Best way to deal with an aching lower back?

[Snagly]

The companion thread on fishing for those of advanced years brought two thoughts to mind. Jim Harrison's written a very nice essay Older Fishing which can be accessed through the internet (or via another fishing site: I don't know if mentions of other URLs is allowed on Kiene's Board as I'm new here).

The other thought was, "I wonder what the other over-50's do for their sore lower backs?" Simply standing in the river for 8-10 hours a day puts my back into such an uproar that by the second day I'm standing on one leg or lying down streamside for five minutes every half hour. I'm not into drugs that can't be mixed with soda water, and efforts to strengthen core muscles (and even lose weight, gasp) haven't been particularly successful.

The word of mouth feedback on back braces (e.g. Simms has one retailing for $100 or so) hasn't been overwhelming. I like the idea of sitting on boulders and logs, and casting but that limits one's fishing options. Wading deeper definitely takes the strain off somewhat . . . as long as I can avoid going for an involuntary swim.

* * * * *

Someone on this board has a tantric power Yoga set of exercises that loosen and strengthen those aged lower back muscles. I'm offering a dozen nightcrawlers :shock: for the best answer!

[Mike O]

Catch fish. My back always hurts, unless I am catching fish

[Snagly]

There's nothing like a surge of hormones and a 200 bpm heart rate to unclog the arteries while battling a good fish. Running up and down the bank, falling over, hopping over the leader once you get nutmegged and then crawling around on the bank after the battle to locate pliers, hat, sunglasses, and tape are all great ways to loosen the back up.

Unfortunately, my aches are steelhead-related and unless I'm very fortunate I'm not doing the Chinese Fire Drill more than a couple times a day. The rest of the time, that back morphs from a dull ache to a ball of fire . . . and if I'm really doing something wrong I might even get some bonus nerve pain down the leg, too.

[Sammy]

Two asprin and three swigs off the bottle of JD usually does the trick

[jbird]

as a chronic low back pain sufferer I can sympathize with you, although I am pre-50's :-) .

I have tried everything short of surgery and unfortunately, the best cure is excersize. You must keep your abdomen strong for your spine to stay in correct alignment.

[Terry Thomas]

Check out Simms product: Back Magic. I have used it in the past and it helped me as well as a friend who also has back problems.

[Ted S]

as a chronic low back pain sufferer I can sympathize with you, although I am pre-50's :-) .

I have tried everything short of surgery and unfortunately, the best cure is excersize. You must keep your abdomen strong for your spine to stay in correct alignment.

Exactly. Half an hour every day on a rowing machine will make your back feel like it is 20 years old again.

[Troutstalker55B]

As my Dad got older his lower back would really bother him while we were fishing for extended periods. He would complain and cuss and it got to the point that I had to find a remedy. Besides exercise and a back belt, one of the solutions to the problem was taking out the 5 Phlueger reels in the back of his vest!!!

[Darian]

Good advice, so far. I'm a believer in strengthening the core as well as Yoga for flexibility. Nothing fancy but done every day.

The suggestion about checking the weight in your vest and its distribution is a good one, too.

If used often, supports tend to weaken muscles over time. I wouldn't recommend using one unless nothing else works.

[bigfly]

There is one thing guiding teaches you....... to stand up straight.
Bad posture is one cause of soreness, better known as Heron back.
(How do those Heron do it?.)
Chin up, shoulders back.......
While we stalk, we tend to stoop.
Ain't no way to escape old age.
But you can treat yourself better.
If you don't fish every day, try not to do 8hrs the first day out.......
I'll say again, a switch rod allows greater range with less effort from oldsters.
But the best part of the big stick, is that your elbow is down in a rest position.
Lets me fish more, with less penalty.

Jim

[Snagly]

OK, now for the confessional (Part I). I'm a gym rat, which explains at least half of my current quasi-fishing disabilties. If you haven't been to www.crossfit.com and done the Workout of the Day, I commend it to you . . . until the day comes when your technique is a little off and the last 5 reps of some challenging routine leave you with more than a little discomfort . . . in the lower back (among other places).

So if in doubt, another 30 crunches or some variant is very good advice. And provided that you've got a little technique and don't compete with the kids, dead lifts, squats and clean & jerks in combination will make up for a mid-life paunch. But don't mess up, because the physio, injections and MRI's cease to become macho events and begin to look like signs of stupidity.

* * * * *

Posture is definitely key to pain free standing and fishing, and several posts have mentioned just that. Sucking the gut in while walking from A--> B and adjusting posture is probably the single easiest way to get out of the Bad Back ("It's so bad I can't work out") rut. That plus 10 minutes 3x/ week on a Concept II Ergonometer (sp?) . . . a.k.a. rowing machine.

So I guess I know what needs to be done, but while the gym feels right some (next) days it's impossible to get out of bed. Fortunately, I can't afford a mistress so I'm not being judged (additionally) deficient in Other Areas.

