Back Supports

[Floppy]

Does anyone use these or have any experience of them? I am wondering if one may be helpful for me when I have to return to my desk job (probably a week today), but I am a little concerned that having that support for such a long period each day (9am - 6pm, 5 days per week) would make the muscles lazy and therefore possibly do more harm than good, or will it help encourage proper posture and so strengthen them?

The reason I am considering one is because I have read that they keep the muscles warm, and I am always cold at work and find this makes me more tense. I also like the feeling of support. I always prop myself up with pillows and cushions at home, and even take a hot water bottle to work sometimes!

Background is I am off sick due to sciatica, but regularly suffer moderate lumbar back pain, especially during the working day. The company finally ordered an orthopaedic chair for me yesterday, but it will take 4 weeks to arrive.

All opinions valued Thanks.

 

[Eriugjksflv Egiojrfks]

I use a body wrap with a microwaveable inside, its great, but it isn't a support, I graduated (lol) onto one of those and they do help but will only mask the situation, they do not improve it, they only enable you to control it better and can lead to muscle wastage because they are not being used.

Take it easy, frequent standing up and rolling on the floor to decompress will help, also check you rchair and the height of your screen and desk

 

[old cat lady]

I'm slightly confused - weren't you going to get treatment from an osteopath? So two questions:

1) are you not getting a result from that?
2) why can you not ask your osteopath's advice on this?

Speaking as a practitioner, I need to know what treatments my patients are undergoing, and self-prescribing is often very unhelpful. So if you think that something is missing from your care, then you really should ask your main practitioner for his view first.

As for orthopaedic chairs and back supports, they may offer some relief, but mainly as a means to avoid changing anything more fundamental. The whole point of constitutional healing is that we can only achieve as much as we are prepared to change.

Sure we need a great desk set-up, but we also need movement and variety. You must not use this as a means to avoid regular breaks and changes of scene, which are no less necessary. The risk of setting up the desk even better is that we are able to spend even longer in it when our body would otherwise protest. And all the time we are at our desk we are becoming perfectly adapted - to the desk! Within that framework recovery can only possibly go so far.

 

[taxi siren symphony?]

Try sitting on a swiss ball, your muscles will be warm all day and your core strength will improve.
BGFL

 

[Captain Jack]

Ha, lol, my physio recommeded I try one of these as she used one in a session, I bought one, blue, then another bigger one, black, because if the angle of my lower leg dips I get raging sciatica. I ended up in bed for a week cos I fell off lol, but the idea is a good one just take extreme care, start slow and use a friend as support or at least a wall.

 

[CoRaZon]

Swiss ball? Maybe. But again, it isn't a panacea and unless someone has given a good reason based on your own circumstances this falls under the heading of self-prescribing. The point is to make sure what you do for yourself doesn't pull in the opposite direction to that of your therapy.

Yet again I would draw attention to the importance of running any good idea past the practitioner who is supposed to be coordinating the inputs. Believe it or not, not everybody believes in the core strenght/stability model. Personally I spend more time getting patients to stop focussing on core stability, to begin with at least, but I accept this isn't speaking for everybody and there may be times when it has a good purpose.

For further information see The myth of core stability, by Eyal Lederman

 

[Dr. Tabas]

Back supports sound like a good idea, but the more passive support you have the less you'll be able to use your own muscles to stabilise your spine.

Sitting for long periods of time isn't great for the low back for 2 main reasons;
1) it puts the gluteal muscles on constant stretch and inhibits them. Proper gluteal function spares the spine.
2) Tissue creep sets in, most people sit in a position where there torso is bent forward and the muscles of the low back are put on stretch and the ligaments of the spine take the load and start to elongate slightly which can cause the spine to be less. The kicker is that tissue creep can occur in as little as 20 minutes but take several hours to return to normal.

The best sitting posture is one that changes plus you need to get out of your chair at regular intervals

 

[picazo77]

Oops, apologies for appearing to abandon the thread - it was dormant for quite a while before the conversation began.

