Does any of you have back problems?

[redhedder]

I have a part time business (10-12 accounts). I use an Xmark 46in mower. I have had some lower back problems in past (L4-L5 herniatiion). My doctor says that I am wearing my back out by bending too much (pounding and weeding and hedging).

My question: If any of you have lower back problems, what are some tips/advice that helps you minimize your back issues while mowing? weeding? hedging?

Any braces that I can use that will not allow me to bend at the waist?

Thanks for any support and advice

Redhedder

[PaperCutter]

Just play it safe. I'm going in tomorrow for my second steroid injection into my spine. My L4 & L5 are slipped and pressing on the spinal cord. It really, really sucks- pain and tightness from my lower back, down the back of my left leg, stopping on the top of my left foot.

[americanlawn]

Ditto here. L4 L5 too. I have epidermal injections once every 2 years or so, and I take Celebrex once a day. Great advice: 1) never carry your wallet in your back pocket. It throws off the allignment of your spine, 2) best investment I ever made = an inversion table. Mine is made by "Hang Ups". Check it out. The military, NFL teams, doctors, etc use them. I wish all you guys well cuz I know how excruciating the pain can get. :usflag:

[davis45]

Just play it safe. I'm going in tomorrow for my second steroid injection into my spine. My L4 & L5 are slipped and pressing on the spinal cord. It really, really sucks- pain and tightness from my lower back, down the back of my left leg, stopping on the top of my left foot.


Similar to mine. I raced motocross and severly messed up my back, Doc said it will be permanent throughout my life. Pinched nerves, spina bifida, comressed discs, blah.

No way to prevent it, just kind of comes and goes. I've been on the couch for a couple days now.

[tamadrummer]

Personally I had full back surgery on Dec 17, 2004 and for about 2 years after I babied my back and never actually got better. I didn't walk right and had horrible gait when I did anything.

When my son was about 1 I started taking him to the park and walking 3 or 4 miles a day with him in the stroller and in about 3 months I began to feel less and less pain and now I am for the most part totally pain free.

Make sure that you walk upright and straight and do your best to ignore the pain and at all costs do not have surgery unless you are wheel chair bound.

[Furness & Sons L&L]

My back and knees have suffered thru almost 20 years of playing full contact football. From the age of 15 till last year wheni turned 32. Played high school, college and ten years of semi profesional football. I take 4 advil and 1 aleve every morning to make it thru the day. Followed by prescribed pain pills from the doc when i get home. Surgery is an option but i do not have the time to lay in bed and recover. A steady pace is my only option if i still want to pay my bills. About three years ago i closed a gate and turned sideways at the same time and thru my back out. I had to literally roll to my truck, pull myself up into the cab and drive to the house where my wife assisted me into the family minivan and drove me to the doctor. He said i would be outta comision for about 6 months, i laughed and was back mowing in three day, ver very very slowly. I had a mortage and 4 kids. Thats when i started thinkin about a retirement fund which i set up the next week. It sounds crazy and stupid, but I think anyone who is the service indusrty is a lil crazy and stupid! I feel your pain....*trucewhiteflag*

[gene gls]

I have had back problems for 50 years, been to several differant doctors over the years. About 10 years ago I joined a Fitness Center to use the whirl pool, suana and steam room to help ease the stiffness in my back. There was a massage therapist there that specialized in sports massage. I gave it a try and it was like night and day differance. I now go to a male massage therapist every week, 1.5 hour visit. I haven't been to a Chiropractor in about 2 years. I try to be carfull but in this business there is a lot of stress on the body. I would recommend a massage to every one. It may take some time to find a good massage therapist that will work with your problem areas. There is a big differance between massage therapists, several do not do deep tissue work that most of us require.

[punt66]

I have a spinal cord tumor. Or astro something haha. Its actually brain cancer that attached to my spinal cord. I have had major back exploritory surgery where they removed bone to get to the spinal cord and fluid to se if it can be removed. It couldnt without being paralized. It fuzed to spine. I deal with back pain and tingly legs every day. Unfortunetly a massage wont help. I am 3 years out now and getting stronger and stronger. The cancer appears dormant. Mri shows no growth. So i guess i have to keep working haha.

