Have a lower disc that periodically moves out of alignment and is a pain in the back. snorK*
You can feel the slight bulge usually on the left side attributed to an old jr. highschool injury.
I’ve been told that there are exercises one can do to help strengthen that area of the back and help the disc slid back and help retain it’s position.
Any have those exercises handy or advice they could pass along?
Thanks
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Replies
Biggest problem with lower back is weak butt muscles, and tight hip flexors.
Sitting down, cross one leg over the other and pull the top knee toward your chest.
Laying on your back, pull one knee at a time toward your chest.
Laying on your back, cross one straightened leg over the other and pull the top leg toward your head.
Those will loosen up your hip flexors.
To do any of these properly you'll need a book. But they work. My brother and I both inherited crappy backs and have done way too much heavy lifting. These excercises keep us limber.
Oh, and do lots of squats and especially lunges, and hike up mountains or use a stair climber. Get those butt muscles built up. They are the weak link between your hamstring and your back.
I do the exact same stretches. Some even midday. But get this, I am 6-3 360. I do them standing up! I get a lot of funny looks when I do, especially from the new guys.
"It is what it is."
Pilates incorporates most of the PT moves.
But if you are in the midst of an attack/adjustmetn right now, you need to wait for inflamation to reduce first.
Meanwhile, lay on your back on firm support, like the floor with minimal padding, just enough so it doesn't bruise you. Bend knees and relax back so lower back can touch the floor without arching up.
suck in so your belly button is moving towards your spine
Breathe in that position.
rElax too.
Now take your left knee with two hands and pull it towards your right shoulder gently
same crossover with right knee to left shoilder.
That is a start....
I bet this is all on the web someplace.
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Gravity boots is what a guy I knew swore by..just hang upside down daily..no kidding.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
Two things are ESSENTIAL I think.One is decompression and the other is stabilization.You can do decompression by the gravity boots and making faces like a bat, or by chiropractic adjustments, or by various traction devices, or by yoga type stretching, or by...Then it is time to strengthen core muscles that work to hold things in place while allowing motion at the same time.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
So be. EVERY back is it's own set of maladies, I'd not profess to have an answer to "the common Joe" or Rez. I have a T-4 sublux, and a rib that punctures my lung often ( well, every yr. or so) so obviouly I have no first hand advice on LOW back..I hear it suxx bad.
One thing I do know, is if the back is whacked, something else is soon to follow, that often becomes the primary treatment, negating the issue..and then Holy hallejua, the feet start acting up ( or verse vice)..
We are temples, we need a foundation and a stout connectivity to the parts, elsewise, we fail.
I dunno abpout Maine, but we still have 14LBs of gravity/pressure here , right on top and around my very being.
If I email you a method to subvert that, will you SWEAR that you won't ever , ever divulge it? I din't take that oath, so I can, but I can't just say it w/out a disclaimer.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
LOL, In CO, when I was doing a lot of heavy roofing, and driving an hour each way, I would have to adjust the rear view mirror between morning and night, because the compression had me an inch shorter every night going home than in the AM
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
There are a couple of things that I do.
I lay flat on my back with my butt up against the couch. I put my lower legs up on the couch and just relax a while.
A chiropractor one told me to do an exercise in more or less the same position. He said to lie flat on your back and bring your feet right up to my butt.
Then ya lift your butt off the floor using only stomach muscles - You do NOT put any weight on your feet or otherwise use your leg muscles.
It does seem to help some.
Ok, so I don't leave Piff hanging or watch you suffer.
Guided Meditation.
Period.
If you don't know a safe guide in your area, trust in us at BT.
I can walk ya thru it, but "face to face" is a sure fix, tele is OK, but it requires a huge amount of force that is wasted in commo..better spent in healing..lost in translation if you will.
YOU can move it back , just like it wants to be back, just like you moved it to begin with..close your eyes ( this is a good time to play Carly Simon and Son "you can close your eyes") You'll see.
wait, I said 'You'll see" with your eyes closed..you'll see..see your back..see it..with your eyes closed, press on them if you need to..you want lights, and stars and healing..BUT DON'T FOCUS on HEALING....THAT is what GOT you heer, you bod wants to heal, something that ain't broke..just crying out for attn. Thats basically what the bod does when the mind is not paying(paying) attn....body=mind=spirit..who's talking right NOW in pain?
