Doug wrote: <SNIP> Has anyone else out in PW land dealt with lower back pain (the kind where it hurts to stand, and you need to sit down every few minutes)? Any other ideas for recovery? <SNIP> Good back support in your car, kayak, and computer chair. Stomach exercises, deep massage (one of the real benefits of having a partner--to try to break up the tension in the tight muscles--hurts so good), deep relaxation (concentrate on relaxing one muscle group at a time while laying down--start from your head and work down--works best in the morning--I'm likely to fall asleep before I get to my lower back at night). If you can get the muscles all around them to relax totally the problem ones may start twitching and finally relax themselves too. Feel the pain. Concentrate on it, get into it. This should be easy for a masochist like yourself. I don't know why this works but using drugs to deaden the pain just seems to prolong the agony for me. For pain relief try auto-acupressure. Find the sensitive parts along the same nerve pathways (as where the pain is). The tender spots that maybe tingle like your funny bone is what you are looking for (if you poke at them with a fingernail you will know when you have found one). For the lower back the ones I remember that work for me are 1)the inside of your Achilles tendon, where your major calf muscles cross and the muscle below them goes under (middle of your lower calf), 2)inside of the knee, 3)sciatic? nerve near the top of the hip bone, and 4)earlobes. When you find them take your thumbnail and press it strongly into them so it really hurts. Try them all and use the ones that work best for you when you are in pain. My theory is that this releases endorphins along the nerve pathway and this helps kill the pain in your back as well. My other theory is that this is why chiropractic works for some folks as well. Crack that old spine and get a huge endorphin release, forget that mumbo jumbo about subluxions, etc. Lastly, get it off your chest! Is someone being a pain in the neck, or a real burden to you? Maybe they are wanting you to do something you don't want to do, like carry their workload. "Hey, poor me, I can't do anything with this bad back, sorry". If you really do feel the pain too you can be so much more convincing with this passive response. Might even be able to convince yourself. Then again, maybe there are some benefits to being the poor victim that outweigh the pain. Just some thoughts, hope one of them might help. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hi, The biggest things from my viewpoint are: 1. Make sure your seat is absolutely centered. Mine was not when I bought my boat. It was about 1 cm off, a huge amount. Funny, the lady I bought it from had severe back pain, and so did I until I fixed the problem. 2. Some back pain comes from lifting the boat, especially if you are small. Consider a trailer in this case. 3. Mild, gentle stretching before paddling helps a lot. My wife tells me this one every time and I still forget. 4. Breaks!! I like paddling for long distances in quiet waters and will often go 2, 3 or even 4 hours without a break. Any trip without a stop every 2 hours yields quite a lot of lower back pain. Get out and pee and stretch. 10 minutes of mild stretching does wonders. 5. Mini-breaks. I stop paddling, grab the coaming firmly, and lift my a** off the seat. Don't do this with beam winds. Important safety tip, Egon. I hold myself this way for a long moment, with gravity doing my stretching for me. Sometimes 15 seconds is enough and sometimes it takes a whole minute. 6. Move your legs. Not easy advice to follow in a yak. The less blood movement, the more stiffness and pain will spread through your legs and lower back. That's my theory, I'm no doctor. 7. Hydration. Keep drinking. Salt tablets help some people and upset others, you might try them in small quantities. When following my advice you must consider that this is from a guy whose recent eye surgery and knee injury have not allowed him to take out his boat for a month, and living vicariously through the yakking of others has taken hold. jerry. At 10:10 PM 04/05/2000 -0700, Matt Broze wrote: >Doug wrote: ><SNIP> >Has anyone else out in PW land dealt with lower back pain (the kind where >it hurts to stand, and you need to sit down every few minutes)? Any other >ideas for recovery? ><SNIP> > >Good back support in your car, kayak, and computer chair. Stomach exercises, >deep massage (one of the real benefits of having a partner--to try to break >up the tension in the tight muscles--hurts so good), deep relaxation >(concentrate on relaxing one muscle group at a time while laying down--start >from your head and work down--works best in the morning--I'm likely to fall >asleep before I get to my lower back at night). If you can get the muscles >all around them to relax totally the problem ones may start twitching and >finally relax themselves too. >Feel the pain. Concentrate on it, get into it. This should be easy for a >masochist like yourself. I don't know why this works but using drugs to >deaden the pain just seems to prolong the agony for me. For pain relief try >auto-acupressure. Find the sensitive parts along the same nerve pathways (as >where the pain is). The tender spots that maybe tingle like your funny bone >is what you are looking for (if you poke at them with a fingernail you will >know when you have found one). For the lower back the ones I remember that >work for me are 1)the inside of your Achilles tendon, where your major calf >muscles cross and the muscle below them goes under (middle of your lower >calf), 2)inside of the knee, 3)sciatic? nerve near the top of the hip bone, >and 4)earlobes. When you find them take your thumbnail and press it strongly >into them so it really hurts. Try them all and use the ones that work best >for you when you are in pain. My theory is that this releases endorphins >along the nerve pathway and this helps kill the pain in your back as well. >My other theory is that this is why chiropractic works for some folks as >well. Crack that old spine and get a huge endorphin release, forget that >mumbo jumbo about subluxions, etc. >Lastly, get it off your chest! Is someone being a pain in the neck, or a >real burden to you? Maybe they are wanting you to do something you don't >want to do, like carry their workload. "Hey, poor me, I can't do anything >with this bad back, sorry". If you really do feel the pain too you can be so >much more convincing with this passive response. Might even be able to >convince yourself. >Then again, maybe there are some benefits to being the poor victim that >outweigh the pain. > >Just some thoughts, hope one of them might help. > >Matt Broze >http://www.marinerkayaks.com > > >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not >to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission >Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net >Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net >Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ >*************************************************************************** > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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