[aaron]

So if in doubt, another 30 crunches or some variant is very good advice.

Funny you should mention this. One of the most common and overlooked causes of lower back pain is overdeveloped hip flexors. One of the easiest ways to do this is by doing too many standard crunches which activate them. There's quite a few Biomechanical Journals out there that explain the process, this page does a pretty good job as well. http://www.ab-core-and-stomach-exercises.com/hip-flexor.html

[Kneedeep]

At 63yrs and a fully recovered back surgery fisherman, I highly recommend "Gravity Boots".
Both my better half and I use the boots with suspended bar as needed. Fantastic!
I can't offer any opinion on the "gravity swings" having never used one.
Donna' Dr recommended she have neck surgery to eliminate neck and arm pain. Boots quickly remedied the pain and no reoccurences.

[Darian]

Hmmmm,.... I think I see at least part of your problem.... :unibrow:

[RenoLipRipper]

Had lower back pain many years ago. Went to a doc who happened to be a sports medicice doc, said to work out and I have found that stretching helps me, especially the hamstring stretches help with lower back pain. Have'nt had pain since doing this.

[Snagly]

Aaron, many thanks for that URL. Plenty of reading to be done, and I imagine an overhaul of my core exercises routine. Many thanks for posting the link.

Hoping to be upright on the river this fall, coping with sore forearms from fighting fish!

[Hatch]

If you live in the Sacramento area and have back problems, Lino Cedros @ Kinnections in down town Sac. He is a "Back Guru". He is a sports therapist and worked for the 49ers for a while and will solve most of your ailments regarding sore and injured backs. Many of this areas top athletes are clients of his. He is "The Man" around here.
HATCH

[royewest]

Struggling with back pain (well, actually, Sciatica), too.

One physical therapist recommended "water walking," that is, getting into a body of water about waist-deep and walking in it. Waving one arm in the air is apparently optional.

[wineslob]

53 and still braving the wild streams around the Chico area. My lower back is probably a mess, as evidenced from x-rays, semi-numb feet and pain.
The best therapy? staying active, losing weight and a hydro-therapy hot tub. :-D

[590Mike]

Lots of good answers here. We have a specific exercise that's designed to strengthen lower back muscles (deep posterior) without creating "hinging" of damaged or missing spinal disk, which is generally why people are directed away from abdominal exercise, etc. If you'd like a copy of this exercise, just give us a call or shoot us an email and we'd be happy to get for you. But this is something we work with every day. A lot of our fly fishing friends have had great results with the work. We will have to round some of them up to post here, but in the meantime, if you'd like more information on Bowenwork, visit the website at www.fairoaksbowen.com. We will also be on Channel 31, Good Day Sacramento this Friday, 7am.

[590Mike]

Uhhh derrrr I think I could just write it out,(usually we give a handout).

Ok For this exercise you need to lift a solid object that is held between your knees. About the size of a basketball works fine.
Sit on a bench or bed lean back and support your weight on your arms. Apply pressure medially (squeeze) with your knees against the solid object. On Exhalation attempt to lift the object with your knees together. Relax. Repeat six times. ( 1X or 2X daily) To activate the psoas muscle you need to lift the knees i.e. flex the hip joint.

Give this a try, I think you will be surprised how quick it helps.

[Snagly]

After all the good advice, I wanted to update the Board as to what I learned in the run up to my BC Death March and how it turned out:

1. My core may have been in OK shape, but based on the websites and exercises recommended by 590Mike and others it was very clear very early on that my lower abs and lower back were woefully underdeveloped. One of the websites I visited struck a chord when it said, "Whatever group you work out first in the week and first in your routine is where you are going to (keep) spend(ing) your time. So I switched my routine to put core first.

2. I went to a half dozen websites and collected a bunch of printouts for wimpy-looking leg lifts, ball lifts, trunk twists, bridges, planks, etc. All pretty much Girly Stuff. Except that when I started, I couldn't do them properly. Certainly not 3 in a row. (I now do strings of 7-9 in a row . . . somewhat properly!) That reinforced that I was more unfit than I'd realized.

3. Pre-departure, I read up on proper posture and tried to practice it at rest and when walking around.

4. I found a Simms Back Magic on sale on the web and bought it as a backup (so to speak).

As a reminder to new people on this thread, my particular back problems combine sciatica (right side) mostly in abeyance, a mechanical fault that every 12-18 months leads to the facet joint between L4 and L5 dislocating, and general lumbar lower right hand side muscle pain. Oh, and six years ago I partially tore the piriformis muscle in my upper right butt. At any one time I could have 0-4 issues running.

First things first, I tried on the Simms brace and found that it was well designed for pulled back muscles but as my back muscles didn't hurt at the time in when back in the package and stayed there the rest of the trip.

