Damn back spasms!

[nelson727]

We all have our own way of going about things. If I can help let me know.

My usefulness on this topic may be what I know is possible. You know how the conventional wisdom (western medicine) says that as we get older our discs between our vertebra degenerate and get thinner. They can even show us great pictures of that (xrays). Well then how come a 70 year old man with x-rayed spine that has 1/4 inch space between his vertebra at he beginning of a Somatics program can have a more normal 3/8 inch spacing and have ‘grown’ inches in hight by the end of six weeks?

Get hold of the book Somatics and read the five stories in the first 30 some pages. You won’t believe what is possible and how doable it is.

 

[Bowwow122]

+1 on the inversion table, but don't go past about a 45 degree angle.

That is what my chiropractor recommended and I very rarely have to
visit him anymore unless I really tear something up.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I think most of us on here can feel your pain and have some sort of issue that is similiar. I recently stumbled across some great videos by a fella named Gary Crowley on Youtube; he is a joint pain specialist and his videos are very clear and easy to understand and he shows you simple techniques like "press, pull release" massage, sitting/lying on a tennis ball etc. that you can do yourself at your own pace and they really do seem to work! His theory is that the joints (bones) don't move themselves, the muscles and nerves tell them where to go, and as we get older the muscles that are used repetitively get tighter and we need to relax and release those tissues and muscles so that the bones can eventually ease back into place. I in particular have left side sacroilliac joint issues, and I did some of what he showed and it helped very quickly. I was at my chiropractor yesterday, told him about this, and while he still had to adjust my s.i. joint he said "it wasn't too bad-keep working those muscles" and agreed that the muscles pull the bones out of place. They get going in the wrong way and it is called "muscle memory" where they want to continue to go the wrong way-we have to retrain them and release them and say "no, go THIS way"!

I'm also going to check this Somatics book out too. But I suggest you go to Youtube and punch in "Gary Crowley backpain" and you will see many great videos; plus on his homepage there is a list of many different types of pain relief tips, plus if you have questions you can email him and he'll answer you back.

Good luck, keep your head about it, trial and error on what makes it worse or what hurts; Lord knows it can become depressing if we let it!

 

[aokpops]

This is not as hard as it sounds done this for over a year now . I call it a polar bear shower here is how I do it . Start by just shocking yourself a little use this time to get clean an warm up[ don't make the water warmer ! your body will warm up may take a few minutes. Do this a few times then go full polar bear all cold .After about 30 days the list of thing that were fixed for me was very long . Look up tummo the inner fire . I think we are the only country in the world that there is nothing said or heard about cold exposure therapy .

 

[Milkweed Seed]

Threw out my back yesterday cutting a White Birch. Killed an 18 pack of BL LIME and some shots last night to "ice it down". Now my head hurts as well as my back:bang:

 

[treesmith]

I can recommend Egoscue and foundation training for getting rid of back pain. I'm just a working boy, no connections to anyone.

I've had bad sciatica in the right leg for a few years (started in 2003 but it was mild and put down to muscle strain). It got gradually worse over a few years. Nobody I saw had the first idea what was causing it, x-rays, doctors, physicist, chiropractors, nothing. Apparently my discs were buggered and I should change jobs. It can best be described as stabbing a knife into my hip and slicing it down to my ankle.
The only thing that helped were prescription painkillers, the strongest available diclofenac and cocodamol in tandem, supposedly one step down from morphine. Otherwise it was 4 ibuprofen every two hours and it didn't matter if I lay face down, drove a car or took down a Beech tree. I don't like pills and I skipped them as much as I could, some days it was ok, others not so much.

What do you do? Most blokes don't like making a fuss and I've got a mortgage to pay so you just shut up and get on as best you can. As I said before some days it was ok. Besides, I like my job and it could always be worse, my college instructor had his rope slip off a stub and he hit the deck in the sitting position. Maybe a little leg pain ain't so bad after all.


