don't know how to keep going

[forestboy1978]

3 hours ago, Haironyourchest said:

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. 

It's possible it can help it depends on what damage is done and how it was caused in the first place. 

 

I busted l2 or l3 and had spinal surgery 11 years ago. Can't remember which, they bridged l1-3 or l2-4 one or the other. Obviously I had a period of rehab, physio, my own extensive study etc. I tried inversion therapy, you name it. 

 

In the end strength training, mainly abs, as the OP suggests, and whole posterior chain fixed me. I don't do it much any more as I get it at work as I adopt the correct posture to make my back strong as I work, not bust the shit out it. Which is SQUATTING DOWN low to pick up anything, heavy, or even a spanner. Keep focus on a straight back and tight abs in the process, breath out as you lift. 

 

Only thing I have to adjust with is shovelling. I use a long German shovel and a lower back support. Shovelling and raking I tend to avoid as much as possible though cos I will suffer if I have to do it all day.   

[Stubby]

Don't forget doing sit ups needs to be complimented by some of the opposite exercises , back ups or whatever   you want to call them to keep things in balance .

 

[topchippyles]

taff what area do you live,I was like this for 4 months back last year and got given a name of a physio and by god he fixed me,be glad to pass on his number 

[Billhook]

7 hours ago, Yournamehere said:

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.

Same as you and Spudulike here

 

Used to have major back problems in my twenties and it was amplified by sitting around or events like Weddings where you spend a lot of time standing and talking to people in a more upright position than normal.  I used to hobble around with a stick when it was really bad.

At the weekends I played some serious league hockey and I never felt my back hurt once I had warmed up, but after the game, the shower and the time at the bar the journey home in the car, by morning I would be in agony again.

 

When I was in my forties I lost a couple of stone, bought an abs exercise machine and do about 30 rotations with that every morning.  I then bought a decent bike and some Gore-Tex all weather gear and every morning regardless of weather I do a 4 mile circuit with two steep hills.   I have studded tyres for the frosts.

This now means that the body is warm before I start to do any work and it has proved to be a game changer.  I very rarely have a twinge but it is gone in no time whereas before it would last for days, weeks even.

And as has been said, a lot is about strengthening the muscles around the spine which keep the vertebrae from pinching the nerve.

I have given up with the physios because although they seem to do some good at the session, by the time you have stiffened up in the car on the way home you are back to square one.

Lastly in about 2012 I treated my wife and I to an Endless Pool which is indoors in a conservatory.  I do 400 metres equivalent on most evenings  I think that it is good to make the old heart do a few extra revs, to keep the system healthy.

All this sounds like a lot of hassle and expense, but for me it is now routine and nothing like the hassle or expense I endured having a bad back all the time.

[Wonky]

One of my reasons for a bad back was flat feet, once I got some insoles to raise my arches a lot of my problems slowly disappeared. And I get them from the hospital which saves me a lot, have you seen the price some charge for them.

[axehaircut]

 
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.... 
 
 

The answer is no you don’t have to feel in so much pain.
I’ve been down this road and the solution is a mixture of some of the replies
You need to find the cause of the issue, probably a trip to a GP and insist on an MRI referral
This will direct you in a direction to take remedy. If it’s pointing you to Physio do some research and find a Pilates led Physio. If you come out of the Physio with a list of different exercises longer than your arm, find another Physio and stick religiously to the plan. A bad Physio will f u up worse.
Take away any repetition or alter what you do at work. This could be a work height issue or breaking tasks up. Look at everything and see if you can mechanize some tasks.
Rather than less movement try insert some movement or exercise that’s totally different from your normal day.
This is a lot of work but if the firewood motivates you, it’s worth finding a solution and putting in the effort

[Taff855]

Thanks for all the replies, I have an MRI scan thing booked for Sunday afternoon in the local hospital in South Wales.

 

I have had a couple of days off and been looking at machinery to take the brunt of my workload.

 

I already made my own processor and (by mid next week hopefully) have a couple of conveyors arriving to add to the processor to take out the moving part of the job.

 

I have looked for a rotator and quantities of Ibc crates and await a reply.

 

Hopefully the Dr will be able to see the issue by the end of the month and then I will go from there.

 

 

[Stubby]

3 minutes ago, Taff855 said:

 

 

Hopefully the Dr will be able to see the issue by the end of the month and then I will go from there.

 

 

Good luck with the MRI and everything . Don't forget to ask the Doctor if he needs some logs ! ?

[Jwoodgardenmaintenance]

Sorry for going OT but has anyone here ever had a operation on their shoulder / shoulders for a torn rotator cuff as im due to have one but heard mixed results regarding the recovery im 21 and tore it when i was 18 lifting sheets of plasterboard on a building site and didnt get much help from my orthapedic surgeon and my medication doesnt even touch the pain 

 

Any help will be appreciated

[Barney]

Sorry for going OT but has anyone here ever had a operation on their shoulder / shoulders for a torn rotator cuff as im due to have one but heard mixed results regarding the recovery im 21 and tore it when i was 18 lifting sheets of plasterboard on a building site and didnt get much help from my orthapedic surgeon and my medication doesnt even touch the pain 
 
Any help will be appreciated

Someone I work for had an operation for this earlier in the year. He did a couple of months on the ground then back in the harness with what seems like no problems from the shoulder. Good result.