[DuallyVette]

I use to have some pain in my back. It was tough getting up in the mornings. I switched underware from briefs (Thats what my mom bought me as a child) to boxers. I started doing aerobics to loosen up my joints. 20 years later...no problem.

[CustomKare]

I also have back pains but sometimes it's no match to the pain in the A$$es we deal with!!!!

[LawnTamer]

You've got to find something natural that works for you. I'm not some hippie nut, but I have dealt with back problems, hip problems and other issues. Conventional medicine will always turn you to drug therapies, which eventually stop working. You'll notice from the previous posts that lots of people have found relief in different ways. Hanging upside down like Larry (Americanlawn) walking, massage.

I had way bad problems with my hip a few years ago. I was getting injections, on celebrex, then steroids, my body was going to pot. Then, I went to a Chiropractor. He showed me stretches that helped tons! I have added a bit of yoga and been drug free for nearly 2 years. If I don't stretch for a few days, it will act up. You have got to find what the problem is and fix it.

[RocketLab]

About 6 months after tearing up my shoulder from a motocross wreck started noticing constant pain in my lower back. Took an incident where all of a sudden I was laying on the floor too stiff and painful to move to get me to go to a doctor.

My DR orders an MRI done then refers me to a neurosurgeon. He orders 2 more and then gives me the diagnosis. You know it's bad when the Dr starts out with "I'm sorry but..."

Turns out my disk betwen L3 and L4 I believe is gone. I ask "where did it go?" :confused: and apparently the things I did in the past, waterskiing, MX, etc, wore it down to nothing. Doc says when the pain gets too bad then we look at surgery. Of course no more MX and he says not even jogging. It's the up and down compression to stay away from that causes the fastest wear of the vertebrae.

To answer original posters question I start the day with hot shower to loosen up. I do crunches to strengthen my support base and I take pain medicine in the morning as well. Also at night to sleep. This gets me going out the door and once my body is warmed up I'm ok.

[LawnBrother]

I have a bad back from a pool accident when I was about 15. I try not to overexert myself too much, and maintain good posture, which is hard because I am tall and it seems like mowers and trimmers are made for shorter people LOL. About once a year it'll go out on me bad enough to make me miss work. Nothing you can do but keep at a healthy weight and maintain good posture, and don't overdo it. Good luck.

[topsites]

Yeah once in a while we used to have kids running around back yonder
but once I put up motion detector lights that problem was solved.

[nriddle77]

I think a more appropriate question would be does anyone here on LS [B]not[B] have back pain. I do and what helps me is massage, chiropractor, ice, and ibuprofen when necessary.

[DuallyVette]

Some of you guys are real troopers. I keep hearing about people that are "disabled" by food. 300 lbs + . Living on Government handouts. SO FAT that the only thing they can do is play on the computer all day. While you guys are wearing out your last disc, trying to make a living. My hats off to you.

[punt66]

Some of you guys are real troopers. I keep hearing about people that are "disabled" by food. 300 lbs + . Living on Government handouts. SO FAT that the only thing they can do is play on the computer all day. While you guys are wearing out your last disc, trying to make a living. My hats off to you.

well i guess i fit into that category too, 6'4 325lbs. 62 weeklys solo. Not all big people are lazy my friend. I am living proof of genetic tendencies to be large.

[44DCNF]

Here's the list that helps me, from an old L5/S1 herniation. I think these might be part of the Mackenzie program mentioned. I was told recovery is all about spinal mobility, then strengthening the muscles surrounding and supporting your spine. Core strength is vital to preventing injury.

Press Ups
Trunk Rotation
Hamstring Stretch
Press small of back to floor while squeezing glutes
Knees to chest, one side at a time, then together
Roman chair (reverse sit up)
(and then back through a few of them in reverse order)
trunk rotation
hamstring stretch
press ups
finish with standing back bends.

You really should have a doctor/PT prescribe what is right for your specific condition. I found a couple other things that helped and added them....A hip flexor stretch and foot stretches and calf stretches.

