Good day, I work for a very successful arborist. Part of my job requires me to maintain a fire in a central boiler 7 days a week that heats our gigantic shop. This also requires daily wood processing. When I am home on weekends I process my own firewood. My back is killing me. Does the pain ever go away? How do you deal with it?
It will be your new norm. A year ago i did something to my back and pain didnt go away (lower back) A few dr visits and eventual MRI revealed herniated discs. PT and a back brace have helped to the point that i havent worn the brace yet this year and i would put it on daily like one would socks. I personally liked the brace. Proper lfting technique, PT both with licensed and at home help. The only pain med i used was a scrip for 800mg ibuprofen. Dont use that often. Did at first. Not a fan of pills. Self employed doing some home improvement and odd jobs that require a lot of lifting plus i hoard a LOT of firewood so i worked through it. Heating pad was my best friend at night for a couple months. Try a brace if you havent. Stretching at home helps.
Thanks Brad, I do have a back brace around here somewhere. I imagine PT would be expensive as I don’t have health insurance. I’ve considered seeing a chiropractor, but I’ve heard once you go to one, you have too keep going back regularly. I too don’t like taking pills, so I drink.. I will see if I can find my back brace.
Ha! My pain has never gone away.... since 1978. It has worsened over the decades and deteriorated. Next step is injections and then operation. Add to that, the natural aging process and the effects that come along with it.... arthritis for one. And then, there are the flare ups. they have become more and more severe. This time last year, I was laid up for a month. these happen at any moment or movement. Something as small as bending over the sink for your morning wash up of brushing teeth and kaplow! Get used to walking hunched over, getting into and out of cars chairs etc with extra effort, that kind of stuff. You will learn just how to pick things up or pay the price! I can still do some PT and have started this past Jan (on a limited basis of course) and it seems to help, so far. I have also tried the chiropractor route, PT (going in every week for guided PT), acupuncture, heat pad and cook pack therapy, medication, one of those lower back brace belt things, tens unit (elec nerve treatment) and probably some other stuff that I can't remember. I do notice that the more I am sedentary the worse and more likely it is to flare up/happen. Had to use a walker for awhile and also two canes and then one cane. (Pi$$ed me the heck off right there!) This will become your new approach.
Yep- back brace is helpful, but if not careful, can make your core muscles lazy. Tighten the abdominal muscles when bending forward at the waist. When possible, stabilize a bending motion with one hand. That’s what I do. Chiropractic helps. I don’t believe the old adage you mention tim117, although I’ve heard it a million times. Stretching the hamstrings helps me a lot.
Im 51. It does at times, but having been active my whole life i think helped. I dont act my age but sometimes my body forces me to. When i was younger i was full of pizz and vinegar and had the "invincibility" attitude, but now i realize i dont. I never saw a chiropractor and have heard the same...once you go its an ongoing thing. I know cigarsmokingzombie & BeechNut had back issues. Maybe they can chime in
Regarding the chiropractor, I always told them on the first visit, This will not turn into an months long visit. They respected that and would always answer, we'll do the best in the time we have. First time it was only one visit. The latest was 4 visits. Once, the pain was so severe (from the treatment) I said Stop, that's it. "We aren't going to do that any more are we? You can try something else!" Drs. worst nightmare, huh?
Gatorade. Most back pain from overexertion is a result of dehydration. The first place your body looks for extra liquid is the spinal discs. The last place it restores liquid is the spinal discs. What your feeling is strained muscles. They’re strained because they’re working overtime trying to keep the spine separated because compressed dehydrated discs are not doing the job. Bulging, herniated discs are nothing more than dehydrated discs flattened out and squishing outside the vertebra. That’s not to say other injuries or diseases cannot occur that cause back pain. But normally if someone is complaining of back pain after extended periods of hard work your discs have become compressed. I have found for me personally water is not enough to fix an issue. It’s ok for maintaining health but once the pain comes I’ll need some Gatorade to fix it. During the summer when I was doing masonry 40-60 hours a week I needed 40 ozs of Gatorade a day plus copious amounts of water.
