrying shopping ect can trigger weeks of pain.

I have found that complete removal of all back work makes it worse long term as when you do need to use your back your not ready for it, I had to replace our cooker 2 years ago and just doing that led to 9 months of a stiff neck and a new slipped disc. With physio it was 18 months before it was back to a normal state. 

Its hard to change your job ,hobby or life but for the long term future and so your able when your old, you have to do it.

 

[Khriss]

Definately see a Physio ( Dad was in agony fr yrs an even had a disc out- Physio bloke sorted him out  6 weeks ) an sort yr work method. Benches fr crosscutting mechanical splitter log processor. Those guys in the 19th century shots of huge trees with axes were, apparently fuck ed bodily by their late twenties. Backs n shoulders. Take it easy. K

[spudulike]

The spine is like a tall pile of jenga blocks (or is it a box of chocolates....Forest Gump). Pretty wobbly without any support and doesn't take much to knock one or two out. Building up your core strength is like adding muscle and fibre around this wobbly pile of blocks and stops them moving and makes the whole construction a lot stronger.

I used to barely be able to walk after two days on the bench fixing saws. Slow walking round shops would kill it as would raking leaves and any heavy lifting. I would either get the knife like pain in the lower back or sciatica, never good. I am long in the body and over 6', bad backs are in my genes.

A few years back I wanted to get rid of a bit of mid belly fat and started at 10 sit-ups a night and regularly do 30. I didn't shed any fat, doing repair work full time made me shed 2 stone but the almost immediate effect I did notice was that standing up at a bench was now fine, no Ibuprofen after two days, no pain and I haven't had a bad spasm for years.

All backs are different but many are just not aware of how important core strength is and what it can do for you. You can be physically fit but core strength may still be poor. Try doing the plank or lift your legs up straight whilst lying on the floor, if you flag out quick and bits ache afterwards then it may help.

It may help you and fully endorse ...... no change = same result  so you need to change something in your work method, approach, industry to fix it - not easy but good luck.

[Yournamehere]

1 hour ago, spudulike said:

The spine is like a tall pile of jenga blocks (or is it a box of chocolates....Forest Gump). Pretty wobbly without any support and doesn't take much to knock one or two out. Building up your core strength is like adding muscle and fibre around this wobbly pile of blocks and stops them moving and makes the whole construction a lot stronger.

I used to barely be able to walk after two days on the bench fixing saws. Slow walking round shops would kill it as would raking leaves and any heavy lifting. I would either get the knife like pain in the lower back or sciatica, never good. I am long in the body and over 6', bad backs are in my genes.

A few years back I wanted to get rid of a bit of mid belly fat and started at 10 sit-ups a night and regularly do 30. I didn't shed any fat, doing repair work full time made me shed 2 stone but the almost immediate effect I did notice was that standing up at a bench was now fine, no Ibuprofen after two days, no pain and I haven't had a bad spasm for years.

All backs are different but many are just not aware of how important core strength is and what it can do for you. You can be physically fit but core strength may still be poor. Try doing the plank or lift your legs up straight whilst lying on the floor, if you flag out quick and bits ache afterwards then it may help.

It may help you and fully endorse ...... no change = same result  so you need to change something in your work method, approach, industry to fix it - not easy but good luck.

Bang on!

This is pretty much what I was going to offer as help.

I had the same - I thought of it as a crane/derrick and cables or a television mast or even that skylon - the floating needle - at the festival of britain: a solid flexible core (spine) supported by cables (muscle).

You need the muscles on both sides to work together to work properly.

Also the same as spud; I started to do a few sit ups - just by tucking m'toes under the edge of the bed - cos I just though you fat bastard get rid of that belly - I was shocked - I struggled to do five the first time - worked easily up to ten, then twenty, now, I could do thirty but get get bored at twenty - but I don't do it every morning - just about once a month just to make sure I still can.

The result was incredible: without the stomach muscle my spine had cracked over all over the place and popped a vertabral pad out the side; now, with balanced muscle all around - whole new body! Not just lifting but walking breathing and just 'being' no aches. no pain, whole new body.

I'll assume you don't smoke; if you smoke, stop or die horribly.

The other thing I did was to give up the arm-chair. Years of armchair use had probably not helped as I always used to curl up sideways in the armchair and looking back my whole spine must have been like a cork-screw. I now use and have done for many years now, one of those wooden chairs like a kitchen chair but with arms - is it a welsh dresser chair? - with a small cushion tucked just so into the small of my back - you'll know when it's in the right place - oh! the relief!

I got that from a chair in the outpatients waiting room. There was only a little low backed upright chair left, but when I sat in it, it was just right, I felt better after two minutes in that chair than I had done for the last two years! Damn near nicked that chair and took it home!

Han't now had back troub for many many years - and am doing all exactly the same as I was before - including bending over with a chainsaw which now is easy - you can actually feel your body working properly!

Hope this might help but never take medical advice off the internet; I am not a doctor; just shooting anecdotes.

Best of luck Yourn.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Yournamehere
minor details.

[Haironyourchest]

Hang upside down on an inversion table - lets the spine stretch and gives the disks a break. It works, google it. Hope it gets better.