Be Excellent To Each Other

I've been sat here in absolute agony since 9am this morning.

I had physiotherapy a couple of years ago for acute back pain. Turns out it was due to my posture, sat slouched in a chair and not walking with my back straight. Typical computer programmer, really.

It's all been quiet for two years, no real trouble at all. This morning I woke up and by God it was agony. Painkillers are just not working and I've still got three hours to go before I can go home and relax.

Anyone know any good masseuses?

I had 5 months off work with KnackBack last year and used the Burntwood Osteopathic Clinic in.. um... Burntwood. Tim'll sort you out right good.

Oddly, and I don't know whether medical science will back me up, I'd recommend a bit of exercise. Isn't back pain just to do with weak back muscles?

Certainly, when I had a bit of back pain while running the advice was keep running unless the pain gets worse. Very often after running for a bit the pain would dissipate a fair bit by itself.

Sorry, I know nothing of back pain or masseurs/osteopaths, but my heart goes out to you - from the people I have heard from that suffer back pain I know enough to understand that it is more than just a nagging ache.

Hoping you are feeling better soon, Gazchap

Yes, but she's based in Gloucester. Is that out of the way for you? EDIT - ah, Shrewsbury. Yes, then.

Sorry to hear about that - Mrs Chris is currently suffering hugely with pregnancy-related sciatica and ligament issues, which sucks big fat hairy ones, so I can sympathise.

Have you tried drinking copious amounts of Scotch? Helped me out a treat when I had really bad toothache once.

I've heard that a bit of exercise can help - lying in bed when you have a bad back can make things worse, apparently. If not, then I'd second Zio's scotch suggestion. Sweet liquor eases the pain.

For posture, I've heard a lot of people have had nice things to say about PF Flyer shoes, which are supposedly designed to encourage good posture. Pure second hand info, mind.

Yeah I get it occasionally, for the same reason you did, I can't sit still or straight. Worse I constantly find myself sitting on a leg and end up hopping round the office attempting to get feeling back.

I have no useful solutions.

Very true. This reminds me of an Australian advertising campaign to promote exercise to deal with back pain (that had great results). This bad science article mentions it briefly. But this is the most important stuff;



So yeah, get exercising and active and such.

(DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR)

Spark up a phatty, blud.

I get lower back pain from time to time. Here are some things that I have noticed:

1) It gets worse when I need a dump
2) Things (beds, busses, chairs, doors etc) are not designed for people who are in excess of 6ft tall and as such I am often in an uncomfortable position through not fault of my own.
3) If my sheet on my bed is crinkled then it can cause my back to hurt.
4) I am overweight and this excess is causing my back to hurt more than it should.
5) gentle exercise (walking seems good) seems to help it
6) I often think a belt with a hot spike (ooh er) would help it.
7) I often stand or sit to one side which can't help.

Malc

I suggest finding someone with a healthy, strong back and killing them. You will then absorb their power, allowing you to defeat the pain demons that are attacking you. Be careful when lifting their body on to the sacrificial altar when you're about to cut out their heart though, and remember to lift with your legs!

I have a dicky shoulder from a cycle meets floor smash a few years ago, and I thoroughly endorse rock climbing. Seems to work wonders for everyone I have spoken too with various weak body bits. Proper fun too!

Anyone who suddenly starts with back pain for no apparent reason should definitely get some stuff ruled out by a doctor before they start self-medicating with booze, weed, exercise or sacrifice.

markg speaks sense.

Agreed, but it has an apparent reason It's exactly the same as it was before and it's almost certainly down to a combination of bad posture at work, having to keep my spine completely still for hours at a time while shooting, and getting used to the bucket seats in the new motor.

Spine amputation. You definitely need a spine amputation. I have a knife I was using with my lunch, here..... somewhere.....

Someone has back pain? I was just speaking in general.

I'd not mention those plans to the doctor, though.

Get Homer to push you over a bin.

I woke three Sundays ago with AGONY making itself at home just above my right hip. Painkillers made no difference (even the donkey-snuffing prescription co-codamols left over from my rib incident last year) and sitting in my office chair made it much worse. Standing up was fun, my right leg and back would sieze with me nearly doubled over, then I'd have to wait for a few seconds for everything to ease.

