Back complaints

[Desert Strip Basher]

Approaching middle age and with weekend flying but mid-week predominantly deskbound and 10hrs/week+ in the car I have the typical odd back complaint. The osteopath tells me it's typical for such lifestyle/age. It got me wondering how long haul (or even short haul) pilots manage such issues which must surely be prevalent? Any advice appreciated as it still remains my chosen occupation if the opportunity arises.

[Twin Squirrels]

Seek the advice of your osteopath, remain as non sedentary as possible and take up yoga is my advice. I have found that keeping active and yoga does work.:)

[pulse1]

Much against my better judgement I was persuaded by my daughter to see a chiropractor who specialised in "network spinal analysis". I didn't have anything specifically wrong with my back but did suffer occasional problems which seem to be typical of most ancient males who have spent too much time sitting in motorcars.

As it involved a series of treatments I was initially convinced that was a scam but, after three sessions, I suddenly found that I was quite naturally standing much straighter. At this time I spent three weeks invigilating at the local university and this involved being on my feet for the best part of 6 hours a day.
To my amazement I found I could stand for hours, perfectly erect, and feel quite comfortable. I now just go for a top up treatment every couple of years or so and the measurements that were taken before and after treatment show that my spine is much straighter than it used to be.

One day I was sitting in reception waiting for my appointment and a lady came out of the treatment room looking totally shocked. She claimed that this was the first time in 25 years that she was without pain.

The amazing thing about it is that the treatment does not involve any painful manipulation whatsoever. You just lie face down on a bed, fully clothed and the chiropractor gently touches your spine or neck for a few seconds at a time, maybe about 5 times in a 15 minute treatment. The only pain you feel is in the wallet area although you can feel temporary discomfort for a day or so after treatment as your immune system gets used to the changes in your nervous system.

Over the years I have recommended it to many friends and every singe one has been pleased with the results.

[blue up]

I started Pilates after a huge Op to fuse my lower spine. I managed to recover all the rotational movement in my back but not the forwards (touch your toes) movement. Wish I had tried it years ago, before the need for the surgery.

Flying and driving are not what the human body were designed to do so you need to fit exercises into you day to restore your body to normality. I now have a £30 cross trainer device in the lounge to just get me moving whilst watching the TV or reading a book.

Pilates lessons, £5 per hour. Spinal fusion surgery, £12000. Loss of licence, painful. :{

[mgahan]

My experience is exactly as described by Pulse1.

Talked into going to the Chiro, went under sufferance and wow!! I was convinced I had no back issues but after the first visit I was a convert.

Not all that painful on the wallet and worth every cent.

[air pig]

Can only agree with previous posters, have an osteopath who is very good, but also have a doctor of traditional medicine so if the osteopath is not as effective as usual, then some needles in various places is very good. After 32 years in nursing I do have a somewhat tatty spine.

[gingernut]

I think it's an area where "traditional" medicine offers little.

In fact, it's probably sometimes worsened things, by getting people hooked on opiods.

"Red flags" should be ruled out. This involves listening to the patient, rather than x-rays usually.

Keeping active and physical therapies seem key.

[Radgirl]

Agreed

There is good evidence that early diagnosis and treatment gets people better. If we use returning to work as a marker of resolution, Germany has almost four times as many people getting back to work with early imaging and treatment. The number of adults with lower back issues who stop working in the UK is a concern

As to what treatment is best is far more difficult. A paper a year or so back showed no difference in various types of surgery so complex surgery as a primary treatment is hard to get excited about. Early local anaesthetic injections do seem to be effective, and are safe, but we face an epidemic and the NHS in the UK is struggling.

If imaging demonstrates no risk to nerves, osteopaths and other non traditional treatments seem to help albeit from anecdotal reports such as those on this post, possibly due to simply getting sufferers mobile and motivated, and if it reduces the pressure on the NHS all well and good.

Gingernut is spot on about drugs. The US is seeing an unprecedented level of addiction to drugs such as oxycodone. Narcotics are not the way to go. Non steroidals such as voltarol and ibuprofen have also recently been rubbished, leaving simple paracetamol

[Loose rivets]

A salutary warning because it's a subject close to my . . . well, bottom, really.:(

Bloody Nora, I've rambled again, but if you skip the bulk, the most important point I'll say now.

After all the years of the below - a major downer for my retirement years - I was told about an estate agent that had terrible back pain - it was such a burden that he'd sneak a rest on client's beds if they were out. He was, by the most incredible luck, diagnosed with Coeliac disease. When he went on the diet, his back pain went away.

I'm convinced part of my pain was a kind of feeling ill in the lumbar region. It was just somehow different and varied day to day. When I learned this I was hours away from the surgery I'd begged for for years. I went both routes and my life changed.

The message is: proper diagnosis. Having said this, a bad 'slipped disc' (usually the membrane around a facet joint jambing its movement) can be relieved in five minutes. That's when manipulation can be a godsend.


Flying was a problem as my love of sporty cars just added to the pounding I was giving my back, and the temptation to go to the comforts of home from short haul flights was all too great. Such a waste of life.

