Lower back issues

Just had 4 weeks of joyful back issues after a car puncture wheel change knobbled me bigtime

Back spasms and big mobility issues, two hours on feet means two hours lying in bed kinda thing, oh joy

Even coughing lightly was a teeth gritting experience

A bit annoying after all the lumps of steel I've chucked about this summer, much of which easily weighed 2x or 3x what any car wheel weighs, I must have twisted at the wrong instant

Anyway I found a good friend and then bought another 2 from ebay for future use at only a fiver a pop

It's like a strong elastic weightlifter support and goes a long way towards keeping you going and helping you recover if you have a muscle/nerve blowout in your lower back

The smartest solution of all of course, is don't let it happen in the first place...

I've had back issues for many years, try a Tens machine if the back support doesn't work out.

Bob

Tell me about it, have had eighteen months of numbness in knees, toes and nether regions together with a loss of a lot of upper body strength. Two MRI scans, lower scan revealed nothing unusual, still waiting for the results of the upper scan, probably delayed by Covid. But you try to keep going, lifting chucks on to the Student is possible, just, so is fitting the vertical head to the Senior. I have been redecorating and its been a real struggle, crawling about in the loft to wire in new down-lights in the bedrooms has been a nightmare and I have just ripped out one of the bathrooms with the floor up to reconfigure the pipework. I must be crazy!

Edited By Chris Crew on 18/07/2021 08:51:51

The big car comes with a long stud for locating and sliding the wheel (mostly) into position. The little car does not. It is easier to change a wheel with the bigger wheels, so I am going to leave a piece of suitable studding alongside the car jack on the little one. Still have to lift out the heavy spare from the boot-well, which is bad enough - because you need to lean over to get a hold on it (a full sized spare wheel).

Still better, IMO, than only carrying a single-use repair/inflation kit.

Ady1, join my club. Out of nowhere I had crippling back pains at 0300hrs,woke up went to move and , 'Ping' back gone! Now 2 years on and had one session of 3 nerve block injections and then Covid stopped any further treatment.

Got called back and asked how I was and she said , 'I am signing you off'. Thanks, I thought. as I go out the door she says, 'Keep up on the hot water bottle'.

It has affected how I walk and how far I can go, shopping trolley is a good support. Stairs hack me going up.

No pain killer touches it, even Tramadol which gives me a headache, At 84 I feel I may have to get a motor wheel chair, I can drive OK. cannot reach up as I then tend to fall backwards. Its one hand for me and one for what I do.

Diagnosis says the pad between L3 and L4 is worn causing nerve compression and they cannot do anything for it.

Me too, though nowhere near as bad as Ady thank goodness! Two months ago I twisted slightly awkwardly to get past a bag at the bottom of the stairs and my back went twang. Although it's slowly getting better small innocent movements set still it off - short but intense burst of pain. The odd thing is heavy lifts and strimming the garden seem OK, whilst getting off a toilet is quite risky...

Dave

Ady1,

dont know if you ever got around to making that lifting platform I mentioned some time ago, but my one has been a Godsend for my back when lifting chucks vises ect.

I screwed up my back years ago moving a washing machine, still not right, so I dread having to change a wheel on the roadside ! There is not really much they can do for your back, no matter what they tell you.

It,s like a machine, easy to damage, difficult to fix !

Dave,

You need to see about fitting grab handles near your toilet, dont ask how I know !

Most cars use an M12x1.5 thread for the wheel bolts. I've made several of these to do the job:

Why several? Because whenever I've mentioned or demonstrated them, have given the thing away. I find the plastic ones that are(or at least were) standard on certain Audis and Peugeots to be a bit flimsy for a large alloy wheel.

I too have to be careful of my back. Found that the neoprene stretch supports don't much for me except for a bit of short term assistance when I've been stupid (again!).

Wide weightlifters belt when I'm going to be lifting or doing back intensive things like gardening for long periods works best for me.

No support for normal activities even though things feel a bit sore and generally grumpy about half of the time. Seems to me that support all the time risks reducing the strength of your core muscles making things worse. Running round with no support keeps them active.

I suspect that 50 miles a day on a big motorcycle commuting to work was pretty good for my back as it was continually moving gently. Certainly as a post retirement occasional rider its noticeable how unfit I now am in that area. 18 months off, except for MoT, with the COVID thing has really emphasised that.

I have found that no longer wise to drive or ride in a normal car for long periods. The seating position is not good for my back and getting in and out can be an issue. Swopped the last of my SAABs for a Range Rover P38 11 years ago. My back seriously approves of the comfort and upright seating position. My wallet tends to grumble about old fashioned V8 thirst.

Clive

I know the feeling... 15+ years in the Removal business have not done my back any favours. I'm currently suffering the related delight of sciatica. I do not recommend it.

Talking of recommendations - the medical profession now discourages the use of back supports like the ones the OP mentions. They suggest moderate exercise (taking care when lifting, of course).

As Dave says, it's the trivial actions which can set it off - my worst back episode started when I carelessly bent to pick up a small empty cardboard box. The slight twinge which this triggered got gradually worse over a few weeks until I picked up a computer at home, and found myself unable to move without feeling like the mains was plugged into my spine. It took me about an hour just to get down the stairs, and I ended up having to get the doctor round (using the last few milliamp seconds in my phone). Fortunately the front door was on the latch, because there was no way I could have made my way to it, let alone open it.

