The back pain guy...update

[coffeeman]

Hi all

I posted a couple weeks ago on the back pain. It's been a hard winter here. Anyway, I was hospitalized for couple days. Then they cut me loose.

Well, I healed for a while and started to feel fairly OK. My pain was in the right lower back. The weather turned nice. The snow melted. So....since I've never been accused of being smart, I decided I had to drag a couple fallen trees from my drive lane. I got help to hook chain to trees. I drug the trees from drive lane to field. It sure was nice to get on the dractor again. I only used a very low speed to navigate tractor around.

Can you all guess what happened????


What a Dumbo I was!!! The next morning I couldn't move again. Only thing, pain moved from the right lower back to the left lower back. So is the new pain from the tractor ride or is it because I maybe favored the other side and hurt it?? Went back to doctor and he said to use a heating pad or Bengay. (must be some new treatment.)

How long will it be till I can use tractor? Are there any good seats available to enable me to use the tractor in more comfort? I am guessing water in back tires and weight on front tires may help.

cheers coffeeman

 

[DocHeb]

You will always have a weak link in your back, and it will "go out" from time to time. The pain is usually the worst on days 3-4, just when most people will be expecting it to get better. Cold for the first 48 hours, then heat/stretching. Anti-inflammatories (Advil or Aleve) might help. You might try physical therapy for at least a few visits. They can see you a little better than I can through this Ethernet connection and will give you specific exercises and stretches that will loosen your involved muscles. They will also evaluate you for muscle balance - most folks use mostly their spinal muscles to stabilize their spine - with minimal use of the abdominals. If overweight in the gut, you must lose weight - the mechanics of a supporting big gut will overpower your puny back muscles every time. You will get better after doing stretches, continue them for a while, stop doing them, re-injure your back, do the stretches, get better, reinjure your back, etc. Until your core strength (abdominals, tenderloins and the back muscles) are built up and equalized, you will continue to have intermittant problems. Eventually you will learn proper body mechanics, even learn that there is a correct way to stand. You will learn, or the pain will just get worse and worse. There is no easy way out of this cycle, but not getting out of the cycle is pretty miserable.

Been there, done that.

 

[Mousefield]

Sometimes it doesn't take much. That's why I got my tractor. Just a few minuets ago the wife says she wants three more trailer loads of compost (from our goats, it's great stuff) for her veggie and flower beds. That's 5 ft X 10 ft X 2 ft each trailer load. If I had to shovel that much I would be at the chiropractor every day for weeks. Hope you get better soon and just take is slow. Heat and ice are a good combination for a lot of these types of aches. First I do some heat (or hot tub) and then an ice pack on the lower back. Everyone's back is a bit different but may also work for you.

 

[2manyrocks]

My chiro says heat feels good, but inflames the tissue. So use cold packs instead.

Twisting your back in a tractor seat to see what you're dragging behind you may not be a good thing. Bouncing around on a tractor on rough ground may not be a good thing.

When this stuff happens, it has been building up for a long time, so don't get frustrated thinking that it is going away quickly. Your body needs time to heal.

I do hope you get to feeling much better.

 

[Hardscrabbble]

I have been where you are at with the back pain. I have had every kind of treatment except surgery for my lower back. I have chosen to avoid that if possible. Back exercise and strectching exercises along with Advil keep me going. Also, I have adjusted my lifestyle to avoid those things which I can no longer do. It is really hard sometimes. The mind is willing but the back is not. Good luck!

 

[dmccarty]

My experience is that it just takes time. In my case years before my back was "better". Not that it was back to what it USED to be before injury but that the pain was mostly gone most of the time. Then we had the car accident which took almost a year to "recover." After the accident I did NO physical work for at least three months. That was a lesson learned from the first injury which had almost healed and then I re injured the back. This stuff does take time to heal or heal back to best it will.

One "good" thing from the car accident is that the new bone cracker we go too did make my back better than before the accident. Running the rotary cutter meant I would constantly be looking back over my right shoulder at the mower. I don't have cleared land to any great extent so I watch in front of me, beside me and behind the tractor. Looking back after 4-5 hours was pretty painful. Not so bad now.

You really do have to slow down and be careful of what you do and how you do.

Later,
Dan

 

[bstrom]

As the Doc said above, it will be an ongoing process. The therapy sessions will work as they will give you a set of exercises that you will probably need to do for the rest of your life. They don't take that long to do and you will feel better and have less chance of injuring yourself again and again. I have been doing mine and have been ok after falling to the ground in agony and going to the emergency room a few years back. If I don't do them for a week I can feel it coming back so you will learn the discipline or your active life will be over.

 

[MF1652]

Back problems are a serious thing. At the age of 25, I had a microdiscectomy for three ruptured discs, L4, L5 and S1. It took years of physical therapy, visits to different doctors and a lot of frustration before I got better. I'm still not 100% but I know what I can and can't do and I now take better care of my back. I'm sure your feeling frustrated, but these things take time to figure out and fix. I read your first post and had to bite my tongue reading the helpful responses you got. Do you really think you should be looking for advice on this forum? Good intentions or not, the responses may not be from those in the medical field. If they are, how can you verify they know what they're talking about. It's your own back man!! You only get one. Take care of it and get help from someone other than a bunch of tractor nuts. I'm not trying to upset anyone. I just don't think your looking in the right place for advice. It's Tractor By Net. Not Back By Net. Just my 2 cents. Good luck. I know the pain you are going through.

 

[coffeeman]

an interesting thing.... Before the injury I would get leg cramps often. They were less often if I drank a lot of water. Last nite I got my first leg cramp since I got hurt. I am thinking they were not hapening because I have been less active while recovering. I guess I feel better and spend a lot more time walking, standing etc. Now as usual before injury, I'll need to drink a lot more water. It seems to me that helps. however I don't know why?

Cheers....coffeeman

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

an interesting thing.... Before the injury I would get leg cramps often. They were less often if I drank a lot of water. Last nite I got my first leg cramp since I got hurt. I am thinking they were not hapening because I have been less active while recovering. I guess I feel better and spend a lot more time walking, standing etc. Now as usual before injury, I'll need to drink a lot more water. It seems to me that helps. however I don't know why?

Cheers....coffeeman

Your new best friend: Ibuprofen