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Post by questa on Feb 5, 2020 23:57:22 GMT
Try using a pillow between your legs when you lie on your side.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 5, 2020 7:13:33 GMT
Thank you for the advice. It resolved gradually But Now I've strained my neck dagnammit. Must have slept in an awkward position or something on Monday night as I woke up with a stiff neck and shoulder. Gradually got more painful so I'm back on the painkillers, heat cushion and gentle exercises. Downloaded the NHS pdf containing the exercises and advice. It's excruciating when I wake up so I'm waking Jeff and the dog with my whimpering but after I've been moving around it becomes easier. It should resolve by itself but I am starting to feel rather decrepit Jeff thinks that it may have been brought on by the way the dog pulls sometimes as it's on the side that I hold the lead when we go on our daily walks...but I think it's more likely I just slept in an awkward position...
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Post by patricklondon on Mar 5, 2020 9:33:56 GMT
Sometimes these things come from habitual movement (or lack of it). I once got weird pains in one arm and shoulder, and eventually guessed it was because I used a backpack slung over one shoulder, and was unconsciously holding the shoulder in a hitched-up position to stop the strap from slipping off. Once I switched to a cross-body courier bag, it went away. There might be something in the dog-lead explanation (though maybe, combining that with an awkward sleeping position would bring it all to a head). My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 10:37:08 GMT
As we all know, there is only one thing worse than getting old.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 6, 2020 20:03:51 GMT
My neck pain is getting better, I just seize up when I've been asleep for a few hours.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 6, 2020 23:37:19 GMT
I recently read a quick fix for a stiff neck. Tried it and it does work, plus told a friend about it who found it equally miraculous.
All you do is try to pull your shoulder blades together & hold them for a moment, then repeat a few times.
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Post by questa on Mar 7, 2020 5:21:36 GMT
The muscular-skeletal branch of ortho pediatricians ran a big promotion some years ago warning of the damage caused by carrying back packs on one shoulder. Even the young primary school kids were carrying far too much weight. After 10 years of school carting several Kg weight each day research found pain, frozen shoulder, scoliosis and loss of function to be among the outcomes. Many schools made rules to forbid one shoulder carrying and now the smaller hi-tech devices have replaced heavy text books Kids growing bones go out of shape easily. Have you ever noticed that Orthpaedic means "straight child". Must have been a very early specialty.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 7, 2020 11:52:28 GMT
I sometimes feel as though I am the only person in Paris not carrying a backpack. I absolutely cannot fathom what men in my age group find to carry around constantly. Perhaps several changes of adult diapers?
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 7, 2020 14:41:11 GMT
I carry a day pack with me. No diapers in there. But having things in that is more secure than putting them in my pockets.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 6, 2020 7:37:37 GMT
We are both in the wars at the moment. I started an ache in my lower back which I think is called Lumbago. It's not like the stabbing pain of acute sciatica running down the buttocks to the knee, but a sore feeling across my whole lower back. It bothered me whenever I stood up so got some Voltaren tablets from my pharmacy. Taking one in conjunction with Norflex got me out of pain in 30 minutes. But the pain comes back by the end of the day. I have switched to Celebrex (kinder on the stomach lining) and Norflex but am really sick and tired of this dull ache.
As for my husband, he is in great pain in the arch of his foot. Yesterday started in both feet and because he decided to trim a very long hedge which required lifting ones arms higher than the waist holding the hedge trimmer, his old "toothpaste shoulder" has come back. He hates tablets but has given in quietly to taking an anti-inflam because he is so sore top and bottom. It is very depressing to be in pain. My sister told me to do stretch exercises which she does religiously every day and for years now has no pain in her back. So I'll do what I'm told….besides standing under the hot water in the shower!
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Post by onlyMark on Jun 6, 2020 10:42:13 GMT
tod, we downloaded a simple Tai Chi video and follow that every evening. We now do it twice or three times because it isn't very long. I've put a different music to it and it's quite pleasant. Helps Mrs M with the back she also tends to have problems with if she's not active due to spending long periods in the office looking at a computer. At least before she could go out to meetings but now has had to do Zoom/Skype stuff. Also there's only her own mattress on our own bed that suits her so being away a lot doesn't help.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 6, 2020 11:01:11 GMT
I carry a teardrop shaped bag (bright red) called a "Healthy Back Bag". It is not very large, and weight sits mostly in the small of my back when I'm walking or cycling. Of course I can also carry it in front if I'm in a crowded bus or métro car (to avoid both theft and annoying other people. I see a lot of people, usually men, carrying a whole shopping in backpacks when cycling. I have pannier bags, fortunately beat-up looking now so nobody will steal them.
