my aching back

It happens almost every time that I get time off. I spend too much time sitting , my back weakens and the slightest bit of work (this time just picking up a 17" monitor) throws my back out. Then I must slither out of bed each morning in horrible pain until it gets better.

I should have listened to that old C64 programmer Jim Butterfield way back in the 80's when he told me "MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET UP EVERY 2 HOURS AND TAKE 10 MINUTES TO WALK AROUND" He also told me that I had no idea what hours hunched over a computer would do to my back. But I never listened. Learn from my mistakes.

Dan

The fault I run into is not strengthening the entire sheath of supporting muscles for my spine, which include the abs and obliques.

If you adopt a series of stretching exercises every morning, you'll lessen your likelihood of continually throwing your back out. And in that regard, I need to practice what I preach. No better time than the start of a new year to begin a program like this.

I agree. Its all about keeping a strong core (abs and back muscles). Not saying you have to run out and join a gym, but simple stretches and resistance exercises.

Here are some good ones you can do at home. Forgive the great illustrations.

http://guardians.net/chiropractic/advanced-back-exercises.htm

Good luck!

The constant DOWNWARD pressure on your spine will take its toll. it'll kink up like a mashed up aluminium can. so you have to straighten the spine and realign it and you do that by removing the pressure. This works great for those unexplained "gotta holde your neck sideways", neck-kinks that can aggrevate you for days.

You gotta do some pull ups and just hang by your arms..

Swing from side to side with your weight OFF your feet and then hang as straightly as possible.

Ease your weight back down onto your feet keeping your back ARCHED.

You may have to do this several times a day ovre a few days in ordere to get all the kinks out.

Throw your chest forward and keep your posture propre.

If you have a gut, do something about it. swim or walk and stay away from white bread and rice.

Hanging by your knees upside-down works well too but is a bit hard on an older person.

Once you get the kinks out you'll be a believer.

I do this several times a year to great benefit.

I can write more later...almost off my lunch break.

1.) Sit on an exercise ball, not on a chair. Get up often.

2.) Stretch every morning after a hot shower. I do yoga stretches for 20 minutes every morning because my back is thrashed, and this really helps me get through the day. Include glute and hamstring stretches.

3.) Do stomach crunches, preferably while sitting on an exercise ball. 3 sets of 10 a day is pretty good.

Ouch.... don't even bring up the subject of back problems. I can hardly get out of bed in the morning. I have had several bouts with sciatica in the past 20 years or so. I am currently in about the 5th month of a flareup. The pain starts at the right "cheek" and goes all the way to the ankle. I'm not one for taking drugs (of any kind ), but for the past 3 weeks or so it has gotten so bad that I have been forcing myself to take an Advil in the morning just to get the day started. I REFUSE to allow this to slow me down though and just continue with my day as normal. I had been to doctors in previous attacks and they were useless and the problem went away on it's own in about 6-7 months. Hopefully I only have a month or two to go on this bout. My first attack was caused by moving an 80 pound subwoofer. This time is from helping my 84 year old mother move to a new house. Shows what can happen when you try to help your mother.

Several years ago, I had back pains (from a car accident) so bad that I literally would have to pull over 2-3 times during a 45-minute drive because I was in so much pain. I ended up having to take Oxycontin / Vicodin just to function for six months. It was totally debilitating. Like Richard, I had really bad sciatica (pain running down my leg to my big toe).

What Taylor mentioned - hanging - can help, but I would recommend that you do it really really gradually and easily if your back is really inflamed. The reason why is that if you are not careful, you can actually send your back into further spasms if you do this. However, if your back is not inflamed, hanging and taking the pressure off your lower back can be very helpful. A good alternative to this is to hang on a back extension "machine" like they have at the gym. You don't necessarily do the back extensions. You hook your feet in, but then just hang your upper body off of it, slowly bringing your body down to a 90-degree angle with your arms/hands and then relaxing, slowly breathing.

If you don't have a back extension "machine" (it's not really a machine, just a thing with a pad on it), then you might be able to do this with someone sitting on your legs while you hang off your bed, or somehow hooking your feet in to something.

This is a gentler approach to hanging from something if your back is in spasms or you are in a lot of pain.

I do yoga every morning and have had back problems for a while, so I know quite a lot of techniques for lower back pain. If you have questions or whatever, ask away or P.M. me if it really flares up again.

And still riffing on what Taylor had to say...

If the lower back pain persists, you can consider going to a doctor that does spinal decompression therapy, which may also be called disc rehydration therapy.