Second, I started out well with no pain despite Day 1 being ten straight hours on the water (with the odd break to drive to a different hole). Day 2 I developed muscle pain across the entire lower back late in the day. Rested overnight and OK. Day 3 it was the beginning of the old familiar "ball of fire" nerve pain in the lower right side while the rest of the back was OK . . . and so on. Day 6 I woke up and couldn't get out of bed: the facet joint was out of alignment. Previously I treated this with in-patient hospitalization and serious muscle relaxant injections, plus physio. This time I found an expired muscle relaxant pill in my travel kid, popped it and lay down for most of the next 24 hours . . . the back fell back into place and everything else seemed to reset back to zero so on Day 7 I was back fishing . . . gingerly . . . for a few hours. Days 8 and 9 were half days and then went all out on Day 10 (last day) without mishap. Managed to drive to the airport, get on a plane and fly home (eventually: long trip).

I guess a cynic would conclude that, as my back was probably worse than ever, those exercises didn't help much. I suspect that it was the opposite case: if I hadn't done the 3 months' prior prep, I probably wouldn't have made it as far as I did. There's an age (and cumulative injury-) related non-linear decay curve that people begin to experience at some stage in their lives, and I'm now well and truly on it.

If I'm going to be able to fish with less back pain, I'm going to have to do better in respect of exercise, posture and diet. I suspect that none of this is news to the Older Guys. But if there are any fitness buffs on this Board who don't spend a lot of time on their core, I urge them to alter their workouts and start doing so. I'm probably 20 years in arrears. And the number of dips, chin-ups and push ups you can do doesn't seem to have a lot of influence on how well your back is going to hold up once you hit 50, plus or minus.

Thanks (again) to those who posted links and suggestions: it was (and remains) good stuff.

[Mark Kranhold]

My brother just tried Simms back support wading belt and said it helped tremendously! I have always found a good flask of JD does the trick for me:p

[Fly Right]

My advice if you have not done so to have your back evaluated by a medical professional, preferably an orthopedic surgeon. It could be that you have a herniated disc or some other structural problem that is exacerbated by wading and long periods of standing on uneven surfaces such as a riverbed. If that turns out to be the case there are many forms of therapy that can be utilized to address your specific problem. Of course core strengthening and flexibility work are usually part of the equation and your medical professional can help you make educated decisions in that regard.
Sort of all that we go back to core, flexibility and weight loss if necessary. If you are having trouble getting started try hiring a good personal trainer who can address your situation with proper program design. A few sessions will get you pointed in the right direction.

good luck

[Snagly]

My orthopedic surgeon has a summer house in Maui based on my career cumulative visits for feet, ankles, knees, shoulder . . . and back. (Tournament slalom waterskiing for many years without great technique was a key contributor, as was youth basketball).

Doc's sage advice, "If we can avoid cutting open your back, then that's the starting point." I've had a couple of keyhole laproscopies (sp?) which helped lot. General advice from 3rd party docs is for fusing a couple vertebrae and removing a disk. Ouch.

Glad the Simm's worked. I think it's going to be ideal for people who have strained backs from, say, heavy lifting.

[jbird]

I ended up with a string of doctors visits this summer for my lower back problems. Turns out I have a herniated disc and 2 bulging disks and a badly misaligned lumbar vertabrae. I have access to fantastic doctors here at the Marshfield clinic so Im satisfied with my diagnosis. Surgery is the very last thing they wanted for me. I went thru a series of physical therapy sessions with a bunch of, "Lift this way, stretch this way, strengthen your core... blahblahblah." Bottom line is, us poor fools whove screwed up our backs need to protect them. The best way to do that is to keep the core strong and joints limber. (wish I could say ive been doing that more :()

One interesting thing I did learn is my hamstrings were very tight and may be a big contribution to lack of flexibility. Which causes me to put more stress on my lower back during general activities. Flexible hamstrings will allow you to bend more at the hips rather than the spine.

Snagly, Im sorry to hear that your back effected your trip, but it sounds like it coulda been worse too. bad backs are the WORST! Look at pro golfer Fred Couples. This guy has access and money for the best back treatment on earth. But his back continues to be a bugger for him and has effected his career for many years. Some backs just cant be fixed it seems.... Sucks.

[Snagly]

Amen on the tight hamstrings and/or tight glutes contributing to lower back issues. My physio's "prescribed" routine starts with rolling then dynamic stretching to loosen the glutes before I even try to do anything to/ with the back.

And my trip turned out great! Despite missing some fishing time, my sore back largely coincided with iffy water conditions. When the water was in good shape, I was fishing hard and tolerable discomfort. So reason for the update post was to share some info and emphasize what you've done as well: remind fellow board members that they should be treating their core as a ("the") primary group of muscles to focus on when they work out. I've got my teenage sons working on their cores ... certainly not high on the average high school boys' normal set routines.

Off to the gym!