The misery of lower back pain
Discussion
I've had back problems for many years brought on by sports injuries, a bike accident, being a bit over weight.
I had been finding I was getting more and more stiffness / joint pain all over my body, in the last year or two, I just put it down to getting older and a few more lockdown pounds, through lack of activity.
But I had been looking into Intermittent fasting recently, primarily as a way of losing weight, and just by chance came across the fact that a lot of stiffness and joint problems are purely down to inflammation, from our crappy western diets.
Fasting is apparently extremely effective not only for weight loss, but also for reducing inflammation ie. stiffness and joint pain.
Anyway I took it with a pinch of salt, but decided to try the intermittent fasting starting with 16:8 and building up to a couple of 24hr fasts (or basically one meal a day) it's not as hard as it sounds.
Well as if by magic, within a week, I not only lost some weight, I think I lost a lot of the water retention, but all my aches and pains disappeared, I was amazed !!
Obviously I have slipped back into my old ways, and put a few pounds back on, and some of the stiffness and aches are beginning to reappear, but now at least I know what's causing it, and what I can do about it in the future.
(Youtube - Intermittent Fasting / Autophagy / Inflammation / Dr. Jason Fung / Dave Asprey)
I had been finding I was getting more and more stiffness / joint pain all over my body, in the last year or two, I just put it down to getting older and a few more lockdown pounds, through lack of activity.
But I had been looking into Intermittent fasting recently, primarily as a way of losing weight, and just by chance came across the fact that a lot of stiffness and joint problems are purely down to inflammation, from our crappy western diets.
Fasting is apparently extremely effective not only for weight loss, but also for reducing inflammation ie. stiffness and joint pain.
Anyway I took it with a pinch of salt, but decided to try the intermittent fasting starting with 16:8 and building up to a couple of 24hr fasts (or basically one meal a day) it's not as hard as it sounds.
Well as if by magic, within a week, I not only lost some weight, I think I lost a lot of the water retention, but all my aches and pains disappeared, I was amazed !!
Obviously I have slipped back into my old ways, and put a few pounds back on, and some of the stiffness and aches are beginning to reappear, but now at least I know what's causing it, and what I can do about it in the future.
(Youtube - Intermittent Fasting / Autophagy / Inflammation / Dr. Jason Fung / Dave Asprey)
Edited by BlackG7R on Saturday 24th July 19:22
Had to admit myself to A&E on Thursday as a result of extreme back pain. Was admitted overnight, x-rayed and scanned and it turns out I have lumbar spinal stenosis at L3/4, adjacent disc disease, a further herniated disc and bony protusions which are affecting my nerves. Not great, as it’s a condition which will only get worse and can’t be reversed/stopped. I’ve already had a fusion of L4/5 which complicates things, I’ve been told.
Thankfully I didn’t require emergency surgery but I may need a spinal decompression in due course (going back in 6 weeks for a check up).
Prescribed a medley of meds and initially they seem to be quite good at reducing the pain, and sedating me massively.
Next up I need to get my neck and thoracic spine scanned, as I have problems there too.
Thankfully I didn’t require emergency surgery but I may need a spinal decompression in due course (going back in 6 weeks for a check up).
Prescribed a medley of meds and initially they seem to be quite good at reducing the pain, and sedating me massively.
Next up I need to get my neck and thoracic spine scanned, as I have problems there too.
https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/robin-mck...
It's a really good book as is the one to fix your neck.
It's a really good book as is the one to fix your neck.
The back pain can be quite annoying. Especially after injuries. The good mattress is very important thing here plus correct exercises and stretching. I realized that few years ago when I had a very difficult injury. My pain was very strong and I was taking pain killers recommended by canada drugs few times a day. So happy its all behind now. For the times I still have a little pain I have a special belt. Very helpful thing
Edited by MitchMess on Saturday 7th August 04:38
Well, I don’t want to be counting any chickens here, but things have improved massively overnight.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve had to be careful when shifting position in bed as it was causing spasms of pain. Last night was fine. Similarly I’ve been getting up hardly able to move and having to have a couple of ibuprofen to knock the pain back. This morning I have some stiffness/tightness in my back, but I’ve not felt the need for any tablets yet.
I’m planning to stick with the pilates stuff, I even bought a proper mat to do it on yesterday. I’ve been thinking and I reckon this all comes back to when I was trying to shift a stubborn wheel nut a couple of years ago. I felt a pop in my lower back and was in agony for a couple of days. I wonder if that has ever really healed and now any excessive lifting can bring it back. I’m hoping the pilates will help me to keep on top of it.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve had to be careful when shifting position in bed as it was causing spasms of pain. Last night was fine. Similarly I’ve been getting up hardly able to move and having to have a couple of ibuprofen to knock the pain back. This morning I have some stiffness/tightness in my back, but I’ve not felt the need for any tablets yet.
I’m planning to stick with the pilates stuff, I even bought a proper mat to do it on yesterday. I’ve been thinking and I reckon this all comes back to when I was trying to shift a stubborn wheel nut a couple of years ago. I felt a pop in my lower back and was in agony for a couple of days. I wonder if that has ever really healed and now any excessive lifting can bring it back. I’m hoping the pilates will help me to keep on top of it.
I think most of us can nail down the moment they "did" their back, and once you've done it, it'll never be quite the same again.
It then just becomes a matter of managing it. You get to learn what sets it off, how you can avoid it, and what helps it.
For me keeping on the move helps, nothing worse for my back than a lazy weekend laying around on the sofa. Don't do a fiddly job bent over, if possible always do it at waist height on a table or bench. A good supportive mattress, and good posture when sitting at your desk / doing PC work.
Always have some good anti inflammatory tablets handy.
It then just becomes a matter of managing it. You get to learn what sets it off, how you can avoid it, and what helps it.
For me keeping on the move helps, nothing worse for my back than a lazy weekend laying around on the sofa. Don't do a fiddly job bent over, if possible always do it at waist height on a table or bench. A good supportive mattress, and good posture when sitting at your desk / doing PC work.
Always have some good anti inflammatory tablets handy.
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff