Most of the advice on the list so far has had movement as a central tenet. I agree with that.
I went through a bout of debilitating back pain and eventually conquered 95% of it. I tried all of these, here's my successes and failures, YMMV: 1. high dose ibuprofen (3200mg daily) prescribed for pain: result: temporary relief, ended when the regimen led to ibuprofen allergy. When the allergy manifested, my skin turned red right before boarding a flight to the 2004 LISA PC .... 2. Outside the box methods - Chiropractors (2004-2005): Temporary relief, but they all seemed to be more concerned about signing up a steady income stream of "maintenance adjustments" 3. Outside the box methods - Electrical stimulus (2006-present): This definitely helped for pain relief. Started with Chiropractor, but then I found I could get my own TENS unit for less than the price of two Chiropractor visits. I swear by my LG TENS/EM combo unit: http://www.amazon.com/LGMedSupply-LG-8TM-TENS-Muscle-Combo/dp/B00560JBIG I use it "every once in a while", e.g., after a 50+ mile bike ride, and the electrodes are reusable. 4. Physical Therapy(2004): The stretching was key here, and led me to Yoga. Otherwise, it seemed of limited value. 5. Yoga (2005-present) The instructor can make or break your experience. I was lucky that my first foray was with a *very* good instructor. She would tell the class what stretch they should feel (if you feel something else, you are doing it wrong) and was very adamant about the class not being a competition. It also helped that she accompanied the flows and stretches with an eclectic selection of music, e.g., Zero 7, acoustic Led Zeppelin, traditional tabla .... 6. Cycling (2007- present. OK, don't look at my recent Facebook pix) Low impact, not hard on knees, great way to lose weight while enjoying scenery, and camaraderie if you join a club. Initial high expense for a good bike ($1300 on sale, in my case). 7. Walking (forever) People do walk in LA. 30 minutes at a time, Low impact, gets the heart rate up. Great if you have a purpose, e.g., walk to a coffee shop or store. 8. Inverter (1985-present) Stretches the back, 5 - 10 minutes at a time. The key to the inverter is gradual inclination and swinging. If done often enough, you eventually get used to being upside down. 9. The gym (forever) I'm irregular, but I still get 3 days a week of exercise with all the other stuff I do. -------------- One final but critical item to add to the good advice you've received on this list: Soreness is good. Pain is bad. If your muscles are sore, it indicates that they have been stressed within tolerance and are getting stronger. Pain is the body's needle in the red zone. You need to get out of the red zone immediately. If anyone says "No pain, no gain" to you - just ignore them. Good luck, Mario _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
