Remedies for the "Twinging Screws"?

[Penners]

Having just got home after three weeks away, I was looking forward to getting stuck into the next project - installing a new window in a bedroom. "But first," I thought, "I'll just rehang that sitting room door that keeps scraping on the threshold."

So I took the door off, and in the process my back decided to go into spasm!

I suppose I'm now forced to wait some weeks for it to sort itself out, which - as you can imagine - is bl**dy frustrating!

Anyone got any helpful suggestions for freeing up a very painful creaking back? Past experience tells me that the doctor will give me some exercises (that I'm not allowed to do until the back is better!) and tell me to take ibuprofen.

 

[Lime]

I've always suffered from a weak back ever since playing second row at school.
However an exercise that I have often used is this:-

Stand with feet apart (12") and arms by side.
Stretch one arm as high as it will go as if trying to touch the ceiling.
Continue to stretch the arm up as is attempting to reach for something on the ceiling until your back can move your arm up no more.
Every fraction of an inch upwards helps move your back.
It may take a while.
Relax and put your arm down by your side.

Then repeat the execise with the other arm.

Do this as long as you feel comfortable then end using the arm that give you least pain.

This exercise can move all the joints in your back.
Sometimes you will feel your ribs move as they stretch with your back.

It is normal to feel a slight amount of pain but don't over do it.

It works for me.

(I'm sure you have been told before that you should use your legs to lift with and not your back.)

 

[Moo]

Poor Penners - I know just what you're going through. And, assuming it's a similar sacro-iliac sprain that I had, it just means several weeks of regular doses of iboprufen.
But (though it's small comfort, I know) it does get better. I'm now bouncing around as normal, and have nearly dug half my allotment. I'm just much more careful how I do things.
Advice from Bob Flowerdew that's equally applicable to PPDIYrs - "It's cheaper to pay someone else to do it than employ an osteopath"

 

[Penners]

Thanks for that suggestion, Dr Lime. I've given that a try, and it does actually give a slight feeling of relief in the small of the back. I'll continue the treatment.

Mind you, Mrs P walked into the room while I was doing it, and I got a telling-off for trying to clear cobwebs off the ceiling!

Yes, I admit it. We have cobwebs.

Moo - thanks for your sympathy (which was what I was after all the time, really!). As for Bob Flowerdoo's advice - I can only suppose that builders are cheaper in Norfolk than in Suffolk!

 

[Lime]

Mind you, Mrs P walked into the room while I was doing it, and I got a telling-off for trying to clear cobwebs off the ceiling!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Penners]

It's OK for you to laugh! You haven't experienced Mrs P at full volume!

 

[plumbers mate]

Bad backs don't go away either - they keep returning - hence I can't do much DIY because if the back goes and I'm up some steps, in the house on my own (I live alone) it could have serious consequences.
(Mine went "snap" first time when I fell off a four inch high door step as I was twisting round to close the door behind me - so simply done but that was 30 years ago and it still aches or a lot worse now and then.)

The best "cure" is to keep moving - walking is very good and there are excercises which will strengthen it - but you'll always have to take care.

 

[Penners]

Thanks PM. Yes - I also had my first back problem some years ago from a seemingly innocuous event. I was making a small oak window frame and lifted it off the bench, when something went ping...

...and it wasn't knicker elastic (more's the pity!).

 

[Geoffrey]

Ouch - sorry to hear of your misfortune.
My back a problem from time to time too - and I can never remember the exercises they teach you. Although it isn't cheap I have had very good results from osteopaths in the past.
The important thing they never tell you however is to wait for the painkillers to start working, search out a nice red, uncork and self-medicate. Things will seem better for a while at least.

 

[Jocelyn]

It's flat on the floor for you Penners!!

J puts his back injury down to playing hockey against 'St Trinians' (my school) when we were 18 and I put my twinges down to dead heading a daffodil.

The b****r of it all is that you have to engage brain into 'how do I do this task without twinging the back?' before even lifting a hammer.

