Friday, 26 September 2008
Oh, My Aching Back
By David Wolfe of Ageless Marketing
For most of my life starting around 10 when I hurt my back hauling 100 pound bags of animal feed, I intermittently suffered intense, debilitating back pain. Each episode generally took two to three weeks to play out.
It never took much to trigger an episode. I could lean over to pick up a piece of paper or bend over the tub to turn a faucet.
My former wife Judith used to get mad at me because I wouldn't go to a doctor. I said it was like a broken rib: there's nothing that can be done; you just have to let Mother Nature take her course. I thought the best treatment was to keep going instead of lying down.
One day Judith showed me a newspaper article, saying as she handed to me, "Damn! You were right." The article reported a study that found people with certain muscle-generated lower back pains who kept active generally fared better than those who chose the path of immobilization.
I saw my father suffer lower back pain problems all my life while he was alive. He would go to a chiropractor but I was never sure how much that helped because he would leave home all scrunched up in pain and return pretty much in the same condition.
There were no clear warning signs indicating another painful episode was on the way, although they often struck me when I was under more than usual stress.
Sometimes the pain would stop just as suddenly as it began. One day, Judith was piloting our boat into a dock at an angle and a speed that presaged disaster. Hunched over in pain from the latest episode, I was on the bow with a line ready to grab a pier. All of a sudden she threw the boat in reverse, throwing me off balance and over the side of the boat. But as I went over the lifeline, I grabbed it. Instead of falling into the water, I was stretched out as fully as I might have been on a chiropractor's table.
The only difference was that I was stretched vertically, my hands extended high over my head, clutching the lifeline, while my feet dangled just above the water. As Judith looked on with a look of panic, I pulled myself back up on the bow. Mysteriously, Judith's nautical ineptness had not harmed me. It cured me. My back pain was gone.
I thought of practicing and refining the procedure with the idea of patenting it as a new miracle cure for lower back pain. But I never got around to it.
I had a few more episodes after that, but at my ripened age of 75, I haven't had any for over 10 years.
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 02:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
Comments
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Can I borrow the boat, Judith and the lifeline please?
Posted by: Mrs K | Friday, 26 September 2008 at 03:16 AM
I need her too! I hurt my back on a regular basis; the last time was yesterday, while removing the deck umbrella from the middle of the glass-top table. It takes about 3 weeks to cure itself, and like you, I keep moving. Lying down in bed makes it hurt worse!
Posted by: kenju | Friday, 26 September 2008 at 05:04 AM
Some accidents are lucky. I'm glad yours was one of them.
Posted by: Darlene | Friday, 26 September 2008 at 05:20 AM
David,
My son had shoulder surgery and after three weeks was in as much pain as before. He was going to Physical Therapy twice a week but nothing helped.
Then, one day on the way out of a restaurant, he meet a fellow he hadn't seen in ages. This guy grabbed my son's hand to shake it and gave it the biggest pull possible.
My son wanted to scream in agony but didn't because he didn't want to embarrass the friend.
After about a half hour he noticed that his shoulder didn't hurt anymore. He went to his regular PT session and the therapist told him that guy had done him a real favor. No trerapist would pull on your arm like that but it was exactly what was needed to cure it.
Hasn't felt his shoulder since...
Posted by: nancy | Friday, 26 September 2008 at 08:29 AM
I've heard about this before David. An osteopath friend recommended hanging from a door frame when lower back pain is worse. It seems to work.
Posted by: Pamela | Friday, 26 September 2008 at 09:44 AM
Very interesting! I had what I called "stress" headaches for my whole life. I had been going to a quackerpractor for an unrelated shoulder pain. She gave me a contraption that strapped to my head with a lead ball on it, and I was to put a rolled-up towel on the edge of a bed under the bakc of my neck and dangle that lead ball over it. It turned out one time I had one of those headaches, and this stupid-looking procedure INSTANTLY disappeared the headache! It has worked several times and every time since. It's pretty amazing what they do not yet know about the mechanics of the spine.
Posted by: James J Henry Jr | Friday, 26 September 2008 at 11:52 AM
My husband who's been involved in sports all his life, suffers from lower back and now hip pain. He's 63. This is a great story and I'm asking Joe to read it. Maybe there's hope for him yet. We have friends who own a boat...
Thanks for sharing this post..
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
Posted by: Dorothy Stahlnecker | Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 01:54 PM
Hi David. Thanks for your story. Here's mine. I fell down the last 4 stairs to the basement and ended up with a torn tendon. For months I wore a boot, then a brace, then a smaller ankle support. It never really healed but the doctor had said, "surgery is next if it doesn't heal". I never went back to the doctor -- for surgery they'll have to carry me in. Then, the other day I was getting out of a boat onto the dock,it was quite a high step down and I wasn't my usual careful. I put my full weight down on the wounded foot. It hurt worse than the original fall. The next day it was amazingly better and by the third day after the fall it didn't hurt at all. Seems the jump out of the boat and landing my full weight on the wounded leg cured it. Go figure!
Posted by: Connie Goldman | Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 07:33 PM
Hi, Connie -- so great to have one of the best storytellers around comment on my story. I'm honored. BTW, I have not seen any story by you on these pages -- other than the one you just told in the above comment. Come on! Show your stuff to all the wonderful people in this storytelling community of Ronni Bennent's
Posted by: David Wolfe | Wednesday, 01 October 2008 at 04:49 AM
I glommed onto this story immediately. Have started recently to have back pain. Origin uncertain. Physical therapy no help. Have friend who has friend with boat. Will call for introduction.
Posted by: Estelle | Thursday, 02 October 2008 at 02:35 PM