With this, the general idea is that this semi-"traction" sort of thing relieves the pressure from your disc, allowing it to rehydrate, therefore obviously renourishing the disc by bringing blood, oxygen, nutrients, etc. to it. It's somewhat like if you were squeezing a sponge while holding it under a faucet. It wouldn't retain any water, would it? But if you relieve the pressure, it allows water to come in. Same basic principle.

In lieu of surgery, I did this about two and a half years ago, and it really helped a LOT. While I still have back pain, it stopped the debilitating back pain from before, and I've gained more flexiblility (by tons of stretching) and have had no debilitating bouts of back pain since then.

I hope some of this info helps.

And again, I must emphasize:

1.) Sit on an exercise ball, not on a chair. Get up often.

Sitting on an exercise ball forces your trunk - stomach, back, etc. - to work, so you are actually slowly strengthening your trunk instead of damaging it by sitting. And I do mean damaging by sitting. But still, even if you are in an exercise ball, get up often. Humans were not designed to be in one position for long periods of time, especially sitting.

2.) Stretch every morning after a hot shower. I do yoga stretches for 20 minutes every morning because my back is thrashed, and this really helps me get through the day. Include glute and hamstring stretches.

I use belts because I am not super flexible. I use one belt to stabilize my hip, the other to pull my leg forward when laying on my back to approximately a 90-degree angle, then to the side, then to the other side. I do this for the other leg as well. This stretches the hamstrings. I also bring my knee to my chest while keeping the other leg flat on the ground. This is an excellent lower back stretch.

I do glute stretches, hurdler's stretches (at least, a variation of this as done by yoga practitioners), and some other things that are difficult to describe in detail here. You do not bounce. You do it gradually, and you keep your back and body straight. You do this when your body is warmed up, hence, the hot shower in the morning. Do this again, if you can, before going to sleep as well. The more you do it, the better your body will respond.

3.) Do stomach crunches, preferably while sitting on an exercise ball. 3 sets of 10 a day is pretty good.

Why on an exercise ball? Because it forces your trunk to balance and stabilize instead of being rigid.

I also will lay on my stomach on an exercise ball and let my back slowly stretch out. This feels great, is easy to do, and relieves pressure from the disc.

There are a lot of other trunk exercises you can do with an exercise ball. I have two in my house. They double as seats for the computer, and I also exercise with them. I highly recommend having at least one in the house. I've gotten a lot of other people to buy exercise balls to use as seats because they come over for a long recording session, see me doing it, ask why, and they go and get the other exercise ball I have and sit there too. At the end of the long recording session, they realize that they feel much better than if they had sat in a chair for hours.

Ken, is there a rule regarding the size of ball you need depending on weight/height?

I don't know if there's any rule or not, but it has to be at least large enough that your hips are above your knees (in other words, that the angle of your legs are at least 90 degrees, or if not that, your knees are slightly lower), and that you can sit comfortably.

Lot's of great advise here, and thank you all. I posted to warn the younger ones to get away from this technology for a break.

I have the exercise ball but I confess that I hardly ever use it. I get sciatica often but up until now, I just thought that my left leg was cramping from too much speed drumming. A few days off and I would spring back, then push the limits again, only once again to get a "left leg cramp". Now I had this left leg cramp 3 weeks ago and it was almost gone but then I picked up that monitor and OUCH.

So to give you an idea how my speed drumming affects my back, when I try for long endurance, my feet are suspended an inch or 2 off the floor for up to 5 minutes while my toes kick the bass pedals. During that time I'm only sitting on a drum throne with no back support.

Add to that, 50 pounds of EXCESS weight in the front. (Fortunately the doctors say that my heart, pulse, cholesterol and blood pressure are great.)

This back thing is scary though. It is only this severe once every 3-4 years. I'm sure if I don't get TONED UP though , this could get bad enough to put me in a wheelchair. Don't mention DRUGS though. I use them very sparingly in absolute emergency only.

THANKS ALL FOR THE SUGGESTIONS.

dan

I hope it gets better. And yeah, that Oxycontin crap is nasty. It took a while to get off that stuff.

My back pain is from car accidents. I want this to be a lesson to everyone, young and old: avoid car accidents at all costs. Remember this always. Write it down if you must.

Here's a link to a Swiss ball (fitness ball) size to height chart. It lists the popular sizes.

http://www.spine-health.com/topics/conserv/ball/ball01.html

I have a 65cm exercise ball, which probably fits most of the people here (5'9" - 6'2" height).

I shoveled four buckets of coal the other day and bent funny or something because my back went funny and sends sharp pains every once in a while (very lower).