Thank you all for the suggestions! I bought an inexpensive support to try out as I had to return to work for 4 hours per day last week, but I didn't find it very helpful.

I do have a swiss ball but don't yet feel strong enough to use it.

KDVP, I need to see an osteopath, and I am in a process of trying to get my GP to refer me as I have BUPA through my work and can then have my treatment paid for with the practitioner of my choice. Unfortunately, I would struggle to afford it privately at this time. I have had 2 slightly different issues (low back pain and then sciatica) so he is considering them separate and is therefore reluctant to refer yet. However I have severe low back pain again now and am unable to stand up straight, and I know the problems are interlinked. I am going back tomorrow to beg him to refer me because work are making life difficult for me and trying to push me into going part time permanently, which I can't afford to do.

I've been getting some help free of charge from a yoga therapist by working with her as a case study. She has been extremely helpful and has a very holistic approach which suits me well. She says I have a twist in my spine, as I cannot align my hips and torso correctly. Even when she manually straightens one the other comes out of line. She says she can see a slight scoliosis when I bend forwards. This makes a lot of sense to me as I always feel that when I lie down, my right hip is higher than my left.

She has also pointed out instability of the sacroiliac joint, which is an area where I regularly suffer inflammation, and lordosis with 2 vertebrae sticking out, although I have read that this alone is unlikely to cause any major problems. I am going to explain this to my doctor as well, and am desperately hoping he will be receptive and let me have a referral. She has suggested someone she has worked along side before.

Meanwhile I've been trying to improve my posture and doing a few very simple yoga stretches and breathing exercises every day. If I don't do anything much, I am relatively comfortable, but even a small amount of bending or walking is enough to cause a further flare up. Feeling very frustrated with it all at the moment. There have only been a couple of weeks this year that I have been mostly untroubled by it.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Just out of curiosity, what stretches are doing, some can feel good at the time but make a back condition worse

 

[RealDeal336]

Back pain and sciatica being two seperate issues, could be compared to seeing a dental abscess and toothache as two different conditions also! Whilst one can see the reason, I would prefer to see the relationship between these matters rather than the difference, that is just the osteopathic world view. In fact anyone who could treat one without tackling the other is a much cleverer practitioner than I am.

Why not phone BUPA directly? Osteopaths are primary care practitioners, so we are able and happy to assess your health needs directly without a referral from a GP.

Alternatively, there is always self-funding if you don't get anywhere. I appreciate that a course of treatment can run into hundreds over a few months, so would a new clutch in the car or a repair to a leaky roof. Life brings these things I'm afraid. But health is too important to rely on the cogs of others to turn in their own way.

Good luck with it all.

 

[Sorce Dee]

Aust, the stretches I am doing are very simple - a seated side twist and a lean to the side with the elbows out above the head to open up the side, and a seated stretch forward to open out the chest. I am only doing them as far as I can go without pain and only 6 of each to each side so it's nothing strenuous at all. They don't seem to be doing any harm, but I'd be interested to hear about any experience you have had to the contrary.

KDVP, it's not me you need to convince, it's my GP! I think I need a scan as I have a number of upper and lower back issues and I know that none of them are isolated.

I didn't think I could claim against my BUPA without a referral, but if you think that might be possible I will call and ask them tomorrow! Believe me I don't doubt the value of a course of treatment to improve my health, and I'd do it if I could. I previously spent a lot of money on sports injury therapy, and have recently paid for an expensive new bed which should arrive any day now. And then my financial situation unexpectedly changed, and I need to be careful for a few months. Fingers crossed the clutch on my car stays healthier than I am for a little while

 

[Rawrbooklovingninjar]

If you have BUPA insurance surely they would do the whole thing, mri, and then any op or physio thats needed?

 

[Blue Turtle]

It's through my work so there are limits to what can be claimed each year under each category. I finally got a referral today, so I am at least in the system now, and will reserve judgement until I meet the therapist, but will keep pushing for tests and treatment until I get sufficient relief.