Gardening and back pain

[james weatherford]

Some years ago I was making an especially diligent effort to reduce back strain and pain by remembering not to bend over but to bend at my knees instead. It worked great in lifting heavy items.

While bending my knees instead of bending my back to get down to the weeds in the garden my patella (kneecap) snapped and I ended up getting arthroscopy on the knee! Oh well.

James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park

[oink]

I will have to vote for chiropractic, although there are a lot of quacks. I have been to good ones and ones I would consider quacks. You need to go by both credentials and recommendations. I currently use my family doctor more than the chiropractor but I have one of the now rare doctors that is an osteopath. I have had chiropractic treatments that were better than what I get from my doctor but it's sort of a one stop shop for me. I do hope to fine a good chiropractor or practicing osteopath when I make my move to the BI.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[Kapohocat]

I have to say that a combination of massage and chiro helped my back in the 80's when I was in a car accident. Relief was almost immediate - I had treatments every 3-4 days for about 3 weeks. Maybe it all would have gotten better on its own but I could not stand the constant pain and having lived on morphine in the hospital for almost 3 weeks (after accident) really didnt want to take a lot of meds again. The pain was so intense to get out of bed, I had to almost roll onto the floor and get up on my hands and knees and inch my way to standing position. The cause of course was the accident but the specific reason was hitting the steering wheel so hard.

And yes Drj - practioners vary just like in any field.