Yes, here too, there are warnings about children carrying heavy loads on their backs. And the NHS site is good advice anywhere, not just in the UK, ad-free if I recall and written in plain English. Don't remember whether it was also in other languages (whether spoken by immigrant communities, or Celtic languages).
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Post by tod2 on Jun 6, 2020 16:14:44 GMT
Thanks Mark, I used to do Thai Chi in my younger days so I know what you are talking about. No doubt the routine would help but the mind is willing but the flesh is weak…..
Lagatta - The enormous school bags I see very very young children lugging makes me furious but when I questioned why? I was told the child cannot risk leaving the books in her/his desk as they would be stolen. And she/he cannot leave any at home as they might be needed for a lesson. Thankfully my grandsons have not such problem with books etc., but I have helped lug their sports bag up a flight of steps!
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Post by patricklondon on Jun 6, 2020 18:36:23 GMT
And the NHS site is good advice anywhere, not just in the UK, ad-free if I recall and written in plain English. Don't remember whether it was also in other languages (whether spoken by immigrant communities, or Celtic languages). The main one is actually run for NHS England, but it doesn't translate its content, just referring people to online translation services or a number of different resources in other languages. NHS Wales does have a Welsh language version of the site but NHS Scotland doesn't do the same for Gaelic - but it does have an option to get some content in British Sign Language.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 6, 2020 19:28:34 GMT
Thanks Patrick!
Tod, at a community centre where I volunteer, every week there are Vietnamese elders who take part in Tai Chi sessions. They are so marvellously supple. Of course their tendency to be much more slender and light-boned than most South Africans whether white or black and at least some of the Asians (mostly South Asians) contributes to them being so limber that it is astonishing and inspiring.
I have (moderate) arthitis so it is difficult for me too, but less so in the Boreal summer as I ride my bicycle a lot, garden etc.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 7, 2020 7:40:37 GMT
I am always delighted to see groups in the open air going through their paces with a Thai Chi Guru at the helm. This beautiful scenario can surprise the intrepid tourist venturing into Belleville. In the smallest courtyard, under a tree just off the sidewalk, and in Parc de Belleville's amphitheatre. My greatest delight was a group of young children all dressed up in bright yellow and red moving in sync with their master. Don't know if this is true, but I was told that everyone develops arthritis from the age of 18. Now isn't that when the human body stops growing? I suppose its a downhill slope from then on…….
My back gave a few tweeks this morning just to remind me to take another Celebrex with my morning tea. The old man says his feet are fine and only the occasional reminder that his shoulder is still tender. As we are both in our mid 70's (me two years older than my Toy Boy husband) we know there could be worse ahead. That's life. You are born, you spawn, you look forward to another dawn.
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Post by casimira on Jun 9, 2020 12:08:00 GMT
I strained my back yesterday while foolishly trying to lift rain sodden sandbags. (my husband was furious with me when he saw what I was doing as I already have lower back problems).
I am hoping to be able to see a chiropractor that practices nearby and worked miracles on me many years ago.
In the meantime, I have been icing it and took some naproxen along with applying copious mounts of arnica cream.
More than anything, I am furious with myself for even entertaining the idea of being able to lift them to begin with.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 9, 2020 13:59:55 GMT
One of those “wish I could go back and do it differently” moments...
Hope it heals quickly, casi.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 9, 2020 14:00:30 GMT
I remember growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and there were a zillion chiropractors everywhere, more than anybody could ever need. It was apparently because chiropractors were not legal in Louisiana at that time.
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Post by casimira on Jun 10, 2020 12:36:23 GMT
Thanks Kimby. But, there was no reason for me doing it at all let alone differently.
Yes Kerouac, chiropractors got a really bad rap when that specialized form of treatment emerged seemingly out of nowhere in the 1970's. The American Medical Association was largely responsible for this because of the threat it posed to them.
Chiropractors were considered "quacks" as were acupuncturists.("witch doctors").
I am quite sure I never would have sought treatment from a chiropractor had not someone I knew and trusted tell me how much relief he experienced after he had gone to see this woman. (Not all chiropractors use the same technique. This I know to be true because I saw someone else in her absence and was very dissatisfied).
I was treated by this woman many, many years ago and she gained a reputation for healing physical ailments and her practice over the years has been quite successful. I know some people under her care who moved away and return to see her.
