Bad Back

[NickFitz]

Yesterday afternoon I was getting up from my armchair. About 25% of the way to an upright position I sneezed, and my back locked up

I was able to potter around the flat OK, but nipping to the Co-op for a pint of milk proved to be a somewhat arduous journey, and it got worse throughout the evening.

After a not-very-good night's sleep on a mattress on the floor, things had improved somewhat this morning. However I made the mistake of using a basket rather than a trolley when I went up to Sainsbury's at lunchtime, and ended up having to spend several minutes twisting about in the car seat before I could be certain of operating the pedals adequately

Does the panel have any ideas for a quick fix, or am I doomed to waste away, a broken stooping husk?

P.S. If I don't arrive at the Nottingham drinks on Friday, I'll have got stuck - could somebody phone Sheffield station and ask them to help me off the train (and give me a penalty fare) when I end up there

[Platypus]

IME physiotherapist is the way to go, not chiropractor or osteopath.

Try rolling a hand towel and sleeping with that under the small of your back (works wonders for me).

[Moscow Mule]

Go and see a physio/sports massage person now. If you are lucky, they will be able to manipulate you to release whatever is causing the block.

If they can't do it, a trip to the osteopath should sort it (along with some lovely shooting pains whilst he/she works).

[DaveB]

Yesterday afternoon I was getting up from my armchair. About 25% of the way to an upright position I sneezed, and my back locked up

I was able to potter around the flat OK, but nipping to the Co-op for a pint of milk proved to be a somewhat arduous journey, and it got worse throughout the evening.

After a not-very-good night's sleep on a mattress on the floor, things had improved somewhat this morning. However I made the mistake of using a basket rather than a trolley when I went up to Sainsbury's at lunchtime, and ended up having to spend several minutes twisting about in the car seat before I could be certain of operating the pedals adequately

Does the panel have any ideas for a quick fix, or am I doomed to waste away, a broken stooping husk?

P.S. If I don't arrive at the Nottingham drinks on Friday, I'll have got stuck - could somebody phone Sheffield station and ask them to help me off the train (and give me a penalty fare) when I end up there

I've had this happen to me a couple of times now, back spasms for no apparent reason and is excrutiatingly painfull at the slighest movement. Best thing I found was painkillers, a hot water bottle on the site of the pain then finding a comfortable position on the sofa and staying there. Usually takes a couple of days to clear up completely.

[sasguru]

Should go in a couple of days, aided by lots of hot baths and some of that gel for muscular aches stuff from the chemists.
To avoid in the future, do your stretching exercises before and after long coding sessions.

[DimPrawn]

You lucky bastard!

Free income for life!

[Swiss Tony]

My other half has been having back issues that past week. The doc has done all the scans etc and is prescribing time with physiotherapist to get rid of the trapped nerve that is apparently causing all of this.

However in the meantime I have found that using Deep Heat, if you can get someone to apply it on your back, enables her to move about smelling like a locker room but at least not be in eye watering discomfort.

I am sure there are a number of drugs that might help though the ones her doc described the first time made her more dopy than usual. I would say try ibuprofen for a start and then go from there.

If all the above fails the SAS use a pint of Guinness and a bag of chips.

[Gibbon]

Has it twisted you i.e. naked in front of a full length mirror are your hips still central to your shoulders or are you out by a few inches ?

[DimPrawn]

Has it twisted you i.e. naked in front of a full length mirror are your hips still central to your shoulders or are you out by a few inches ?

[AtW]

Regular hot baths.