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You had three decent weekends already? Pretend you're in New England and wait another month or two to get better!
I have occasional back pain, thankfully, not chronic. If you google thermacare heat wraps you will see what I use. I think there are several different brands. They are very large chemical heat pads that stick to the affected area and work extremely well.
Hi I am a new member. I've been sailing many years in Australia mostly racing and cruising in protected and coastal areas. Owner of 24' cruiser/racer (Spacesailer 24 for 17 years)
Best seek professional help if you can but I will relay my experience and hope it helps. I suffered from a prolapsed disc which was extemely painful and laid me up for quite some time. Initially I suffered just dull pain that came and went lasted for several days maybe up to a week at a time.
I've now generally recoveredfrom the acutepain but still have pain if I spend long periods sitting on flights, driving or in the office. Generally if I am active I have minimal pain.
What works wonders for me is following excercise:
Make up an ice pack. Lie face down on the floor/deck. Place and probaly secure icepack to lower back. I use a belt to pull it tight to the lower back.
Now do push ups. Keep your hips pushed to the deck and really arch your back. Do sets of 10-15 then rest 30 seconds. repeat many times. Up to 200 if you can.
This worked for me. The ice keeps any swelling down. The back arching really aids flexibilty.
Best get prof. advice. For me in Australia best advice has come from physiotherapist and not Drs or chiropractors.
I suffered severe back pain intermittently for some years. Eventually, caution and stretching improved it. Be very careful how you sit and stand. Do not put you wallet in your back pocket. Do not wear a thick belt, it presses on your spine. In my case, lying on my back and pulling my knees to my chest one at a time helped stretch my spine. A very good chiropractor can work wonders.
Not to preach, but I remember one June vacation week in which I was bedridden with pain. I felt pretty sorry for myself. Then I remembered my aunt was at the same time losing a fight to cancer. I knew she would never get up again. Perspective made me feel a bit better about my back and a lost week. Feel better, sail carefully.
ibuprofen did not work for me... tramadol seems to... only been on it 2 weeks but it does seem to help alot. it is better than the "vikes" ,, "percs" or "oxy" not as much fun but better...
i first started having severe lower back pain when i was in my twentys,no doubt i went to work too early and being full of myself i often lifted objects that were too heavy,i've had major back surgery and been to more quacks then i care to admit,eventually i came to realize that i was my own worse enemy and ajusted my way of thinking,once you strain your back it can take yrs to fully recover,plain old relaxing and strenthening exercises eventually paid off,i still sometimes have pain but nothing like 30 yrs ago so don't dispair, explore exercises and stick with them even though you may be feeling better
Sometimes a medical doctor will suggest a chiropracter. I resisted for many years, but then my father was sent to one at the suggestion of his orthopedic doctor, as something to try before back surgery (the surgery was already sceduled). It worked! He still goes ~ every 2 weeks for touch-up, bu is without pain.
I found great relief too. PReiviously, I had missed as much as a week of work, flat on my back. Granted, chiropraters can be complete quacks in other areas. Granted there can be other problems, so I would ALWAYS ask a regular doctor for aproval. Chiropracters can be very effective physical theropists, for most of us who have painful backs without serious bone or disk problems.
Really, all of the suggestions made sense and all of them range true to me (except the invertion chair--no idea).
And keep a heating pad and thermo care pads on the boat.
Read Dr. John E. Sarno. He has a been working on backs since the seventies. His approach is high oxygen foods witch will help your blood flow, also yoga and reducing stress. Do you have other symptoms ? Hands and feet getting cold easy, tennis elbow.
If you don't have an underlying injury, then there is a simple program to solve low back pain as well as other physical problems....Pilates. I know, it's like a girlie thing. However I found that most of the exercises are used by physical therapists as restorative for all kinds of injuries. Find a Pilates trainer for one-on-one instruction, be religious with your schedule and your back pain will go away, given there is no underlying injury for which you should consult a proper mediacal authority. It worked for me.
Also, there is complimentary discipline, called the Alexander Technique, which will show you how to use your body in unnatural positions without injury. It is frequently used by musicians who have to hold instruments in very difficult positions for long periods of time while waxing poetic and making it look easy.
