Help -- advice for bad back!!

[philipm]

Have had a bad back for years but after going for physio have learnt to pace myself and not to stick at one thing for too long. Trouble with pain killers is you could just be making it worse in the future.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Okay ... aside from pain relief tablets, injections, and so on, there have been four types of professional intervention mentioned - chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapy and acupuncture.

Can somebody with a bit of knowledge, and/or experience, explain the pros and cons of each please.

 

[Swarm]

Okay ... aside from pain relief tablets, injections, and so on, there have been four types of professional intervention mentioned - chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapy and acupuncture.

Can somebody with a bit of knowledge, and/or experience, explain the pros and cons of each please.

As someone who has had experience of all of them, here goes.

Chiropractor
Basically deals with the spine.

Osteopath
Skeletal abnormalities, realignment etc.

Physiotherapist
Soft tissue damage, ultra sound, manipulation.

Acupuncture
Treatment with needles, usually in conjunction with physical therapy.

From my own experience, I'd see a physio every time. Find a good one, it's worth it, they will realign any 'out of joint' vertebrae but will also treat the inevitable soft tissue damage around the area of trauma.

With regards the OP, every time my back has 'gone' I've been fully aware as in 'oh no that's gone'. If it is pain that sets in after a period of heavy work, it's usually just muscle soreness, which in itself can be very restrictive until the area is warmed up. When I say warmed up I mean blood flow, the best thing is exercise, carefully at first obviously.

Pain from a torn or stretched ligament around the sacro illiac area will drop you like a stone and will make a grown man cry.

 

[Glenviewbee]

Depends on the practitioner.....

C, O, P are all manual therapies and work on the basis of restoring movement. Each profession has a slightly different viewpoint from which it works and each practitioner within each profession will have their own stance from which they work.
C, O, Ps (should) have a thorough grounding in anatomy and neurology (superior to GP's) - C and O will also have taken physiology to the same level as a medical students.
C, O and P all will use relatively similar techniques, but there tends to be more manipulative techs (cracking) with C, more soft tissue (massage type and ultra sound, electricery muscle stimulation) with P and more articulation (moving a joint through its ranges) with O - but all of them may use any treatment modality at any time (!) They can also use additional techniques such as medical acupuncture if they have taken the appropriate courses.

Acupuncture - there is Chinese (which works on the basis of energy lines in the body) and western, or medical, which works on the idea of stimulating the neurological elements of control of the muscles (as far as I understand, don't use this myself so am open to correction)

As for Pros and Cons - many people get tremendous help and pain relief from each type of therapy, there are also many people who lambast the therapies and say they are a load of quackery.

From my perspective as an osteopath I try to look at why the patient is presenting in the situation they are and what can be done to enable the natural compensation and adaptation of the body to deal with whatever issue is going on.

HTH

 

[mbc]

Mun, I know it doesnt help when you're in agony, but prevention is better than cure. Core strength, pilates, yoga or tai chi if that sort of thing floats your boat, but squats, press ups, sit ups and stretching are more appropriate IMHO for bee work, gardening, building sort of strength. Stick a note on the wall, "once I feel able, I will stretch and strengthen my back daily". I think we can all agree backache is a baseturd and is best avoided.

 

[madasafish]

Mun, I know it doesnt help when you're in agony, but prevention is better than cure. Core strength, pilates, yoga or tai chi if that sort of thing floats your boat, but squats, press ups, sit ups and stretching are more appropriate IMHO for bee work, gardening, building sort of strength. Stick a note on the wall, "once I feel able, I will stretch and strengthen my back daily". I think we can all agree backache is a baseturd and is best avoided.

I did and still do lots of pressups, squats, squats and stretching (I used to weightlift) - and still got my bad back.. So in my view and in my experience:-( , although strength is indeed helpful, it does not prevent back problems...

 

[mbc]

, although strength is indeed helpful, it does not prevent back problems...

It can, it certainly makes it easier to compensate for an injury and continue working in a limited way with painkillers, and it can also lead to much quicker recovery.
If you are fit, keep fit, stretch and exercise is good advice

 

[REDWOOD]

I have lifted engines, gearboxes, lorry wheels and p shafts all my working life and I pulled my back bending down to smooth a cat !!! how stupid does that sound lol

 

[Dishmop]

I often have lower back pain and merely dose myself with Paracetamol. I find it lowers the pain level pretty quickly. Any good?

I have been in bed for the last four days with back/stomach/hips/bladder pain.
Had more paracetamol than I care to think about..Cant walk very well....... Everything I eat tastes of burned plastic. Was waking up every hour or so until an out of hours doctor (flown in from Germany to cover the service) gave me some codeine.. I showed him some other tabets another doctor had given me and he threw them in the bin...

 

[Dishmop]

I have lifted engines, gearboxes, lorry wheels and p shafts all my working life and I pulled my back bending down to smooth a cat !!! how stupid does that sound lol

I got stuck in the back of my truck one day when I sneezed lifting a box...... another time I got stuck when I pulled the handbrake on in a Transit and couldnt let it off.

 

[BeeJayBee]

As someone who has had experience of all of them, here goes.

Chiropractor
Basically deals with the spine.

Osteopath
Skeletal abnormalities, realignment etc.

Physiotherapist
Soft tissue damage, ultra sound, manipulation.

Acupuncture
Treatment with needles, usually in conjunction with physical therapy

C, O and P all will use relatively similar techniques, but there tends to be more manipulative techs (cracking) with C, more soft tissue (massage type and ultra sound, electricery muscle stimulation) with P and more articulation (moving a joint through its ranges) with O - but all of them may use any treatment modality at any time (!) They can also use additional techniques such as medical acupuncture if they have taken the appropriate courses.

