Last Friday I was in my office just going over some stuff on my computer, I stood up to go get some coffee and my lower back felt a little strange. That strange feeling turned into discomfort and then pain within an hour. Later in the afternoon the straw broke the camel’s back occurred, I picked up my bag and turned to place it on my desk and literally almost collapsed to my knees. I knew at that point a trip to the chiropractor necessary, the only other alternative would be to pop pain pills with little effect and try to suck it up. This scenario (tough guy) would have me holding myself up at the sink to shave, breathing hard to put on my shoes, laying on the bed while trying to throw my pants over my feet because bending over to put them on would not be an option. Until you’ve expeirenced debilitating back pain there is no way to put into words how awful it is. I cannot imagine a world without a chiropractor on stand by to adjust my spine, but that world could exist if T-SHTF. Needless to say I gimped into the chiropractor’s office and left a new man, after a day of soreness I’m back to normal.
You might be wondering what brings on these bouts with back pain and honestly it varies. Sometimes it occurs when I try to do too much in the gym, other times it’s because I just go too long between visits to get aligned and sometimes it really is a mystery. All I know is that when it goes…IT GOES.
I’m a very active person in that I enjoy being outdoors and love fitness. However I’ve yet to find anything that can overcome the pain of a misaligned spine. No amount of muscular strength, intestinal fortitude or even medication (narcotics) can relieve the tension and discomfort. Easy things become hard, hard things become almost impossible to accomplish. There are many events to be concerned with in a post SHTF world but I often wonder if I would ever throw my back out how I would recover. Carrying heavy loads would be out of the question, physical stamina would be reduced, even the most overlooked items like being able to sit in a chair would be a chore. At times the pain would be almost unbearable with little to no relief in sight. It might sound like I’m exaggerating but those of you who have been there will know exactly what I’m referring to. I’ve never had an ice pick jabbed into my back but sometimes I wonder if that is what is happening when the pain occurs.
So what are we to do about this, after all there most likely won’t be an Urgent Care clinic or Chiropractor on standby ready to accept a debit card for care if T-SHTF. The way I see it we have a few options at our disposal which will hopefully ensure that in a post SHTF world a back problem doesn’t slow us down.
1- Preventative Maintenance: Lots of stretching, on a daily basis. There are different ways to stretch so use whatever works best for you, just make sure to do it.
2- Safety: Avoidance is key here, why risk injury over something stupid. Instead of hefting a super heavy load distribute the weight or take multiple trips. Hard work is often unavoidable but there are safe and smart ways to accomplish tasks while minimizing exposure to injury.
3- Basic Alignment Techniques: Look I’m no medical professional so take this stuff with a grain of salt. There are several resources online which will show you how to align your spine, perform basic adjustments and do stuff like deep tissue massage. Personally I’d rather have a shade tree chiropractor in a SHTF world than try to live through the pain.
4- Pain Management: Stock up on the meds! Make sure to have some OTC meds for pain and if you end up with some prescription stuff because of timing that’s even better.
The Bottom Line
I understand that this article is well outside of the scope of what I normally write about but these are the little things that can make the difference between thriving and barely surviving. Make sure to prepare for potential show stoppers like back injuries in a post SHTF world. Have a good preventative maintenance plan in place now which includes stretching and fitness and be ready just in case things go sideways and your local Doc isn’t readily available. Back pain is truly no joke so do your best to avoid it at all cost!
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PJ:
There are many stretching exercises that work and will keep our backs in alignment. Believe me I know precisely what you are talking about. The trick is being consistent with the stretching program.
There’s a great book by Peter Egosque called “Pain Free”. The author is an orthopedic surgeon that felt that many surgeries were unnecessary. It’s full of exercises, mostly relaxing in odd positions, for pain in all joints (my kind of exercise). The book explains how the skeletal system works and how muscles compensate for, or cause, misalignment. It came highly recommended by a chiropractor who ended up losing money because we needed adjusting far less frequently. Resources like this are very useful now, not to mention if society goes haywire.
I’m in a constant cycle of back pain. Its nice you can get relief from a chiropractor. This is on my mind a lot, because I haven’t found a solution. I have tried everything you mentioned, except avoiding heavy loads. As a contractor it’s just a part of the job, I have been bringing extra laborers lately, but I still have to shingle etc and those positions are painful.
Move free ultra has helped me some, I notice a huge decline if I miss a couple days. Not just in my back either, my forearms and hands feel better with it.
I had nerve shooters down either leg a long time ago. VERY debilitating. Made you not want to move which made it worse. Went the normal round of docs and mainly got advice on surgeries and drugs. On a whim I asked my large animal vet since he’s closer to my house. He looked at me and asked about my life (very active, sports, skiing, long distance back packing) and my last couple years of work focus and not much health focus and he stopped asking questions. He stated; ” Do a hundred push ups tomorrow and then 200 sit-ups the next day and keep repeating. Come see me in a month or two afterwards. Four months latter I saw him and my smile said it all. I don’t do them as religiously as before but enough to let the strong muscles keep the proper alignment and I’ve been over thirty years pain free. No drugs. No surgeries. I have seen several amigos with back surgeries and they have all been nightmare results. Never for me.
Yeah, I have shooting down my left leg more and more frequently. Like its going to go to sleep but never does, just waves of tingling electric pulses.
My doctor told me surgery, everyone I know that has had surgery is moderately better, but far from fixed.
I’ve tried everything else I have ever heard of, tomorrow will be pushups and Friday situps! Thanks for the tip.