A colleague has a microwaveable beanbag thing that when hot and caught between back and chair really helps with its lumbar support and muscle-relaxing, nerve-confusing heat. I was mostly better, middle-end of last week.

But it's gone significantly worse again over the weekend, I think from sitting on the corner of my bed for a few hours playing Forza. Fuck. It's obviously a combination of posture, lack of exercise and being increasingly overweight - the latter of which has resulted in premature mattress-death, exacerbating the problem.

Oddly, the M3's seats are just about the most comfortable place to be; I suppose it's a combination of support, leg activity and distraction. And RAGE.

So, my sympathies.

*raises hand* Dunno if you could afford me mind I'm probably a bit out of your way too!

Agreed about getting a proper diagnosis, but heat treatment and keeping your muscles moving (even just small gentle movements) will help to loosen it up, but it could be nerve related, hard to tell over the net really!

Go to Dr...

Yes, do. For this month only you get a free hug with every appointment.

Gentle excerise and a heat pad along with making sure your posture is not shite.
Then get professional advice in case it's something else that needs looking in to.

I think it might be neck pain more than back pain now, as it seems better when I lie down which isn't consistent with how it felt when I had the back pain before.

Despite the pain being in roughly the same area, it now does seem like I might have just cricked my neck or something.

Oh, and GJ, I'm sure I can afford you, I own Grim...!

Perhaps it's a nerve, they can be nasty.

I'll look up "back pain" in the Big Boys Book of Doctoring:


Hmmm, one step more than usual!

Well if you're willing to pay by the mile...

I've had exactly that a couple of times this year. It lasts about two days, and if you lie down for at least one of those it will get better. Apparently it is some muscles in the neck being over-stressed - usually as mentioned from bad posture while sitting at a computer or something. I think that lack of exercise could also be a factor in my case, so the muscles are not so good at handling a mild overload and go cramp instead.

Anyway, hope it gets better soon because you feel completely geriatric while it's like that

Yeah, I get this as well. Sometimes I'm not sure how it crops up but sometimes I know it's because I've been using my laptop in a funny position.

I also used to get it after driving long journies. I had a terrible 5 hour journey from Hull in agony a few years back. However I modified my driving position and it doesn't seem to crop up as much now.

Top tip is to always keep some of those self-heating pads handy Yes they are expensive but well worth it if you suddenly find yourself in pain.

I know you're supposed to position yourself in a car so that your knee is still slightly bent with your foot firmly down on the clutch and upright enough so that you can rest your wrists on the top of the steering wheel. I've no idea if this is about posture though or simply about being able to plant your foot down to the floor for a bit of speed-o-fun.

Hello.
I'm not going to read this thread, Ican't be bothered. But THIS is all you need to know. The worse thing to do with a bad back is to rest it. It needs to be strong, LIKE BULL. So do some exercises. Infact, I think RPS linked to something the other week? I'll dig it up.

http://www.crispygamer.com/_GeneratedPa ... mn707.aspx

see.
Go read that. He's clever, that man is.
Now, obviously, I don't know your exact condition, but talk to your Dr Dude about this. He'll probably agree.

I've woken up this morning and it's still hurting, but is much, much better than it was yesterday. I'm now able to move around much more freely, but it still hurts quite a lot to twist my neck around.

This is confirming my belief that it's neck pain caused by a sudden crick rather than the back problem returning. So that's a plus, after all.

Buggeration, my back/neck went wonky again yesterday. I think it's slightly better now but I know from experience it will get much worse if I go to work and sit at the PC all day so I've called in. Well, emailled in from my iPhone

Doc reckons I just pulled a muscle in my neck and has given me some Diclofenac to kill the pain.

Have you had them before? If so, did they do you any good? I was on a mixture of these and Co-codamol when I knacked my back and neither did any good for me

I had a dicklofenac (fnarr) yesterday and it helped a little. Not much though.

They've actually done a shockingly good job at getting rid of the pain, although this might be just the muscle healing itself rather than the painkillers having an effect. Bit of a coincidence that it fixes itself at the same time I start popping the pills though.

My back/hip isn't hurting any more - because I fucked my neck up while drying my hair a bit too vigourously yesterday. Awesome.

I did that once, not the cleverest thing I've ever done.

Why were you even drying BikNorton's hair in the first place?