For old climbers only- Back pain

[treeclimber165]

How many of you have periodic or constant back pain? What measures do you take to deal with it? I never had a problem in my 20's, I would wrestle logs up on the truck using every part of my body, manhandling stuff way bigger than my small 160 lbs. Dragging huge skids of limbs from the backyard was expected, to get the job done 'on time'. I started having pain in my early 30's, even bought a hot tub 4 years ago. After my 18' fall 2 years ago, I haven't been the same. Now I eat Advil like tic-tacs and need chiropractic if I work more than 4 days a week. I avoid dragging brush or moving heavy logs because it will cost me climbing time (and money) later.

The main point of this is to find out what measures you guys take to minimize pain and increase production and quality of life. And which are most effective. I'll try to set up the poll so you can check multiple choices.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I'm lucky to say my back is still good, knock on wood.
How'd you fall?

 

[rborist1]

:Eye:

 

[Tom Dunlap]

A couple of times a year I go see my chiropractor. Kind of like going to the spa, it feels so good

Ibuprofen when needed. Be careful about taking too many. These medications can wreck your kidneys.

The two best things I did for my back was to quit doing big takedowns so cheap and getting some machinery. Now, if I get a takedown, I get enough money so that I'm not pressured to cut corners to make money. Hving the Waldon for big jobs and using my ATV for moving brush and logs saves me every day. There is hardly a job that the ATV isn't used. Even if we just use it for moving gear and putting rakings in the tub, we used the ATV.

Tom

 

[budroe69moni]

tom,
what kind of atv do you have?????
budroe

 

[Stumper]

I chose more than 1 answer and the poll let me vote that way. Interesting.
You are only as old as you feel. Wall sonny..eh ya see.... Speak up thar boy Ah cin't hear ye.
I use the hot tub. Feels good but doesn't solve it. I like massages but never have had a professional one -Thinking about it though. Ibuprofen/aspirin is helpful but I hate poppin'pills.Bottom line-it hurts but when I'm busy I can ignore it....mostly.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Yamaha 400cc Grizzly. An ok machine. got it for a good price from another arbo. This machine is more of a mini skidder the way I have it set up. I built a heavy duty front bumper with a t bollard. We use it for rigging. Sometimes we'll set up a rope and then redirect off the base of the tree. Wrap the lowering line on the bollard and back up to tension. The climber makes a face in the upper part of the limb, back up to tension. Start to undercut and backup to tension. Lift the limb up just like a crane. Then, either drive forward a little to lower or leave the quad out of the landing zone and lower off the bollard. When the rope is clear, the climber starts to setup for next cut. Groundie grabs the branch in the skidder and off to the chipper. Saves the back and eliminates one groundie on most jobs. Besides...did I say it's fun!

The favorite was a Suzuki 500cc water cooled. That got stolen. The controls were laid out better. All the shifters are up top. Independent four wheel suspension. Driveshafts not chains. Gearbox not a belt tranny. This thing moved wood and was fun!

Tom

 

[budroe69moni]

kick-ass!!!!!

sounds like a nice set-up!!!!!!!
sounds like fun too.......isn't that what's it all about??????
how do you haul around that 4-wheeler......or do you drive it
from job to job i usually use my jeep as an anchor point for rigging
budroe
p.s. how what the mid-nite climb out west???? never could find that post to follow up. sounded incredible.

 

[Acer]

Originally posted by treeclimber165
I never had a problem in my 20's, I would wrestle logs up on the truck using every part of my body, manhandling stuff way bigger than my small 160 lbs. Dragging huge skids of limbs from the backyard was expected, to get the job done 'on time'.

Brian, this may be your problem. Back injury, like hearing loss, is cumulative, and your strength is irrelevant. Training or exercise can increase the strength in your muscles, but you cannot train parts of your spine to take higher loads. Avoiding having to lift something is best, but impractical, so the next best thing is to mechanise it. If you produce a lot of big wood, maybe a hiab or other loader fitted to the truck may help. Where that cannot be done, you have to reduce the load, by cutting up to smaller chunks. All pretty obvious.

I've had back pain as well, and I can trace that back to working to demands set by my employer. It was week after week of dragging huge piles of brash or lifting chunks of wood onto the back of the truck. The workload was immense at most of these places, and we suffered because of our employer's greed and lack of business skills. And when I did have to take time off to recover, I got no sick pay whatsoever!

Now I'm self employed, I don't suffer from back pain so much. I cut everything to easily manageable chunks and, like Tom, I tend to overbid big removals where there's likely to be a lot of donkey work, or decline really big jobs - let someone else suffer! I suppose I work relatively slowly, but I hope I'll still be able to work in 10-20 years time.

Talking about saving your back, does anyone run a tracked chipper? I'm thinking of getting one, as I often do work in rural settings where normal vehicles may get stuck, and chipping onto the ground is OK. On some domestic work, I think there's mileage in persuading the home owner that they need some chips, and chipping the brash into a corner of the garden is easier than dragging it all to the truck.

 

[FBerkel]

Tracked chipper

Couldn't use that thing around here--most farm land going to tract housing, Californians migrating in.

Brian,

Sounds like maybe you have a more serious problem than the typical old man's back pain? People generalize about back problems, but I know they can be far more serious than the occasional muscle strain I get from lifting while twisting. I usually take off a day or two, do estimates, saw maint., whatever, then back to work.

Good luck, I hope it eases up a little.

 

[DDM]

Tom? Does it have a winch?

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I've got a small 1k# winch on the fornt but I rarely use it. It does work for lifting and lowering the snow plow.

Last week I needed to pull out some big brush piles. I had to pull the piles through a narrow spot between a tennis court and a natural gas tank. The quad didn't have enough traction to pull the pile so I anchored to two fence posts on the tennis court fence. No different than setting pickets. Then I set up the winch through a block as a 2:1. Still ended up being a hard pull.

Tom

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I like the little boat winch/cleat setup Tom has for dragging.

Brian, the best thing i have found for my back problems is physical therapy. They give little exercizes that strengthen the small muscles and can realign the posture. Also it works those that we donot use on a day to day basis that can be tightening up. Some of the best I've got are contraction exercises, vs. streches.

also lifting less has helped. I cannot do all that much anymore, because I have to do a full squat to pick up, my thighs dont like that. I can stll drag big branches/piles that take leg work, where the lower back is not used much.