Bring the three amigos into the same realm, all ills will pass.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
My wife showed me a chart that links all injuries/sicknesses to something going on in your life (rather than some other physical cause.) I'm not a zen type of guy, but for the last few problems I've had its actually been somewhat accurate.
Her chart says a lower back injury is due to money worries/issues.
So according to her you don't need to worry about stretching and exercises, instead win the lottery:)
If you have back pain, its hard to do exercises because they just agravate the pain. In my case, once the pain started to go away (because the Chiropractor did adjustments every day), I could exercise the back muscles and the stronger back could hold the disks in place.
Every other day, I lay on the floor and do 10 sholder lifts (shrugs), turn the head to either side 10 times, do 50- not very strenous crunches (get the shoulders off the ground), do 20 leg lifts where I use stomach muscles to pull butt of the ground, then with knees up and tilted to the right as far as comfortable 50 crunches again and then with knees up and tilted to the left as far as comfortable 50 crunches again.
These keep the back pain away and thats the way I want to keep it. If I skip because of sickness, back pain quickly comes back.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
Listen to that women, she knows.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
I've overcome a lot with visualization.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Send me a FAX number and I'll send you the ones my PT gave me. These are a little more focused on the upper back, but should still help.
In part you have to strengthen the parts that are weaker. That helps hold things together.
I've had sciatica for about thirty years. Comes from a worn disc in the lower back. It's a very common problem among men who do a lot of lifting.
When my back went "out" for the first time, I was really in sad shape. Couldn't stand up straight, could hardly walk. So I had my first adjustment from a Chiropractor.
He was an old fashioned bone breaker, just did the basic alignment procedures, but it worked. Got off the table standing up straight and feeling much better. I followed his advice, stopped lifting for a couple of weeks.
The next time I had a problem I was in a different part of the country so I went to a different chiropractor. This man was a real student of the art, with a much better understanding of how the different areas of the body influence one another.
His adjstments were more subtle and seemed to have a more profound effect. He also gave me some exercises to do which helped me keep my back aligned.
One of them which works well for me: Lying on the floor, bend the knees and slide the feet up against the butt. Cross the ankles, grab the legs just below the knees then pull the knees up to the chest. Put the chin against the chest. In this rounded position, use the abdominal muscles to begin a gentle rocking motion.
I've had a lot of success from building better support muscles in the butt and lower back, the hamstrings as well. This has happened as a result of riding recumbent bicycles for the last six or seven years, several hours a week.
The reclined/recumbent posture works the hamstrings, glutes and lower back much more than an upright bike does. I still ride uprights occasionally and always notice that my quadriceps, the big thigh muscle in the front, is getting almost all the work.
Recumbent bikes are made for comfort and speed on longer rides. I met and worked with a member of one recumbent manufacturer's racing team who has two bad discs in his lower back.
Some pretty amazing stories about recumbent bikes helping to relieve lower back problems.
Edit: http://www.bentrideronline.com
Edited 8/5/2008 6:31 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
If it has not been suggested yet, a book called Pain Free has been a great help to me and a few others on this forum.
http://www.amazon.com/Pain-Free-Revolutionary-Stopping-Chronic/dp/0553379887
http://www.egoscue.com/painfree/painfree.php
Mike
Trust in God, but row away from the rocks.
I second the book Pain Free.
Heres some exercises from it that helped me improve rapidly after 90days of no progress from a debilitating sciatia attack last year.
My routine:
1)Sit on edge of chair, feet on floor shoulder width. Butt out. Shoulders back. Dont' use any stomach muscles. Let them all sag. Put pillow between knees and gently squeeze 15 reps. Do three sets. I'm now up to 200 reps. When I first started this, I had trouble doing the 45 reps. It's easy but not if those inner thighs are atrophied.
2) lay on back. Butt up against chair/couch. Thighs square to body. Calves square to thighs. Feet shoulder width apart. Arms out, palms up. Place pillow between knees and squeeze. Don't use stomach muscles. do 15 reps, three sets. I'm now up to 200.
3) lye on floor face down. Support arms up on pillows. Arms are in square position with elbows straight out from shoulders. Let body fall down and relax. Keep feet together in pigeon toe position. Hold position for five minutes.
