Hello everyone!
seeking opinions and suggestions from members here based on their own experience in dealing with this affliction, either to someone close or otherwise.
my fatherji has a weak lower back. y'day while performing household chores, he somehow got it badly hurt (no fall or anything, but may be some wrong posture or some sprain), and since then he is in pain. he is in his 50s, and otherwise quite fit. he follows a demanding regimen daily, of exercise and work. he's not muscular or bulky, but fit. however, his lower back has always been his weak point, and has kept troubling him since long, intermittently. with growing age, it is proving more troublesome, understandably. sometime back, he was advised by the physician not to perform activities/exercises that require too much forward-bending, as well as running, and he has been avoiding doing them. however, he does exercises for the core and the back, which do not require such a bending (for eg, supine hamstrings-stretch, a couple of abdominal sit-ups, a few yogaasana, etc.).
he gets up quite early in the morning, and goes for a brisk morning-walk for about an hour (he walks FAST. i think this may be one culprit for his weakening lower-back too, ie, the consistent daily walks without little rest, given his already weak lower-back). and then follows it up with exercises and praanaayaam. however, he is quite unforgiving in all this, and we all at home think that he over-exerts himself, with scant regard to rest. comes back by 2100 hrs at night from office, and gets up at 0430 hrs again to begin the day. and he is quite adamant too, in listening to others' suggestions, unless its being told by a physician. tough to make him listen and follow. but nevertheless, takes good care of himself, apart from the exertion part.
anyway, the doctor has now told him for a complete 10-day rest, and he is on medication. has been provided with a back-support to be worn while walking. he has been told that if the pain persists, and it starts percolating downwards, an MRI would need to be done, to judge for any chances of a slipped-disc or a wearing disc. though he has told that this one instance is not worrisome and should go away with good rest, but still, we are worried. would like to invite suggestions from members here, on alternative (rehabilitative, strengthening) therapies post this period, after he gets well, to work on his back, based on your own experiences of either yourselves, or someone near you. i for one keep on insisting him to start exercising with light weights as well to strengthen and rejuvenate body's muscles, and am all ready to teach him properly, but he literally runs away from the sight of weights. had even bought a weights-set for him sometime back, which is still waiting for it to be used by him. i think after this episode, i would ask the doctor myself whether he can be put to a few resistance exercises to strengthen his lower-back muscles or not, and if he says 'yes', then my fatherji won't have any excuse!
please suggest. and thanks for reading this long write-up!
for a start, i have advised him to use a harder bed to sleep, and avoid sitting on the soft-back chairs for prolonged periods that are usual in offices today, and keep changing to a hard-back chair in between. this is because i personally have felt the repercussions of both of these, and our daily 'modern' life where most of the time we keep sitting, mostly on soft-back chairs (in buses, offices, etc.) and then sleeping on soft-mattresses, makes matters worse!
seeking opinions and suggestions from members here based on their own experience in dealing with this affliction, either to someone close or otherwise.
my fatherji has a weak lower back. y'day while performing household chores, he somehow got it badly hurt (no fall or anything, but may be some wrong posture or some sprain), and since then he is in pain. he is in his 50s, and otherwise quite fit. he follows a demanding regimen daily, of exercise and work. he's not muscular or bulky, but fit. however, his lower back has always been his weak point, and has kept troubling him since long, intermittently. with growing age, it is proving more troublesome, understandably. sometime back, he was advised by the physician not to perform activities/exercises that require too much forward-bending, as well as running, and he has been avoiding doing them. however, he does exercises for the core and the back, which do not require such a bending (for eg, supine hamstrings-stretch, a couple of abdominal sit-ups, a few yogaasana, etc.).
he gets up quite early in the morning, and goes for a brisk morning-walk for about an hour (he walks FAST. i think this may be one culprit for his weakening lower-back too, ie, the consistent daily walks without little rest, given his already weak lower-back). and then follows it up with exercises and praanaayaam. however, he is quite unforgiving in all this, and we all at home think that he over-exerts himself, with scant regard to rest. comes back by 2100 hrs at night from office, and gets up at 0430 hrs again to begin the day. and he is quite adamant too, in listening to others' suggestions, unless its being told by a physician. tough to make him listen and follow. but nevertheless, takes good care of himself, apart from the exertion part.
anyway, the doctor has now told him for a complete 10-day rest, and he is on medication. has been provided with a back-support to be worn while walking. he has been told that if the pain persists, and it starts percolating downwards, an MRI would need to be done, to judge for any chances of a slipped-disc or a wearing disc. though he has told that this one instance is not worrisome and should go away with good rest, but still, we are worried. would like to invite suggestions from members here, on alternative (rehabilitative, strengthening) therapies post this period, after he gets well, to work on his back, based on your own experiences of either yourselves, or someone near you. i for one keep on insisting him to start exercising with light weights as well to strengthen and rejuvenate body's muscles, and am all ready to teach him properly, but he literally runs away from the sight of weights. had even bought a weights-set for him sometime back, which is still waiting for it to be used by him. i think after this episode, i would ask the doctor myself whether he can be put to a few resistance exercises to strengthen his lower-back muscles or not, and if he says 'yes', then my fatherji won't have any excuse!
please suggest. and thanks for reading this long write-up!
for a start, i have advised him to use a harder bed to sleep, and avoid sitting on the soft-back chairs for prolonged periods that are usual in offices today, and keep changing to a hard-back chair in between. this is because i personally have felt the repercussions of both of these, and our daily 'modern' life where most of the time we keep sitting, mostly on soft-back chairs (in buses, offices, etc.) and then sleeping on soft-mattresses, makes matters worse!
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