waist pain

Have you been accessed for carpal tunnel?

Do you deal with diabetes or other things that cause chronic inflammation ?

One of my doctors recommended taking flaxseed oil, and turmeric.

Ask your doctor before trying over the counter medications. Even over the counter pain medications can be unsafe for some.

Have a great day!

@robertwwh : Seems strange that your MRI does not really show anything, but the doctors still think degenerated lumbar disc, perhaps. IF that is the case, some old fashioned, boring, core strengthening exercises may help with that. I’ve had a squashed, dried out lumbar disc for about 35 years, developed chronic back and sciatic pain 11 years ago, have been doing a 5-minute exercise set EVERY morning for 6+ years. Keeps things moving and mostly pain free. Of course, this may not be the cause of your pain, but it definitely cannot hurt to try. Give it at least 6 weeks to see if pain improves.

Can you describe your morning exercise?

I have been in pain from my hips down to my feet and it's constant I know the problem, the doctor screwed through my s I joints I haven't been able to stand sit or walk more than fifteen minutes and then I have to lay down for a long while. My sergeon wants to go back in a fix his mess up I think not. Stay tuned for more.

Surgeon*

@delongak: sorry for delay in responding. Daily exercise routine mostly to loosen up back and hips, and I added some tweaks of my own.
- sit on bed, chair, anything where your soles will be flat on the ground. Sit up straight, then bend loosely toward floor as far as you can get. Return to straight position.
- Lay on floor on your back, with small pillow/wedge under your head. Flatten spine, grab bent knees with hands and pull toward chest, and release.
- While on your back, bend one knee, rest the heel of the other leg on that knee, and pull the knee diagonally to the opposite shoulder. Alternate sides/knees.
- With still one leg bent, laying on your back, support the other knee in back and straighten the leg as much as you can - lying down slow-motion kick sort of.
Now that things are loosened up, proceed to do some bridges, focusing on using the muscles in your stomach and butt, as opposed to the ones in your thighs, to achieve maximum stretch.
- do 2 sets of 30 seconds (to start with, increase to 4 sets of 45 seconds) planks.
- finish by relaxing back by backing up to a counter-height surface, cushion your spine with hands between counter edge and back, and slowly lean back as far as you can possibly do to stretch out your back the other way. I see my face upside down in the bathroom mirror, but I’ve been doing this for years now, so flex is good.
Again - my own mix of PT prescribed exercises, plus some made-up ones, but it works for me. Usual reps about 10 if in a rush, 15 if I want to be thorough.

This may not sound too intense or hard, and it isn’t. I found that sit-ups do more harm than good for my back, so I try other ways to engage my abdominals. Of course I also usually swim 1/2 mile 2 or 3 times a week, which helps to loosen all joints and muscles.
Hope you can use some of the exercises that work for me.

@ellerbracke
Hi,

Your exercises are great. I do the floor and hip variation and bridges every single day along with some planks. I stretch first before I do these and find by simply bending over (keeping arms close to body) and slowly aim to touch the toes then slowly back up about 5 times really stretch out the back. Sit-ups are a killer for bad backs and should be avoided. At the gym ,one of our exercises is sitting and then spreading out your legs in a v position with toes straight up. Reach out and back with both arms ,then reach first to the right foot and back, then reach for the left foot and back and then reach out and down. It’s important to keep the toes pointed upward. Another hip exercise while you are on the floor. Lying straight out with arms out to the side just slowly put one leg over the other as far as you can touching the floor on the opposite side and you will feel the hip stretch. Sort of like crossing your legs but on the floor instead of on a chair.

For anyone doing floor exercises for the first time where you are on your back I would suggest you roll over on your side and get up very slowly holding on to something. Your back will hurt the first few times as you get up but that will disappear. When I get out of bed in the morning I bend one knee , put both arms around that knee and hoist myself up to avoid strain on the back....been doing that for years.

As you said, these are not intense exercises but really should be a part of your daily routine like brushing your teeth. They can be as short as a 5 minute routine. There’s no reason most people can’t fit in 5 or 10 minutes a day (or at different times of the day). If I stand by the microwave waiting for a one minute heat up, I run in place or stretch. It gets to be second nature and you won’t realize you are doing it.

You gotta keep moving! We are too sedentary and we are losing muscle mass as we age.

@imallears : glad we’re on the same wave length. As we get older, flexibility is at least as important as strength. Your hip cross-over is good for those with a stiff hip area -easy to do, and effective. Thanks to my regimen I can pretty much flex both hips exceptionally far, and I sincerely hope that this may keep them in shape for another couple of years. And my aside regarding swimming for exercise: it is very efficient, impact free, and muscle strengthening. I don’t do free style, so back stroke it is for 37 minutes (perhaps 1 or 2 minutes less if I’m lucky) 2 to 3 times a week. Works on whole body. Including abs. And biceps. And triceps. And tranquility. Swimming laps clears out the mind.

@ellerbracke
Hi,
You have inspired me to use the pool that is so readily available to me.
My house is across the breezeway from my daughters and it takes me 15 seconds to get to the pool. For some reason I prefer to go on my 2 mile walk and get all sweaty when the Florida heat returns. The reason I avoid the pool is I hate getting out of a wet bathing suit in my house when the AC gets turned back on. Sounds silly but I know from the few times I actually go in the pool how great the resistance training is when you are exercising under water.
We even have a solar panels so the water is warm. I sound like a prima donna lol. You have to remind me in a couple of months. We are still in the crazy weather fluctuation season so I’ll continue walking almost every day while going to gym class 3 times a week and hopefully take the plunge later on. And walking and swimming are both mentally beneficial and gets those good endorphins up.

FL Mary

I’m with you on all counts. Those days when I’m not swimming, I briskly walk 2 miles. And I can emphasize with crazy weather. While on vacation in Austria I saw the video clip of frozen geckos falling out of trees. I’m starting to feel a little chilly myself - currently 26 degrees outside, and our heating system went out again (for the 4th time in 5 days) yesterday morning, so also a tad frosty indoors right now. Hoping we’ll have the promised service guy show up today..... and finally fix it so it stays fixed.