Pain

[spudulike]

I am over sixty now and I used to have a lot of back pain in my twenties and thirties which I do not have so much of now.

 

Lessons learned over sixty years

 

1. I always start the day with a 4 mile bike ride which includes two steep hills so that most muscles are warm before starting physical work and the body system has been given a chance to work properly

 

2 With chainsaws most of the work I can do with the smallest Stihl 170s so I am not carrying something around that is too heavy/noisy/powerful/ vibration prone. Try and buy the best antivibration saw, wear ear defenders and good gloves

 

3 Really consider what I am doing before I try to lift something and if the forklift/hydraulic grab is there use it. If the peavey is there use it.

 

4 I try to miniimise the handling when cutting up a tree so that once the branches are stacked on the muck grab I do not have to lift them again until I take them out of the ton box and put them on the fire. The muck grab presents them to the Palax Combi in much the same way as a log deck.

 

5 Do not soldier on after a minor injury just to prove what a man you are in front of your workmates.

 

6 I do not use ibruprofen as I need to know what is hurting

 

7. Once you have a bad back or neck I have found that massage and chiro only relieve while they are being administered and often I am back to square one by the time I have driven home.

With backs and necks the solution for me is to strengthen the muscles around those areas with exercises which will hopefully hold the vertebrae apart so the nerves are not trapped so easily. Once the damage has been done it will never be quite the same but you can help a lot by strengthening exercises

My recovery time now is much shorter when I have the warning "twinge"

 

I like this one, how many guys cut up a larger rings and then have to lift the extra weight.

 

I have suffered with back issues most of my adult life, too long in the body:001_rolleyes:, the thing that made me much better is simply doing sit ups.....just 20 most nights but this improved my core strength and no more bad backs if I stand up all day or am shuffling round shopping plus I can shift much heavier weights now without crocking my back up.

 

Sure - I am no hard arb type but it transformed my back in 2-3 months and have had no really bad issues for years.

[Vespasian]

speaking of pain, have a lower back problem that comes and goes, pulled a muscle in my back two weeks ago and have had a sore right big toe giving me gyp..

The back muscle problem went two days ago, couldn't believe my luck.. well it was good for the back but not the big toe, its taken its place in the pecking order.. it was hard to stand on my feet most of the last two days..

Thought I'd give it a soak this morning, and pressed and pocked and squeezed to see if I could pinpoint were the hell it might be damaged..

well, to my surprise is was right underneath the toe, bit of a surprise as I thought I must of dropped somethin on it..

Couldn't think why the tenderness was underneath till I poked around in my shoe.. the bloody thing had sharp object inside in exactly the place my big toe rests...

No wonder its got worse the last few days..

The shoe's now nicely burning in the fire... perhaps in a day or so my toe will mend..

 

Wont be long though before somethin else crops up, I can be sure of that...

 

Perhaps its time I took up an exercise routine.. perhaps take my own advice?....

 

By the way, billhook has posted up the best advice on this thread... I really enjoyed reading that piece.....

[Billhook]

Ibuprofen can trigger heart failure, experts warn