4)get into hands and knee position. Let head and stomach sag all the way down and relax. If possible, do this in an elevated position, such as putting your knees on the couch and get up on your straightened arms. Let the stomach sag. Hold for one minute.
5)Place your back against a wall. Hold head against wall. Slide down till you are approximately the same height as if you are sitting. Your Knees should not be farther out than your ankles. Hold this position for two minutes. You might not be able to do it for 30 seconds at first. This excercise reconnects your ankles to your hips. You'll be surprised at how this feels when you finish the exercise. Walk around for 30 seconds or so.
6) Boss mentioned this one. Lay flat on back with butt up against chair/couch. Let legs relax in the square position. Arms out, palms up. This position allows the muscles to relax.
That is the emergency fix for a herniated disc. The key for me was rehabbing the inner thighs. I now can feel them holding and working when I lead sideways, forward or back. Before, I was asking some other muscles in my structure to hold me up....which they really weren't meant to do. When your structure is letting the wrong muscles do the work, because some have shut down to protect the body from pain, you have to do the relaxation exercises to release some muscles and activeate others.
There are two other that I almost forgot.
7)lay on back with butt up to chair. Put one leg on chair and let other lay straight. Keep everything lined up with the shoulders and use props to keep feet from rolling sideways. Hold this position for five minutes on each leg. This position was much too painful for me to hold when I had my attack. I could only hold my left leg out there straight for five seconds tops. I can hold forever now.
I also gained a bit from another book. 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, and Foot (Remember When It Didn't Hurt) (Paperback)
by Esther Gokhale (Author)
This book taught me to stand and sit properly. I know can lay down on any bed and gently stretch my lower back. This decompresses the spine and allows the disc to be sucked back in where it belongs. I know know more positions without pain than I have ever known in 25 years. I can walk all day, butt out, and not feel any pain at all. It's an incredible experience!
I still won't lift anything...but I can golf!
Bob's next test date: 12/10/07
Edited 8/5/2008 8:36 pm by Jim_Allen
Thanks all. Have some direction now.
Was walking around half the day with a velcro back support as it helped lessen the intensity when I realized I hadn't hung anywhere
so I grabbed on the top of a fork lift and relaxed a tad concentrating on relaxing the pain pont and after doing that a few times it made a big diff.
Thanks again.
rez
I broke my back in 5 places so living with the bad back thing is just part of life anymore.
My Chiro gave me some simple exercises that I do before I ever get out of bed, just some simple stretches is all but it makes a big difference. Never sleep on your stomach and if you sleep on your side you should have a pillow between your knees. Also while sleeping on my back I put a pillow under my knees so that my back and legs are not strait in line.
My other form of relief is Advil, probably die from to many of these but God they do wonders!
Doug
Wow
I did not realize how many remedies there are for the lower back.
I pinched a nerve Wednesday.
Was pretty much useless thru Friday (walked around and told the guys what to do between stretching)
I went to a PT and learned how to take care of my back. There are numerous different philosophies on how to take care of back but I can tell you that I have had great success with what I do.
The book that outlines it is
Treat your own Back By Robin A. McKenzie
He also wrote
Treat your own Neck
I own both. Have both neck and back problems and saw PT for both. My PT was trained on the Mckenzie Principles of Physical Therapy (It is a well recognized princple of training and PT within the industry)
All I can tell you is it works for me.
If my back is crooked (look in mirror with shirt off) then I stretch my back into place. (one hand on hip and other hand on upper rib on close side and push against each other to get muscles stretched so back is aligned)
then get down on flat surface and do push up and keep belly button on the ground, relaxing and stretching back, allowing spine to stretch out and helps stop the spazming. 1st day is rough but if you are doing it right, it feels better pretty quick.
I'd suggest buying the book (amazon for $10 and it is a quick easy read) and stick with the excercises.
I did not stretch when my back got tight on Tuesday nite and pinched it on Wednesday AM
Now I am stretching again at least 1x per day.
Ice and IB will help reduce the inflamation especially early in the attack. Bob's next test date: 12/10/07
I can decompress my lower back with one of those blue exercise balls.
You just drape you body over it on you stomach.
From that position you can roll forward on the ball, side to side, etc.
This one stretch does it for me.