At the risk of being made fun of... Maybe try yoga. I fell hard and awkwardly on the ice fighting a structure fire in my late 20's and jacked up my back. I've fought with the recurrent issues since. There are some great "yoga for back pain" videos that you can follow along with on YouTube. My wife does yoga every morning - and the girl is FREAKING strong and flexible. She is always on my a$$ about how hard I am on my back while processing wood. She makes sure to put me through a good back and core muscle/flexibility yoga routine at least twice a week. The key to improving back pain is to improve back and core strength. Your core muscles support your whole spinal process. And you lower your chances of re-injuring yourself significantly the more flexible you are. I also take a glucosamine and chondroitin supplement. It's not a medication. Just a supplement that's good for you. The bottom line is, if you don't work to improve your back pain, it will only get worse. Not trying to sound preachy here. Just trying to help. Good luck!
Tim, I feel for you and many, many others too. What causes back pain? Ask most doctors and they will tell you there are hundreds of things that can cause it. So guessing does not help. The only way to know with anything but a WAG is to go see a doctor; a orthopedic doctor preferably. How to get rid of it? Here we go again. One guess is as good as another. Some say chiro is the way to go. Sad but they've helped me just as much as PT and PT has never helped me. About the best thing for my back is heat. I buy gel heat packs and heat them in the microwave. Warning though. You can buy all sorts of heat packs but they are not all worth the dollars. They like to put grain and other junk in the packs but for me, they do not get hot enough to do the job; I just get more bang for the buck with gel packs. Back braces? Or back supports? Most braces are not braces at all but just supports with lots of elastic. They can help (I have both braces and supports) but the biggest thing to remember is like Eric VW stated, you have to be careful as when you wear them, muscles get weak and then you are actually worse off. So if you wear them, do some exercises and also do not wear them all the time. Go for walks without the supports to keep the muscles working as they should. Otherwise those things that yooperdave mentioned will get you big time. On the heat. PT likes to go with the hot/cold therapy. For some it might work but for me, it makes things much, much worse. Any time I've tried to use cold therapy for pain it ruins me; makes me worse. The last time I tried PT I laid down the law to the therapist that he would not use ice on me. He didn't...but the s.o.b. used that spray stuff. It was a struggle for me to even walk to get out of there and he could be thankful I was in such bad shape; I wanted to kill that s.o.b. However, I will admit that perhaps my case is a bit different because of having polio in my youth. Therefore I can not tolerate cold as well as most folks and it does bad things to my muscles so realize I am not trying to scare you away from ice; it just does not work for me. In addition, I've talked to several folks and talked them into using heat rather than ice for the back pain and every one has had better results with heat only. Ice is for swelling; not for pain. Epidural shots: Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. I have a friend who had one series of shots in his back over 10 years ago and has never had a problem since. I've had 6 rounds of the shots. Sometimes they work for a while and sometimes not. Surgical: Possibly but make very sure that is the route you want to try. Again, sometimes good results and sometimes not. I also am told that today's back surgery can do so much more for people, but I'm not ready to try it; I've already had 3 surgeries and am going to have another surgery very soon only this time in my neck. Yuck... Good luck Tim. For sure talk to a doctor. They will want some x-rays and possibly and MRI. Then make a decision. But still I would recommend taking it pretty darned easy for a month or more to see if you might whip this without drastic measures.
Thanks Cash I’ll take a look at some YouTube videos. That’s the different kind of good advice I was looking for. Hopefully no one makes fun of you, but I can’t help but ask, do I need to wear yoga pants?
This is why I have not been using the back brace.. I’ve also been told I need to keep moving and going. Don’t be still. Thanks for all the good advice. This all started last St. Patrick’s day when I picked up my obese beagle and she started to wiggle around. It hung around for a few weeks and than mostly went away. The past week has been rough. I’m going to also try the Gatorade and hydration method as I know I need work in that department. Beer doesn’t hydrate unfortunately. Thanks again to all.
You keep going back because a good chiropractor makes you realize what it’s like to have full range of motion and be pain free again. I once believed that statement until I started seeing one. After a few weeks of going, I had wished I started going years earlier. One thing you can do is stretch. Lots of stuff online for what to do. Also improve your core strength.
