How to manage a bad back?

[Mark J]

Stretching is the best thing to maintain flexibility.
Osteopaths and/or sports physios can be useful too if you check in regularly.
Back pain is horrible. I knacked mine a few years ago.

 

[Gav73]

I had some nagging lower back pain, I just grinned and got on with it until I saw an advert for 50% off an assessment with a chiropractor.

Went and saw the guy who did a scan of my back, it showed that the middle and top section of my back were far worse than the lower bit.

Turned out the lower back pain was because of a hamstring I tore playing football over 10 years ago and my lower back was compensating for lack of movement in my hamstring.

My upper back muscles were over developed from years of lifting, splitting and general hard graft, which was why my upper back didn’t hurt as all.

12 sessions later, I have movement in my upper back I didn’t even realise I was missing and lower back pain that has almost disappeared. Expensive, but absolutely worth every penny.

So much so I’m now on a “maintenance plan” where I go every 2 weeks to be wrung out like a wet flannel, cracked and twisted in what appears to be medieval torture and then leave with a skip in my step!

Stretching is an absolute must and it’s worth considering some yoga - I do it, but I refuse to wear any yoga pants, that’s a step too far!!

[nepia]

As others have said stretch at every opportunity.  All the time your upper body is upright - i.e. sitting or standing there's pressure on that bulging disc.  Stretching will ease the pressure.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy; I just touch my hands to the ground in front of my feet and slowly straighten my legs; makes a big difference.

 

Then see a chiro/osteo and if the first one doesn't help go to a different one as not all practitioners suit all patients and vice versa.

 

[josharb87]

Yoga is easy for a start, loads of youtube videos, can take a bit of time finding one that works. Allow at least 20-30min a day/session.

 

Then get to the gym, balance out the muscle groups, get advice on which exercises to do, most gyms give you a one on one intro session.

 

Id been getting the odd twinge, (lower back) until one occasion i couldn't work for a couple of days. Started working out 2-3 days a week and hav'nt had even a twinge since (nearly 3 years ago now)

I do a few of my favorite yoga stretches after each workout.

 

 

[Steve Bullman]

Always had back problems. Stopping climbing hasn't helped. I spend way too much sitting in front of the computer and have recently had to make an effort to rebuild my core. Its scary how much strength you can lose so quickly. Lots of planks and lots of stretching have helped but I need to keep it up. Not been having my usual sports massage due to the lockdown, but this is something that helped me more over the years than osteopath and chiropractors.

[Woodworks]

1 hour ago, josharb87 said:

Yoga is easy for a start, loads of youtube videos, can take a bit of time finding one that works. Allow at least 20-30min a day/session.

 

Then get to the gym, balance out the muscle groups, get advice on which exercises to do, most gyms give you a one on one intro session.

 

Id been getting the odd twinge, (lower back) until one occasion i couldn't work for a couple of days. Started working out 2-3 days a week and hav'nt had even a twinge since (nearly 3 years ago now)

I do a few of my favorite yoga stretches after each workout.

 

 

I did try yoga  a few times. We started laying flat on our backs and she talked about relaxing etc etc. My back was going into spasm in that position and all I can remember is trying to not disturb the rest of the group. The rest of the exercises were OK just as stiff as board in comparison with the others. Probably shouldn't have tried yoga at that stage as I was in a bad way at the time and it rather put me off

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Woodworks

[Andrew L]

Lots of good stuff here.

Key points are:

-once you have a back injury, it will never go away completely, it will always be a potential problem

-lift as little as possible: get a machine to do it or lighten the load and the distance to move it as far as possible

-core exercises help prevent issues ie swimming, yoga etc

-if it starts to twinge: act.  Your body is warning you its about to stop you from working.  That pain is the bulging discs starting to press on your spinal cord. If it actually makes contact, it's game over.  So don't ignore it.

 

A

 

 

[Tippin Alaybye]

All as above and steer well clear of drugs.
Exercise physio and yoga

[devon TWiG]

It depends whether your back problem is muscular pain or disc problems most likely causing sciatica ...different treatments for each !!

[Woodworks]

Thanks gents.

 

Physio's works but its always a temporary fix. Already mechanised all I can but ugly lumps of wood are unavoidable so no avoiding some graft.

 

Core strength is definitely something I can improve. What do you recommend exercise wise for this? I do windsurf which is brilliant core exercise but dont get out very often so something that can be done anytime would be good. 

 

Will work on stretches as I think part of the problem is the lack of movement when standing at the processor. Jan, Feb I was hedge laying and felt great. Put this down to the variety of movement required for the whole job.