You should be able to find the proper form for doing any of these online.

I use a Bongo Board now to help with core strength.

[tedfrk]

Yed the best thing for not getting hurt is stretching before you go out to work,i stretch every morning.My lower back seems to be alot less sore since i have been doing this,and it helps my sister is a certified massage therapist,massage anytime i want,if any of you get a good massage drink plenty of water afterwards because you will be sore.

[punt66]

Yed the best thing for not getting hurt is stretching before you go out to work,i stretch every morning.My lower back seems to be alot less sore since i have been doing this,and it helps my sister is a certified massage therapist,massage anytime i want,if any of you get a good massage drink plenty of water afterwards because you will be sore.

I had one of those overseas. Your right. I was sore as hell! I was with a group of maybe 6 people. All relatives. They were all so sore they became ill. I loved it.

[redmax fan]

hey my partner could barely get out of the truck for over 6 months , it'd take him like a minute to slowly slide out . the dr's said it was slipped / herniated disc and needed surgery . and he was in big pain and on anti inflammatories / painkillers . then found this site something like www.losethebackpain.com , if thats not it i'll find it and return . but they gave him some exercises and told him to buy an inversion bench . the inversion bench cost him like 100 at a local kmart store , and what it does it tilt you upside down and relievee the pressure off your spine . and i swear in less than 2 months he was about perfect . and that was 2 years ago and he'd had the same back problem for years . so i really would take a serious look at the site and the inversion benches . \

and also laying on back with hands behind head you touch your knee caps to elbows and that helps stretch out lower back .

[redmax fan]

ya thats the site , heres link to the inversion bench they sell , but you can get them cheaper at big stores like walmart etc . link =

http://www.losethebackpain.com/inversion3.html ..

and im into health / diet / exercise and know back pain is alot to do with inflammation , and i know from studying diet that raw pineapple is an anti inflammatory food .

[sunray237]

Massage therapy is great, but that old saying comes into play----------to much of a good thing.
I've been getting massage therapy for years ,weekly it does wonders.

[tedfrk]

Can we write the massage therapy off at the end of the year? lol

[gene gls]

Can we write the massage therapy off at the end of the year? lol

I wish............

[Iloveroses]

hopefully the pain i'm feeling on my back isn't that serious..

[KGR landscapeing]

I have neck problems so that throws my whole spine off. Go to the chiropractor twice a week some times 3 times. Somedays i actually have to roll out of bed because i cant sit up. And i am allergic to almost ever kind of med out there so pain is something i deal with daily. Accupuncture is for suckers i dont have an hour 2 every couple of days to go get poked with needels.

[Escapeslawncare]

I have about 50 account that I do by my self, I have two herniated disc in lower back, The more work you do the better you will feel, If I have a slow winter come the beginning of summer my back hurts for about three weeks till it gets used to it

[DuallyVette]

Can we write the massage therapy off at the end of the year? lol

I wish............

You can claim a deduction for anything you want. IF they ever get around to auditing you, they'll probably camp out on you, till they find something. Its called "throwing them a bone" They win...game over. I think that a professional massage would be a legitimate deduction...as long as there is no "happy ending":laugh:

[GravelyNut]

Bad back due to Degenerative Disc Disease. Started in the Cervical spine where I had a severe case of Whiplash many years ago. Cervical spine has had 2 fusions and plates&screws installed. When the arms, legs, hands, and feet go numb, only surgery can help. But the pain never goes completely away unless I take the full amount of the meds available. But who wants to sleep all day, everyday?

[brucec32]

I use to have some pain in my back. It was tough getting up in the mornings. I switched underware from briefs (Thats what my mom bought me as a child) to boxers. I started doing aerobics to loosen up my joints. 20 years later...no problem.

Well no wonder. Those size 6 underoos must have been pretty darn tight by now! : )

[NC Greenscaper]

That is way too funny. size 6 underroos LOL :clapping::clapping:

[DuallyVette]

Well no wonder. Those size 6 underoos must have been pretty darn tight by now! : )





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