Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Technical Stuff (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/)

-   -   Severe back pain and driving! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/30420-severe-back-pain-driving-9.html)

Been living with back pain for about 8 years now due to disc bulge at L5-S1. Here is how I have managed to contain it and live with it:

1) It is important to strengthen the stomach and back muscles. Consult a physiotherapist on the back exercises but please control pain first

2) A few tips specific to driving:
a) Do not drive with your wallet in your back pocket - an absolute must-not one needs to follow
b) Keep checking your psoture every 5 minutes to ensure back is straight as one tends to slump and not notice it. Make this a conscious activity
c) Actually I am of the opinion that tall boy cars don't always help with back pain. In a more upright seating position, you cannot use body weight to work the pedals. You need to use your hips and legs much more and that worsens the back pain
d) Many people have recommended LS belt for the back and I totally vouch for its effectiveness while driving. Only thing to watch out for is getting the right size and wearing it right (top should be close to navel line)
e) Of course for those with back pain, switching to an Automatic transmission will yield amazing benefit

3) If your pain is unmanageable, ask your doctor to prescribe 'Medral'. It is close to a wonder drug for back pain but needs to be administered carefully under doctor advise and needs to be used for limited time

4) Finally trim down - The lesser weight back has to support, the better it will get

If anyone needs specific exercises for back and stomach, write to me and I can help

Cheers

@sbhasin ! You are dead right about the bulging wallet in the back pocket.
That may have triggered the compression of my sciatia nerve which emerges just at that place where you wallet compresses it. Long drives , hard seats could lead to the sciatica getting compressed APART from the degenaration of discs.
Cars with high steering wheels i.e. Indica Etc. could cause cervical pain on long drives ( spondi :mad:)
i feel more people can be educated about this hazard on this forum.
Moderators please issue a warning sms to all Tbhpians , it may help some avoid the dreaded disc prolapse.

Guys since yesterday, i have been experiencing severe back pain. I got some pain killier sprayed and some massage done. Today the pain had intesified. while getting dressed for office i noticed by torso is not perfectly strainght, there is a slight tilt towards the right at the waist line, i am anyways going to the doc to get this checked today but do you think, this could be becasue of the pain that my body might have adjusted in a more comfortable position (i dont know how to explain this:D).

Welcome to the L4-L5 club. I can well understand what you may be going thru. I had been miserable for months on end, ultimately went in for accupressure & physiotherapy. That is all that is going to help. Now I have a combination of excercises which keep me going.

The fact that your torso has started leaning to one side, is not a good sign & shall soon lead to nerves being pressed & leading to perpetual pain in your leg/s.

I strongly reccomend physiotherapy (that is what helped me avoid surgery) Learn the excercise & make it part of your daily routine..

From a fellow sufferer :Shockked:

By the way this back pain was the reason I bought the Swift, the sitting poition has helped greatly..

Hope this helps

Thanks for your reply ricky, i see a lancer being common between the two of us. i am heading to KIIMS as i type this. let me see what doctors have to say.

That's called scoliosis - the lateral curvature you develop with a slipped disc (and a variety of other reasons). I got that too, and the therapy I was recommended was light pelvic traction (15 lb each side) 1 hour twice every day for a month. Seems to have sorted out the curvature.

New-generation orthopaedics are less inclined to use light traction, I found. I was also recommended a single session of heavy traction (50 lb each side) under sedation over 72 hours, by a young orthopaedic surgeon in Delhi, but I didn't really look forward to the experience - and in any case, my old-time orthopaedic surgeon in Kolkata shot down the idea, saying it'll do more harm than good.

A friend of mine recently complained that he suffered from pain in his back on long drives to his hometown in Kerala.

I asked him to remove his wallet from his back poket and then drive and he did mention that the pain simply vanished! :eek:

The best place to go for anything related to spine is The Spinal Cord Injuries Centre in vasant kunj (Delhi). They have an excellent set up.

:Shockked: You mean it was all that money causing the pain?!

I read my ebooks on a PDA phone while lying down on bed.
Severe tightness in my neck muscles on the right hand side.

Switched to reading from the left hand.
Most of the tightness has disappeared.

I had had a similar issue long back. Was because of a tight acceleration cable on my bike.

So very true. One of the biggest unrecognized culprits in causing back pain is a thick wallet in the hip pocket.
:) ...and also the credit cards! The richer you are, the more PITT (Pain in the Tush) your money becomes.

Three tipsfrom a lifetime sufferer that is now out of it.
1. Lose the belly. Your back carries it around. Your heart will also be grateful
2. Be aware of the right way and the wrong way to lift and move heavy stuff
3. Never, never, never operate to get relief

Guys,

went to the hospital today, took x rays, everything looks normal to them. they have given me some pain killers and asked me to come back after 5 days. hope this gets well soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pramodkumar (Post 1392928) Guys, went to the hospital today, took x rays, everything looks normal to them. they have given me some pain killers and asked me to come back after 5 days. hope this gets well soon.

Glad to know everything is ok. But next time it recurrs . take a digital x-ray and even better a MRI scan which 'll clearly show the deterioration in the vertebra if at all and show the nerve compression too.
A nerve revitalizer like RESSNER / NEUROKIND PLUS / MEGANEURON along with aan analgesic and muscle relaxant may help but do the course only after doctor's prescription.
Hope its only some muscular thing and no prolapse. all the best buddy !
If you are still driving , remember to tuck in your tummy / tighter the belly muscles in anticipation of every bump on te road the car has to encounter.

The pain still exists, i started sleeping on the floor, but seems like nothing is working for me. I can still see the tilt at the waist line and its kind of getting worse. they have given me some pain killers and asked me to come back on Saturday, i am thinking of taking a second openion. KIMS is supposed to be the biggest hospital on this side of Gods own country and my office has a cash less out patient treatment tie-up with them. Last time i went there i was made to wait for 4 hours without any one attending me. I feel going there is not an option any more. Thanks to the Japan drinking water project, the roads are at its worst. Does any one know of a better place in trivandrum where i can get this checked?

Thanks

Pramod