Thanks

Now to work out which one to try!

 

[Newtobees]

Hi chris i might be able to help !.
Pm sent .

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

I have been in bed for the last four days with back/stomach/hips/bladder pain.
Had more paracetamol than I care to think about..Cant walk very well....... Everything I eat tastes of burned plastic. Was waking up every hour or so until an out of hours doctor (flown in from Germany to cover the service) gave me some codeine.. I showed him some other tabets another doctor had given me and he threw them in the bin...

That sounds like a kidney infection take a urine sample to be tested when you go to the docs. Either today if there is a GP out of hours clinic or tomorrow this is urgent if it is kidney infection as can cause permanent damage.

 

[Glenviewbee]

That sounds like a kidney infection take a urine sample to be tested when you go to the docs. Either today if there is a GP out of hours clinic or tomorrow this is urgent if it is kidney infection as can cause permanent damage.

Seconded - if the kidneys are having an issue then excretion of waste substances find alternative routes to be removed and that can be in the saliva hence the taste

 

[Glenviewbee]

I have lifted engines, gearboxes, lorry wheels and p shafts all my working life and I pulled my back bending down to smooth a cat !!! how stupid does that sound lol

Redwood - that is actually a relatively common situation (not necessarily stroking a cat but something trivial!) I will get builders through the door who've been hefting bricks/blocks/joists without a problem, the get home and pick up a letter off the floor and 'bam'

Given that the action seems like a 'non event' you don't give it much thought so can be at the wrong angle etc, but also if you've been lifting heavy weights all day then your connective tissue will change temporarily through a process of hysteresis - essentially uncoiling of the building blocks within the tissue - leading to a potentially more unstable joint if the muscles are not engaged for the action that you undertake. As stroking the cat/picking up a piece of paper (for example) seems like nothing in comparison to hefting an engine/gearbox or joists the muscles are not fully engaged and the vulnerable joint is tweaked.

 

[Dishmop]

Hi chris i might be able to help !.
Pm sent .

Thanks for the offer..However, my daughter has a degree in Sports Science, specialising in sports injuries...She does some work for NCFC and is the physio for Wroxham FC and has her own place in Norwich.
A lot of my back problems which are usually short term are from when I broke my pelvis in 1979...Kings Lynn hospital didnt diagnose it properly...Complete wasters....I laid on a trolley for 2 hours because there was no x-ray person on duty..Then they x rayed my head and when I asked if they were going to do my back...."why" ..because it hurts ...I had told the ambulance people.... I was in the hospital for 4 hours having been put on a ward when somebody came to the conclusion that I was unable to beath properly because I had a punctured lung.......and it also turned out later that they had missed a pelvis break... Both injuries are now classed as life threatening.

I laid in clothes full of broken windscreen glass for about 8 hours...

As Margaret Elisabeth has said, the other problems are more than likely due to a kidney infection and last week there was a small amount of blood in urine, but I dont hold much faith in any of the doctors at my surgery...For 3 yeas i was telling them that I was waking up feeling as if I had been hit with a cricket bat...then I found out that they just kept writing down that I had a headache.
Paracetamol.... "Dont take for more than 3 days. If the problem persists see a doctor".....what does doctor say?........"keep taking the paracetamol."

 

[Dishmop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newtobees View Post
Hi chris i might be able to help !.
Pm sent .

I might have made a mistake in assuming that was for me..

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Thanks for the offer..However, my daughter has a degree in Sports Science, specialising in sports injuries...She does some work for NCFC and is the physio for Wroxham FC and has her own place in Norwich.
A lot of my back problems which are usually short term are from when I broke my pelvis in 1979...Kings Lynn hospital didnt diagnose it properly...Complete wasters....I laid on a trolley for 2 hours because there was no x-ray person on duty..Then they x rayed my head and when I asked if they were going to do my back...."why" ..because it hurts ...I had told the ambulance people.... I was in the hospital for 4 hours having been put on a ward when somebody came to the conclusion that I was unable to beath properly because I had a punctured lung.......and it also turned out later that they had missed a pelvis break... Both injuries are now classed as life threatening.

I laid in clothes full of broken windscreen glass for about 8 hours...

As Margaret Elisabeth has said, the other problems are more than likely due to a kidney infection and last week there was a small amount of blood in urine, but I dont hold much faith in any of the doctors at my surgery...For 3 yeas i was telling them that I was waking up feeling as if I had been hit with a cricket bat...then I found out that they just kept writing down that I had a headache.
Paracetamol.... "Dont take for more than 3 days. If the problem persists see a doctor".....what does doctor say?........"keep taking the paracetamol."

The more you know and tell the doc's the better they get at giving you what you need. hence the urine sample for testing.
Unfortunately when we are ill the brain does not function as well as normal so the worse the doc is at asking the right questions the worse the treatment. It's always a good idea to have someone with you who can give info that you might miss out.
Some years ago my dad was in hospital for chest pain and nausea. they couldn't figure out what it was until I rang and asked to speak to the doctor. I told him he had fallen in the shower while on holiday and I thought he had cracked a rib and punctured his spleen.

 

[Dishmop]

if the kidneys are having an issue then excretion of waste substances find alternative routes to be removed and that can be in the saliva hence the taste

So its now proven that I am full of........

 

[richardbees]

So its now proven that I am full of........

that's right Dish ---

Patience
Information
Skill
Sense of humour

rich