Years of judo probably didn't help as I got thrown a lot.:*

The worst was probably a love of DIY. I started the day running, then worked on the house - some seriously heavy jobs - and weight lifting before my shower. For years and years and years. One day, c 59 years old, I had a pain down my leg. That was the beginning of well over a decade of back misery.

early imaging and treatment.

The nearest I came to any one really diagnosing my problems before pulling me about was after the usual trail of respected but not very scientific osteopaths. They ALL launched into the same routine. 'Qualified' people? I suppose. One, the last, was in a house full of 'Doctors' in a nearby town. (they were mostly trained in the US.) I got a misty x-ray showing spurs followed by the usual pummelling. I was always treated to a display of how supple the monosyllabic 'Doctor' was. He seemed incapable of clear communication but stripped off his T shirt and writhed about proudly. His mother had clearly mated with a snake. An especially supple snake. They then billed me 8 quid for 50p's worth of calcium - and lost a client.

I then took a 'retirement job' with a lovely little airline in Newcastle and Norwich. A lot of driving. The pain built up over a couple of years until one day one of my lovely girls grabbed my flight bag and carried it for me. I had to do something. I did, and wished I hadn't. The airline went broke after 9/11 and despite being very sorry for my colleagues, I gave a sigh of relief. However, during that time I'd used part of my contract terms to go to a spinal surgeon. LSS, I had some expensive stuff injected under general aesthetic. Bill was thousands. It did nothing whatsoever. The company in it's death-throws hadn't paid the insurance premium.

Years of DIY in Texas was achieved by pushing up on my workbench and pressing the edge into a point just above my nuts. The clunking was very satisfying and achieved every bit as much as a 100 quid session with one of the 'Doctors'. I might do that 10 times a day.

Funny thing: of my tall friends, 6' 3" ish, I was the shortest at 6' even. I'm now by far the tallest not having changed much. May be chance but just perhaps, hundreds, possibly thousands, of stretches may have pumped a little life into the drying cores of my discs. Even now, every day during my walks, I find a seaside railing that's just the right height and press up on that several times hanging most of my weight from my shoulders. Who knows.

[obgraham]

Plenty of world travelers here, so please keep in mind that there is a difference between the profession of "Osteopathy" in Europe and other places, versus "Osteopathic Physician" in the USA. Not the same practitioners.

[blue up]

Long periods of taking Ibuprofen is thought to eat away at the gut lining and may well be the cause of Coeliacs in some people (worth Googling). Mine didn't show up until finishing 18 months of prescribed Ibuprofen (3 x 400mg daily) Worth avoiding the stuff.

[Loose rivets]

Osteopathic Physician

I had one cataract done by a practice in Texas owned by a doctor, who according to the plaque on the wall, qualified as an Osteopath. I read somewhere that after 6 years training in Osteopathy it was a relatively small step to becoming a surgeon. Puzzling.

What I didn't make clear was that in recent times I did have the full open spine procedure - disc trim and removing some pressure on the sciatic nerve on one side. 36 hours in hospital. As mentioned, I'd only learned about the bowl inflammation a few days before the op. When I mentioned it to the Ipswich surgeon, he tilted his monitor my way and showed me my descending colon and lower spine. What he said was, more or less, 'of course. Look how close they are. If all that becomes inflamed, of course your spine will hurt'.

I keep beating the same drum because of the years of pain, where I'm convinced looking back that so much of it was inflammation due to some kind of immune reaction. It just might help someone one day.


This Ibuprofen thing. My neighbour claimed to have little of his hip ball joint left, yet as the owner of a factory, he worked hard. He told me that the pills were eating away at something, and he'd tried to stop taking them. He became dysfunctional in a matter of hours. I asked him if he took them before lying down and he confirmed he did - routinely.

I could never take such a pill and lie down within an hour. In a couple of days I'd have a real stinging sore patch somewhere near my solar plexus. It's easy to see how some folk could end up with a chemically inflamed area.


Long periods of taking Ibuprofen is thought to eat away at the gut lining and may well be the cause of Coeliacs

Wouldn't surprise me. I finally was told my biopsy showed no Coeliac issue. I was astonished, but the surgeon added that I could still be allergic to gluten. It crossed my mind that I might not have bothered swallowing that camera with its snippy teeth had I'd known.

[gingernut]

Long periods of taking Ibuprofen is thought to eat away at the gut lining and may well be the cause of Coeliacs in some people (worth Googling). Mine didn't show up until finishing 18 months of prescribed Ibuprofen (3 x 400mg daily) Worth avoiding the stuff.

Yes, it's a difficult one. Pain it's self is not good for the body, but NSAID's do indeed have their problems.

Current thinking is that over 2400mg a day makes it as cardiotoxic as diclofenac, which is not a good thing. The GI stuff isn't that evidenced based yet, but I'm sure it will be.

PhD anyone ?

[Twin Squirrels]

Many years ago I suffered from a whip lash injury to my neck thanks to white van man crashing into the back of my car. Didn't want to take pharmaceutical products long term. Found a very well qualified acupuncturist and haven't looked back since. It really did work. :)