I was so surprised that she still practices. She has what I can only describe as a Dorian Gray syndrome of sorts.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 10, 2020 15:54:05 GMT
Chiropractors were considered "quacks" as were acupuncturists.("witch doctors"). Good grief. I have had acupuncture by a practising South African Physiotherapist. But I always knew the application of certain "needles" was an ancient medical healing technique from the East, like China. Those who thought acupuncturists were "Witch doctors" need to come to Africa and experience the real ones. They won't have needles but will make you drink a potion of anything from rotting animal parts/human parts, to herbs and bark, roots of plants. Most times I believe you are expected to puke shortly after drinking the potion.. Gawd help you if you didn't.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 10, 2020 16:13:44 GMT
I'm sure it helps you to forget what ailed you.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 10, 2020 22:28:08 GMT
I was so surprised that she still practices. She has what I can only describe as a Dorian Gray syndrome of sorts. What does that mean, Casimira?
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Post by casimira on Jun 11, 2020 11:55:15 GMT
Bixa, she does not appear to have aged at all and, I have known her since the 1970's.
Tod, I had an acupuncturist that I used for many years for a variety of ailments and she was a miracle worker. I had a great deal of respect for her because she was able to acknowledge and advise me when she felt that I needed to seek out a Western medicinal alternative/ approach. Unfortunately, she retired and I haven't found another.
She knew she could only provide me with a limited amount of relief when I tore the meniscus in my knee. I subsequently did have laparoscopic surgery on it.
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Post by Kimby on Apr 25, 2022 13:16:52 GMT
Ouch! Yesterday I pulled a few weeds and misplaced clumps of grass from the planter bed where I’m trying to grow milkweeds to feed the monarch butterflies, and when I went to straighten up my back surprised me with pain that made me whimper. I could hardly get vertical and hobble inside to take two naproxen (the therapeutic dose, says Dr. Kimby).
At bedtime I was ready for more but, doctors orders, it can only be taken every 12 hours. So Tylenol for bedtime and two more Naproxen this am.
I have been blessed with a good back for most of my life, but suddenly have gained some empathy for people who suffer with back pain. It HURTS! And is disabling, in terms of bending over to pick something up off the floor, or even to get out of bed or off the sofa. I’m learning whole new ways of moving to keep my back straight.
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Post by questa on Apr 26, 2022 3:19:55 GMT
It HURTS! And is disabling, in terms of bending over to pick something up off the floor, or even to get out of bed or off the sofa. I’m learning whole new ways of moving to keep my back straight. My spine is fast becoming a collection of crumbling vertebrae, compressed nerves and several areas where the muscles contract into a tight spasm and I can't move for the pain. After about 10 minutes it eases enough and I alternate heat pack/ ice pack which seems to help.I would get a spasm about every hour or so and the fear of the next one coming was almost as debilitating as the pain. The specialist arranged for me to have Botox injections every 3 months, quite a procedure in itself...just ask Google! Four or so small syringes in a sterile environment are loaded with Botox. The needles are extremely small and they are moved around just under the first layer of skin, the needles are made from some flexible material, on finding a clenched muscle, the Doctor kills it with a squirt of Botox.I feel a bit of a "common or garden" headache for 2-3 days then no more severe pain until a week or so before my next injections are due.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 26, 2022 3:38:23 GMT
Kimby, sleep on the floor with as little padding as you can stand. While you're lying there, do as much stretching as you can -- scissor stretching your legs and the like. It WILL get better.
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Post by questa on Apr 26, 2022 4:44:39 GMT
I am losing the plot! I completely forgot to tell you the pain is in my skull at the back of my neck and down the right side of neck into the shoulder. It is linked to the Parkinsons...the muscle spasms are part of the never-ending story.
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Post by whatagain on Apr 26, 2022 5:42:59 GMT
Back pain gets 120pc of empathy from me. You just can not do anything and if you do, you get shots of pain... I have never experienced real back pain but my wife gets some now and then. I kepp telling her to do some gym, esp before we reach 60 but of course she doesn't have time...
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Post by Kimby on Apr 26, 2022 10:26:42 GMT
It's a lot better now.
I remember my Dad's trick for when he had a backache, usually gotten from overuse at the cabin.
He'd stretch out in the back of the station wagon while Mom drove two hour drive home. The rocking and jiggling of the car acted like a Magic Fingers bed massager and fixed him right up.
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