Anyway, fast forward to 2011, got married and moved to Oz from Scotland. It took 5 mins of meeting my wife's taekwondo instructor/Chinese medicine woman/acupuncturist for her to tell me what was causing the sciatic pain (butt muscle squeezing the nerve). She gave me acupuncture and exercises to stretch the muscle and all was well, for a year. I may have found the problem but I hadn't found the cause.

So, a year later and the sciatica is manageable but I'm needing massages very regularly because my butt, hamstrings and calves are really tight, muscle tension in mid back area, lots of lower back stiffness, foot cramps, shoulder tension and I'm generally a mess but hey, I've not taken a painkiller since the butt treatment.
It all came to a head earlier this year when some thing just spasmed and I'm face down with sciatica in both legs and knife like stabbing pain in the very base of my spine, oh ####, this feels serious. I'm thinking prolapsed discs and all manner of horrible things. It got a bit better after a few days though wifey has to put my socks on in the mornings but I can at east manage my own boots. I can't bend over and takes me 10 minutes to get in or out of the car but I'm mostly mobile.

Anyway, the next thing I know is I get a call from a man who knows I'm having trouble and says he might be able to help me(thank you to my amazing wife and her resourceful mother for this), we meet, he listens, gets me to move about, stretching, just working me out and how I move. After an hour he says, "I think your back and your discs are fine, your problems are all muscular caused by bad movement habits (everyone has one sided bias to some point), your back muscles are out of balance and are causing all the other muscle problems, I think we can sort you out" he gave me exercises to do and in a short space of time I'm moving better than I have in years, and I have no pain anywhere.

ANYBODY WITH BACK PAIN SHOULD AT LEAST LOOK INTO THESE METHODS. I've spent the last few years fighting pain and restricted movement for no reason, I just wish someone had told me about it in 2003 when I felt the first twinge.

 

[ppkgmsy]

Back pain is the worst. I'm 54 years old and have been practicing and teaching yoga for over 30 years. My spine is very healthy, but I still hurt my back sometimes and it's a bear. I think it's almost unavoidable when you're a firewood guy. The work just demands so much from your body.

I'd enourage everyone to try and do some kind of stretching on a regular basis and, also, some leg lifts or something to keep the core strong. When an injury does occur, rest (the damn hardest thing!) and take Advil or something to interrupt the pain cycle. This can help keep the muscles from spasming around the irritated nerves.

The smartest thing is to take a break at the first sign of pain. I wish I would have followed my own advice last week when I was digging trench and laying wire around a new chicken coop. I thought, "Yea it hurts, but I'll do just one more side." Sure enough, that "one more side" has put me in a world of hurt.

 

[aokpops]

Back pain is the worst. I'm 54 years old and have been practicing and teaching yoga for over 30 years. My spine is very healthy, but I still hurt my back sometimes and it's a bear. I think it's almost unavoidable when you're a firewood guy. The work just demands so much from your body.

I'd enourage everyone to try and do some kind of stretching on a regular basis and, also, some leg lifts or something to keep the core strong. When an injury does occur, rest (the damn hardest thing!) and take Advil or something to interrupt the pain cycle. This can help keep the muscles from spasming around the irritated nerves.

The smartest thing is to take a break at the first sign of pain. I wish I would have followed my own advice last week when I was digging trench and laying wire around a new chicken coop. I thought, "Yea it hurts, but I'll do just one more side." Sure enough, that "one more side" has put me in a world of hurt.

You said that you taught yoga for 30 years . Not trying to be a smart butt .Do you know or hear of tummo ? I read about an try to learn it . I would like to pick someones brain that could really do it . I'm 52 an don't remember feeling this good. doing cold exposure therapy my body has healed from with in .

 

[ppkgmsy]

You said that you taught yoga for 30 years . Not trying to be a smart butt .Do you know or hear of tummo ? I read about an try to learn it . I would like to pick someones brain that could really do it . I'm 52 an don't remember feeling this good. doing cold exposure therapy my body has healed from with in .