Hope you will be better soon.

Joss

 

[BMcD]

Sorry to hear about your back Penners it can be a real pig when you have to wake up in the middle of the night and plan how to turn over in bed or take 1/2 an hour to "swing" you legs out of bed.
The last time this happened to me I took the plunge and went to a chiropractor and haven't looked back (well actually I have looked back, often, because I now can without worry) But seriuosly he realy did sort me out and now I go every 6weeks or so for a bit of bone twisting to keep it all in place

 

[Penners]

Good grief - what a gang of creaking doors we all are! It seems that just about everyone has back problems.

Thanks so much for everyone's sympathy and advice. I'm interested to hear one or two positive comments about osteopaths, because I used one in Oxfordshire for a different problem (neck tension headaches) and, frankly, I ended up regarding him as not much short of a charlatan.

If the back problem is due to muscle spasm, can an osteopath really sort it out? I thought they simply manipulated your skeleton to sort out misalignments.

Joss - deadheading a daffodil??!

 

[plumbers mate]

The osteopath didn't help my back - because it's a ligament problem, it sorts itself out after a while - until the next time.

Lying flat on the floor doesn't help with muscles - gentle excercise, like a walk to the pub twice a day will be better for you .............................

 

[Penners]

a walk to the pub twice a day will be better for you

PM - let me know your surgery address and hours, would you? You're my kind of doctor.

 

[Jocelyn]

Yup, I have to agree with Plumbers' Mate, gentle walking does help to re-align the offending muscles, so it's off to the local---!

It really was a daffodil, but I must have been at a very awkward angle to reach it.

My hairdresser ( local and gay) told me that he had 'put his back out' when shaking the bathmat after a long hot bath, so it definitely seems as though any excuse will do, from shoe laces to DIY.

Hey Ho

Joss

 

[Penners]

My hairdresser ( local and gay) told me that he had 'put his back out' when shaking the bathmat.

You do realise that was a metaphor, don't you?! :shock:

 

[L1zzy]

I'm an ex nurse (ok nuff said and probably mostly true!!) you need to follow Mckenzie Tecnique I can promise it does work - sending you a hyperlink is a bit beyone my technophobe brian so I'm afraid you'll need to google:

. McKenzie exercises for back pain relief
These back exercises are named after a physical therapist in New Zealand who noted that extending the spine through exercise could reduce pain generated from the disc space. Theoretically, extension exercises may also help reduce a herniated disc and reduce pressure on a nerve root.

For patients who are suffering from leg pain due to a disc herniation (a radiculopathy), extending the spine with McKenzie back exercises may help reduce the leg pain by "centralizing" the pain (moving the pain from the leg to the back). For most patients, back pain is usually more tolerable than leg pain, and if a patient is able to centralize the pain, they may be able to continue with conservative treatment (such as exercise) and avoid a surgical discectomy.

When the pain is acute, the exercises should be done frequently (every one to two hours). Patients should also try to avoid flexing the spine (bending forward) during exercising.

McKenzie exercises may also be helpful for those individuals who have back pain due to degenerative disc disease. While sitting or flexing forward can accentuate low back pain for patients with degenerative disc disease, extending the spine can serve to relieve the pressure on the disc. Note that the opposite is true in elderly patients who have facet osteoarthritis and/or lumbar stenosis (extending the spine jams the facet joints on the back and increases pressure across the joints, so these patients will typically feel better sitting, and have more pain with extension).

 

[Penners]

Many thanks for all that Lizzy. I googled McKenzie exercises as you suggested, and there are loads of websites that mention this.

I case anyone else is interested, here's the url of one:-

http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/back-injuries.htm

 

[Moo]

The Alexander Technique is well worth investigating, as well. It's something that's taught in most of the major music conservatoires (musicians get into some funny positions), and it certainly helped a friend of mine who had some pretty hideous joint problems.
Not a quick fix, though, because it involves unlearning all the bad posture habits we've developed over a lifetime.

 

[Jocelyn]

errrrr.... oopps!