He arranged a prescription delivery, including Valium, which stops the spasms within minutes, and codeine-based painkillers, which I find a mixed blessing, they give me stomach pains after a couple of days.

Edited By Andy Stopford on 18/07/2021 10:25:01

Been a 'member' of this club for many years. Ady's mention of the support belt is a good move - usuallty listed as 'nailer's belts'. Just gone back to wearing mine full-time.

Unfortunately Nature and a local 'sandscaping scheme' have left us with a need to move constant inundations of drifting sand - heavy, wet, particularly and dry. I can load a bucket using a long handle 'snow shovel, but lifting the bucket to wall height to dump it, is beyond me. So ...

and

... not completely finished, but, it does work and has been proof-tested to 28kgs, which is enough for my needs.

'Proper', competent engineers would undoubtedly make a much better job of it, but I have to work within my limited 'skill' set. The principle has been around a long time - Google "lifting sack barrow" for several variations and power sources. The 'Barrow' was a 'cheapie' £25 job and seems to be standard.

rgds

Bill

This was in the Daily mail a few months ago ,it seems still to be in the trial stage ,hopefully it will eventually get out there to relieve some of these problems.

John

I duffed my lower back doing a new gymnastic trick when I was in Bedford Boys Club gym team in the late 'fifties. After much pain I underwent a laminectomy and spinal fusion in 1986. However, since then the pain has returned and worsens.

All backs are different and what suits me will not necessarily help others so I do this:

Sleep on a cheap inflatable mattress - I find conventional mattress's purgatory!

Lazee-boy type recliner in lounge - very soothing.

'Lectric buggy in car - walking is painful.

Workshop arranged to minimise lifting including hoist for my heavy lathe chucks etc.

Any pain killers I have tried which work have unpleasant side effects. So now, my evenings are rendered more comfortable with several generous measures of Scotlands finest and bu**er the liver.

Rik

I have life membership of this club ! joined in1970. 2 crushed discs ! sometimes just a nuisance other times crippled and can't move ! And Gout ! Prescribed diclofenac - sodium or potasium for both. Needed a repeat presription, can't have until a liver and Kidney function is checked = blood test ! Called by doctor to be OH WE'VE done a PSA test and it's abnormal ! I was not told this was to be done and am now waiting for hospital appointment. On speaking to a urologist they were far from happy about my treatment and that I should have been offered counselling to discuss this BEFORE any test was done ! I was astounded to find this test had been done without my knowledge or consent ! Though I'm pleased that IF there is a problem it can be dealt with. As an after thoght the doc told me my liver and kidney were OK ! Noel

As Rik rightly says, all backs are different, but one of the main causes of injury is that the muscles that support the spine do not get the work-out they need from modern lifestyles. A basic course of weightlifting - squats and deadlifts in particular - does a huge amount to help prevent injury, especially as we pass into the last third of our lives. Interestingly for many people weightlifting is also found to rehabilitate injuries, which might seem counter-intuitive.

Belts help by reinforcing what the stabiliser muscles do - which is why serious weightlifters use them - and for a one-off lift they make good sense. Wearing one all the time will in theory contribute to atrophy.

I have a good adjustable aluminium walking stick which was the mother-in-laws and kept it for "later" which turned out to be sooner than later and has been a godsend

Makes a great skyhook for doing difficult stuff like toilet visits and moving in bed, but now I'm getting a muscly upper body and my shirts are straining at the buttons

I have found that standing and bracing your bum/back area against a solid wall can help when it gets tired with overuse, it just needs some solid support to give it a break for a few minutes

The joy of it all, yup

A PSA test might save your life, I'm quite happy to be tested for anything & it's free at point of use.

Tony

I went down with what I eventually discovered was ankylosing spondylitis (AS) when I was 18, or therabouts. I'm now 78.

Diagnosis was confirmed when I was 38, and I was put on mefenamic acid/ponstan (an NSAID - Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drug) for pain relief. Ultimately, the drug, although good at pain relief, affected my stomach so I'm now on lansoprazole for, I think, acid reduction, and no more NSAID's. Fortunately, after about 40 years of intermittent pain, stiffness & sciatica, the AS "burnt" itself out and no more pain, just a permanent stoop.

One thing I did discover was that hot baths seem to help, and sleeping on my own in a single bed with sheets & blankets tucked in, ie like a sleeping bag, is also helpful. I can only assume that in both instances any coldness is being dissipated before it gets to my lower back.

About 6 weeks ago, I fell off my pedal cycle! (Stop sniggering at the the back there.) Fortunately onto grass, but even so had a tremendous amount of pain. Plenty of paracetamol, and after a week ot two I was able to move around, and do some things albeit with some pain and some stiffness. Yesterday, and this morning I have been pushing my Flymo up and down the back garden. Yes, I'm still somewhat cream crackered, but it's more soreness than anything else. But, the really interesting thing was that the exercise that I have done in recent days does appear to be beneficial.

Peter G. Shaw