Yea, I wasn't trying to be a smart butt, either, just sharing the opinion around here that every workingman screws up his back sometime, even the local "yoga guy." Tummo, and related practices, are pretty advanced, not the kind most guys I know have enough interest to explore. Most of the guys I know just want something that will help, a daily hit of stretching that helps them work and live without pain. A lot of guys don't like taking yoga classes because they are often filled with spandex-clad women (like that's a bad thing?!). If you're like to discuss the more advanced practices, maybe drop me a private e-mail.

 

[Milkweed Seed]

I have been trying the cold shower in the morning since last Sunday and it seems to be helping. Doesn't seem to take long to adjust to the cold water at all.

 

[nelson727]

Treesmith, Welcome to ArboristSite. Somehow I had missed your post earlier. Great post by the way, that could change someones life. It certainly sounds like it changed yours.

Pain is one diagnostic tool. When I have been writhing on the floor and crying and whining as I crawled to the bathroom it didn’t take me too long to figure out something was wrong. (Joke) Egoscue does such a good job of teaching the ‘plumb bob technique’ for diagnosing whether a person is out of balance and headed toward problems. My wife and I walk down the street and see someone out of alignment in this way or that and look over at one another and say, “Egoscue”.

Sadly, human nature still being what it is, I would love to pay someone $10 or $20,000 if they could fix me and I didn’t have to do anything about it myself.

 

[aokpops]

I have been trying the cold shower in the morning since last Sunday and it seems to be helping. Doesn't seem to take long to adjust to the cold water at all.

You are doing really good if you just started ! . I just need to know if it heals others as great . For me this never stops healing .

 

[treesmith]

I've been doing research on backs since finding out recently that I don't have to spend my days in pain anymore. I used to think, like a lot of people on here I'm sure, that my back was knackered but today I lifted a 50kg ish lump of concrete and carried it without a worry because I did it the right way. Watch heavy weight power lifters on YouTube. Are their backs different? No. Is the way they move different? Yes!
Dr Eric Goodman (the bloke behind Foundation training) blew 3 or 4 discs in his early twenties and was told he needed surgery, he didn't, he needed to change the way he moved. He did and came up with foundation training. Its not new, its how we move when we are kids before modern life screws us up. Google him or Egoscue and look. If you have back pain then why not find out more, there are free videos on YouTube.

People use their backs in a way that backs aren't designed to be used in and then complain of pain.

Which are the biggest muscles in the human body and are designed for raising the upper body? Glutes and hamstrings. So, what do most people use when lifting? Lower back and spine! The spine is designed for protecting the spinal cord not picking up logs, no wonder most tradies I know have back pain.

I'm not selling anything and personally don't give a rats ass if people do or don't but since it has changed my life I am sharing what I now know, I wish I had known earlier.
If you do try it then keep at it for a few weeks and give it a chance.

Where is the downside?

 

[zogger]

I've been doing research on backs since finding out recently that I don't have to spend my days in pain anymore. I used to think, like a lot of people on here I'm sure, that my back was knackered but today I lifted a 50kg ish lump of concrete and carried it without a worry because I did it the right way. Watch heavy weight power lifters on YouTube. Are their backs different? No. Is the way they move different? Yes!
Dr Eric Goodman (the bloke behind Foundation training) blew 3 or 4 discs in his early twenties and was told he needed surgery, he didn't, he needed to change the way he moved. He did and came up with foundation training. Its not new, its how we move when we are kids before modern life screws us up. Google him or Egoscue and look. If you have back pain then why not find out more, there are free videos on YouTube.

People use their backs in a way that backs aren't designed to be used in and then complain of pain.

Which are the biggest muscles in the human body and are designed for raising the upper body? Glutes and hamstrings. So, what do most people use when lifting? Lower back and spine! The spine is designed for protecting the spinal cord not picking up logs, no wonder most tradies I know have back pain.

I'm not selling anything and personally don't give a rats ass if people do or don't but since it has changed my life I am sharing what I now know, I wish I had known earlier.
If you do try it then keep at it for a few weeks and give it a chance.