With both of these programs, once you learn and use the technique, there is no need for follow-on instruction, equipment and dollars and you can do it while sailing!
John
I agree Pilates are the way to go. And they are way girlie. Its the best proactive way to keep your back from hurting. If it's way to girly any sort of stretching excerises will help. If you have injured your back i would go to a doctor, follow his advice, let it heal and then get proactive about excercising and not injuring it again.
It may all depend on the reason for your 'back pain'.
First time I slipped a disk I was told to 'go and hang yourself'!!!
Put a bar above a door and it worked for some time.
Problem is that you may after some time develop some un-even muscle strength in your back as you try to avoid the next disk slip!!
Being only 178cm and 64 Kg, spent a big part of my life carrying outboards and drives, I finally found the perfect solution:
Sold the business and went cruising!
Has worked wonders!
I had surgery (L4/L5) in 95 and would have occasional pains over the years. A tempurpedic bed and pilates-type stretches helped for me.
But now I've got a herniated disc in C6/C7 that is giving some nasty pain. Hope to have it cleared by launch, but we'll see.
The answer will depend on what is causing your pain. You will have to have that diagnosed first, or the many suggestions here may be of little success.
I deal with chronic back pain. Mine is caused by bulging disk material pressing the spinal nerve against the column walls. When it's aggravated, the pain is decimating. My left foot will go numb, left leg feels like it's going to explode, left buttocks feels like a knife is stuck in, lower back radiates a heat style pain. It literally makes me sweaty and nauseous.
I've had surgery once and got relief for 3 years. Last spring I did a series of injections, they last about 6 months, so I'm due for another series. Currently I'm managing with pain meds: 800mg ibuprofens and Vicodin.
My options - injections (temporary), surgery to remove material, or fusion.
MD or chiropractor, there are good and bad ones in both fields. You need to find out what is wrong with your back and address the issue. If it is just a sprain or weakness, rest and exercise and painkillers while not abusing it futher. If there's a bigger issue...you may have to skip anything that makes it worse, including sailing, for a while.
Once you've thrown out your back or back muscles--it takes a real effort to get it well again. If you allow yourself to keep reinjuring it, it can take FOREVER. Seating, posture, mattress, sometimes you may need orthotic inserts for your shoes, because if you're standing "wrong" that's all it takes to throw your back out of line.
Either way, get at least one professional opinion of some kind.
Having had 2 back surgeries, I highly recommend seeing a physiatrist as well as working with a good physical/sports therapist. A good physiatrist works as an advocate to avoid surgery unless absolutely necessary, but can and will order MRI's and other tests to determine the severity of the problem.
A physiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in physical medicine, rehabilitation, and pain medicine. These spine specialists focus on the body's musculoskeletal system, which includes bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves. Physiatrists treat patients of all ages with diverse problems ranging from simple low back sprains to complex disorders, such as spinal cord injury. Their comprehensive approach includes treating the entire patient, not just symptoms.
First see an orthopedist who can diagnose the problem. 3 weeks of pain needs attention.
You might have a muscle strain you keep exacerbating. Just the spasm can cause it to take much longer to heal than if you were on a muscle relaxer.
You might have disc herniation which the sooner you start treating that, the better.
Or you can continue to hope your back gets better on its own, but that doesn't sound like it's working too well for you.
Thanks all for the great advice, hope to try some of it immediately.
Don,t usually bother with the quacks but think I,ll follow the general advice and get along to a good physeo.
Am taking anti-inflammatory but they don,t seem to work too well and cause stomache upset. Can,t take a nip of whisky when on them either.
Like the idea of the heat patch, would be very soothing in our damp climate.
My wife had really bad back pain a couple of years ago. We bought her a nice tens unit that helped quite a bit. We lend it out every now and then to friends that have back pain, and it tends to ease the pain in each who have tried it.
A good back brace when working helps a lot. Along with letting the young bucks do the heavy lifting. Alive is a good thing also... But I don't want to get too hung up on meds and use only in dire straits.
Maybe I should go see a Doctor also and listen to his/her advice.
Exercise and stretching. If you're over weight, lose it.
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