Lower Back Pain

[JAS21]

Thank you for all the suggestions - I have only had a physical examination to date and so will get an x-ray . I am also doing some excises , as above, which seems to be helping -

I agree posture is probably not helping , so am trying to concentrate on pulling my shoulders back - and I need to find a better chair when working on my computer .

The bumpy roads in Samui do not help .

I have a machine that allows me to hang upside down. It cost me 15,000thb (PANG!) but it has been soooooooooo worth it. Should have bought it a year earlier.

I hang upside down and breath normally and wham! My lower back pops and I'm good to go. All my sciatica is going away.

Dr. Cracknell in Phuket can get the machine for you, you'll have to transport it to Samuttle.

Hi Yes I had what was called a 'backswing' in the UK, wish that I had brought it here. Can you give me a little more info please where you got it from, we are down in Phuket on 21st. Or do you know anyone who wants to sell one....thanks

Edit...Sorry..I googled and found him

Backswing

So I got one today. It’s called an ‘inversion table’, almost identical design to the one that I had in the UK. The guy came, rigged it up and demonstrated some exercises. He tells me that he covers the whole of Thailand, so anyone who wants his details can PM me.

I actually found him by using ask.com but it took a bit of looking. He will actually come and demonstrate if you are not sure if you want to buy or not……..I just wanted one so I said ‘bring it and I will buy it’. They are on ‘promotion’ at present..isn’t everything…about 8000 baht.

[drcracknell]

Thank you for all the suggestions - I have only had a physical examination to date and so will get an x-ray . I am also doing some excises , as above, which seems to be helping -

I agree posture is probably not helping , so am trying to concentrate on pulling my shoulders back - and I need to find a better chair when working on my computer .

The bumpy roads in Samui do not help .

Hi John

I take it you are interested in the 'Back Revolution - inversion machine' (google)

it is a superior inversion / traction device over the other table / teeter totter types

the reason being is that your knees are bent when you are hanging on this device

and to the ease of use

I bought one in the USA 15 yrs ago and have been 'knocking 'them off for my patients

as to buy one on the internet is only 400US$ but add on 600+shipping and duty

with the increased costs of steel etc, etc the price is up to 17,000 -- but a one time investment for a healthy back

it takes 10 days to 2 weeks for me to make them -- so advance order and deposit is needed

also -- would like to look at your back as sometimes the 'fix' is simple and quick

office hours Mon, Wed, Fri 9- 13:00 / 15:00 -16:00 081 677 4555 076 330 889

[funlovinkid]

Thank you for all the suggestions - I have only had a physical examination to date and so will get an x-ray . I am also doing some excises , as above, which seems to be helping -

I agree posture is probably not helping , so am trying to concentrate on pulling my shoulders back - and I need to find a better chair when working on my computer .

The bumpy roads in Samui do not help .

I have a machine that allows me to hang upside down. It cost me 15,000thb (PANG!) but it has been soooooooooo worth it. Should have bought it a year earlier.

I hang upside down and breath normally and wham! My lower back pops and I'm good to go. All my sciatica is going away.

Dr. Cracknell in Phuket can get the machine for you, you'll have to transport it to Samuttle.

Would you happen to know where to buy such a machine (for hanging upside down)? I've been thinking of doing exactly the same thing, for the same reason: lower back problems. Many thanks for any suggestions you might have!

Sorry, didn't notice the response from Dr. Cracknell, please disregard.

Edited December 5, 2009 by funlovinkid

[funlovinkid]

I used to play golf and brisk walking before, now I cycle and doing light excercise, like stretching my leg and twist n turn (twist dancing) on machine every morning. My lower back pain still exists, its not the acute pain type, can feel that lower back tense otr tight when bending forward. I will try "Yoga" as suggested by one of our friend here, hope it will help to subside the pain.

Thought I'd throw my two cents in here as well. I'm 53, and ruptured two discs in my lower back in 2003 at the age of 47, while stupidly carrying heavy furniture by myself (a desk, if you can believe that. At one point I simultaneously bent over and twisted to the side to block the desk drawers from inadvertently sliding open). Simultaneously bending and twisting is absolutely the hardest thing on the spinal discs, and doing this while carrying weight is a prescription for disaster! Anyway, as a result, I suffered with stabbing pain in my rump for the next two years, despite using everything that was recommended, including ice packs, anti-inflammatory medicine, exercise, and even four sessions of steroid injections directly into the spine at the location of the worst disc rupture. Everything brought temporary relief, but didn't last very long. I finally caved in and elected to have back surgery in 2005, which did finally cure the problem. The surgeon only operated on the disc with the worst rupture, as the other disc was apparently not too bad, a decision that I think turned out for the best.

Since then, I've concluded that the best way to deal with this sort of pain from a lower back problem is through proper exercise (assuming the nature of the problem isn't as serious as what I went through). For this purpose, I started going to some yoga classes beginning in 2007, and found that the resulting strengthening of the back muscles was very helpful. Many of the yoga exercises require you to use muscles in your back that we typically don't use often enough, and the stronger muscles give your spine the support that it needs, thereby taking some pressure off the inter-vertebrae discs which often are the source of back problems as we get older. Having said this, I would caution anyone attempting yoga for the first time to start very slowly. Some of the yoga exercises are the very ones that can cause injury or damage to your spinal discs--for example, simultaneously bending and twisting. Or bending way down ("nose to the knees"), while keeping your legs straight. So my recommendation would be to "adopt the required pose" (as they say in yoga terminology) very slowly, while carefully listening to your body, and don't push yourself too hard, especially when just starting yoga. This is particularly true if you decide to go to a yoga class, or maybe watch a video, where you'll find yourself trying to follow the moves of an instructor who's probably in his or her 20's, and is extremely thin and flexible after years of yoga practice. If you find yourself unable to "adopt the pose" as quickly as the instructor, or unable to stretch anywhere near the extent of the instructor, don't worry about it! The classes I went to were full of young, thin Thai women, many of whom were very practiced at yoga, and were extremely flexible. In this environment, I think it's normal to want to try to keep up with the people around you, in terms of speed and degree of flexibility, but this could cause you to hurt yourself if you push yourself too hard. So, a note of caution here.

I would also mention that yoga is (maybe surprisingly) a very, very hard exercise routine, especially for those of us who are carrying around a few extra pounds. If you find it a bit difficult to dig a frying pan out of the back of the lower kitchen cabinet, just imagine trying to do this continuously for an hour. The classes I attended were typically 60 or 90 minutes long, and I was completely exhausted at the end of each session. And depending on which yoga school you might attend, my experience is that some instructors find it insulting if anyone leaves class before it finishes, and actively discourage this, which makes it hard to just go for, say, 30 minutes if that's all the energy you have. One last thing: regardless of the yoga exercise you happen to be doing, keep your stomach muscles tense, as this apparently provides the lower back support which is necessary to minimize the risk of injury.

But it's all good: I did find increased strength and flexibility from doing the yoga, and my body felt lighter and easier to move, under any situation, after doing the classes for a few months. And any hint of back pain was nonexistent thereafter.

Of course, losing weight is always helpful, too!