Where is the downside?

direct link to first basic exercise vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-K7jtcJ0Dc

 

[jrider]

Lots of good advice posted here. I haven't had the time to look any of the prescribed methods but will be real soon. Even though 2 weeks had gone by on Saturday my back was still a little messed up, just kind of a constant dull pain in my lower back where the spasms started. I couldn't just sit around the house anymore so I decided to bust out the power washer and clean up the concrete around my pool and the patio as well. Very odd but a few hours in, all back pain just vanished. I couldn't believe it. What I had hoped would just be a few hours of getting something done turned into, hey this is great lets keep going! 6.5 hours later I was done all the concrete and feeling great. My plan for Sunday was to spread mulch - 10 yards of it. Wife said take it easy and don't over do it - of course, don't they all? I flew through the mulch without any pain at all and was out of the shower and sipping on my first beer of the day by mid afternoon. Today, my back feels like nothing ever happened. I still plan on keeping my apt. with the chiropractor today. He digs in there pretty good and gives more or less a deep tissue massage. Have seen him 3 times since this happened and each visit I got better. As soon as work slows down, I will be looking into those stretches and workouts.

 

[NSMaple1]

Backs can go wonkey at any time from wierd things - and it sucks when they do.

Mine acted up last week & I couldn't figure out why - I'd been cutting some wood off & on, but it was 100% they day before it started. I think I finally figured out what did it this time - someone was using my office chair I'm sitting on right now to do some work of their own & raised it up about 4". I need to spend way more time in it than I want to - since I put it back down a couple days ago the back is now good again even after a couple more wood cutting sessions.

The last time it really set in a few months ago it hit all of a sudden when I bent down to pick a piece of paper up off the kitchen floor. I almost didn't get upright again.

My first bad back session led to a trip to the Dr. then some physio. He prescribed Vioxx, and that stuff was magic - the pain started unwinding itself almost instantly. But then it got pulled off the market two days later - dang.

 

[nelson727]

"Dang" or lucky for you - one.

 

[zogger]

Backs can go wonkey at any time from wierd things - and it sucks when they do.

Mine acted up last week & I couldn't figure out why - I'd been cutting some wood off & on, but it was 100% they day before it started. I think I finally figured out what did it this time - someone was using my office chair I'm sitting on right now to do some work of their own & raised it up about 4". I need to spend way more time in it than I want to - since I put it back down a couple days ago the back is now good again even after a couple more wood cutting sessions.

The last time it really set in a few months ago it hit all of a sudden when I bent down to pick a piece of paper up off the kitchen floor. I almost didn't get upright again.

My first bad back session led to a trip to the Dr. then some physio. He prescribed Vioxx, and that stuff was magic - the pain started unwinding itself almost instantly. But then it got pulled off the market two days later - dang.

That is when I have an instant relapse, not doing any heavy lifting or work, but reall off the wall goofy stuff, getting up from a chair and walking two steps, bending over to pick up something trivial, etc. boom, spasms. Just dang odd.

I am milking out the ideas in this thread for all it is worth.

 

[treesmith]

I spent a good chunk of today picking up fairly chunky Myrtle logs and barrowing them uphill. I've spent the last month exercising every two days basically to change my right hand bias and strengthen my back but most importantly to change my movements. I can now pick up logs big enough to half fill a very large barrow with no pain and do it non stop for hours. I'm not there yet but I'm standing straighter, moving much smoother and lifting heavy stuff easily. Walking used to be painfully awkward but not now.

Egoscue and Foundation training worked for me.

 

[dave_dj1]

Better living through chemicals! I'm kidding, I do have to take Flexoral as needed though. I am going to look into some of the posted remedies. I have two herniated discs in my lower back and at times it just kills me. I ended up in the ER a couple of winters ago. I have since learned what not to do, I just forget sometimes. I am a builder by trade so I often have to do stuff that I know I shouldn't. That's one reason I built my little forklift.
Take care,
dave