I used to deliver pianos with one other guy in my early 20's and didn't even know I had a back, then, in my early 30's I moved a fridge wrong and just totally cramped up; my whole back. Now every so often I'll do something wrong and be miserable for a day or two.

Hey, I just turned 50 on Christmas eve so just glad to be still alive and not too much arthritis to play my geetars and such.

Hope you feel better soon techristian!

I second all the posts recommending stretching, exercise and motion as a means to avoid or at least reduce the impact of back problems.

However, despite a daily stretching routine (my back is miserable I don't do it!), playing adult league hockey 4 nights a week and walking 15-20 miles each week (on average) - I can still get myself into trouble when I start moving band gear.

As much as I hate to admit it - I'm getting old (51 at the moment...). The cabinets that I used to carry myself are now a "two man lift". I've learned the hard way that just because I can lift it on Saturday ... doesn't mean I would feel it on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.... afterwards. I'm learning to be careful about what I lift - avoiding any unnecessary lifting or carrying (using hand trucks, dollies - regardless of distance.) I wear a wearhouseman's back brace during load-in and load-out. I quit lifting stuff by myself - just because I could. Anything that I can't lift in perfect lifting form (no putting my "back" into it!!!) - is now a "two man lift". Load ins and load outs take a few minutes longer - but more often than not I can still move the next day.

I've also learned that loading and unload gear at home - as well as afternoon load-ins at the venue are perfect opportunities for my two sons to learn the art of reciprocation. Providing food, shelter, clothes, chauffeur services, sports equipment, TV and video games for 19 years for the oldest and 16 years for the youngest has accumulated me quite a few "roadie" credits. I've hit the time in life where I'm starting to cash 'em in!

ALEVE is a nice drug. Two ALEVEs feel like codeine to me.

Also, those new Glucosamine & Chondroitin tablets....REALLY...DO...WORK. They have kind've a cumulative effect, though: start popping three per evening and, after a week or so, you'll start feeling relief in all your joints, from neck to knees.

I'm not sure how they work.... The subjective feeling I have is that suddenly some "water" or "gel" has been injected into the joint so it can slide around more easily....

I have degenerative arthritis.

I have had one shoulder and knee operation, each...the others need it, too, and will probably need both hips replaced within 15 years.

I get some kind of potassium and cortisone injection in my wrists, every so often, to keep my hands and fingers from cramping/spasming/locking up.

Mobic is probably the best prescription drug I have found.

No perceptible side-effects, and it really dulls all the aches without making you dopey.

I take the G&C tabs. I have bad knees oh wait I HAD BAD KNEES till I took a botle of G&C tabs and my knees got better! WAY BETTER! so i took another bottle and my hips stopped grinding on the joints, really painful stuff just went away like it never was. my fanger joints stopped hurting and my right elbow stopped hurtin and my neck eased up and did'nt hurt any more. So now when I feel a twinge(joints) I just buy a bottle of G&C tabs and a bottle or two later I'm goode.

and I do pull ups all the time and my back almost never hurts and I hardly ever get a stiff neck, but if I do throw my back out or wake up with a stiff neck or a sore back, I'll just "hang" out till it goes away. and it does go away. Just by doing a pull up or three.

simple is the way i like it.

I hope so too. My plane leaves for Anaheim /NAMM in 10 days.

Dan

I played some pretty intense drums in the past 2 days and it feels like my back regressed back a bit to the way it felt last week. I'm not going to practice today and I'll see how I feel tommorrow. I have been doing some deep crunches and they seem to help. I have also been on my feet more at work the past few days. I'll need to be careful at Disneyland not to ride on any of the rides with BACK INJURY warnings.

Dan

I had a chiropractor straighten me out when I was in my early 30s. I soon learnt you have to do more so I taught myself yoga.

The BEST treatment I've ever had was from a friend who has learnt the Bowen Technique. She didn't manipulate or massage but she fixed a longterm hip misalignment in one session. Amazing stuff, she is currently blowing away the vets because she is fixing animals they have written off.

If you have a Bowen practitioner on your area give it a go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowen_Technique

I do yoga regularly, and it helps more than anything else I've tried so far.

I'm not familiar with the Bowen Technique at all, so I'll check into that.

It's freaky Ken - I've been to all the different methods and this one blew me away. Trina, my friend was concerned because her clients never came back. We tried to tell her it was because she'd fixed them all but she wasn't convinced. Then a client rang and apologised for not getting back but the treatment had fixed all her aliments and she just wanted to thank her as no one before had ever given her such an amazing complete treatment.