Janet Kaiser on thu 8 nov 01
Exercise is important - everyone agrees on that - but
finding the right type for you is equally important, if
not the most essential part. From early childhood, I
would develop a blinding headache and vomit violently
if I ran around a lot. I was over thirty before I was
told it is probably caused by my neck joining my head
at an unusual angle and I should avoid all sorts of
exercise like jumping, skipping, jogging, horse riding,
power walking, etc. There are other vegetative reasons
for being "allergic to exercise" so if you always get a
bad headache during or after exercising, get yourself
checked out before you cause any damage.
You should check with your doctor anyway, before you
start any regime. My doctor recommended swimming as the
perfect yet most ignored and underestimated year-round
exercise. Specific, prescribed muscle toning and
development exercises done in water can be much more
effective, whilst relieving tendons, bones and joints
of any undue strain. Just floating in water can relieve
acute back pain considerably. Swimming is also an
excellent way of using up excess calories...
Which brings me to a primary cause of backache, which
has not been mentioned often in this thread thus far:
body weight. Yes, those love handles, pot bellies,
bulging thighs... Well, you know where you are carrying
an extra pound or two. Losing weight - just a few
pounds - can relieve or even cure backache. I am
constantly fighting the flab, but I only get really
serious when my back "goes". The added bonus of
improved condition, increased stamina and more energy
after loosing XX pounds is also worth it!
And ladies: A little discussed contributing factor to
backache in women, can be the weight of breasts,
especially in work which means bending and working
forward as in throwing and other chores. Wearing a
good, well designed sports bra when working can
honestly help a great deal. BTW this is not a size
factor and it took a visit to an elderly lady doctor
for me to find this possibly cause out. And after
casting a jaundiced eye at mine, she said one of modern
woman's biggest enemies is her handbag! So, if you
schlep a hundredweight around in a shoulderbag whenever
you go out, change to a rucksack and see how your back
and your posture improve.
Other aids which I have found invaluable during acute
attacks of lower back pain, have been:
1. a wide, strong belt rather like those that
weight-lifters wear.
2. lying flat on the floor and relaxing part by part,
one at a time, ending with the lower back, so legs,
arms, bottom, back, shoulders, head feel "rooted" to
the floor.
3. homeopathic Arnica tablets. If I feel back pain
coming on, I can sometimes catch it in time and prevent
it becoming unbearable, by taking Arnica. I don't care
if it is all in the mind! It works for me! It also
works for Eckhard. He would not have been able to do
all that digging for The Path through last November
without its aid. Lycopodium works better for others,
but see a doctor trained in homeopathic medicine to cut
out the trail-and-error method we used of finding the
right homeopathic remedy to suit you.
Finally, I would like to say that most scientific
research into pain is financed by pharmaceutical
companies. They concentrate their energies in
developing pills for us to keep popping (and buying).
They are not going to tell us that a change in
lifestyle is a possible answer to our problems or
encourage us to try alternative methods. Established
mainstream medicine, from drug companies to doctors,
are not interested in proving that alternative and
holistic methods are helping thousands of people to
cope and live with what are (at this time) incurable,
degenerative conditions.
However, I believe it is unhelpful to claim one way is
right and all other methods are wrong. Saying methods
are wrong or bad because they have "not been
scientifically proven" is silly. Why demonise ANY
method which works for an individual? There simply are
no miracle cures for many conditions, but if relief of
distressing symptoms is found, why shun the method? If
it is psychological and mind-over-matter, who cares as
long as it works? After all, there are many medicines
on the market which can be positively harmful. They're
called "side effects" in the literature, they make
gruesome reading and they are all scientifically
proven!
Learning to lift and work in ergonomic ways, changing
diet, losing weight, changing our chair/sofa, improving
posture... there are countless small and more drastic
changes in our behaviour which will help to alleviate
conditions such as chronic back pain. We just need to
be more aware of what helps us and our own bodies. What
is good for you, could be damaging to my health and
vice versa. We are all unique individuals, so each
solution may surely be different from one person to the
next?
Rather than allowing a condition to become chronic and
then seeking to cure the symptoms, we should be
preventing the condition or illness from developing in
the first place. Preventative medicine is even becoming
more acceptable to employers, medical insurers and
governments these days, because the costs are
skyrocketing and they are finally realising it is
cheaper to keep people healthy, than simply curing them
when they are sick. As most potters are self-employed,
it would be best to look long and carefully at ways of
avoiding repetitive strain syndrome... Because Potters'
Back is usually just that.
IMHO Each of us needs to be more in tune with our own
body and actively preventing damage, overuse and abuse
of ourselves. If we don't, nobody else will.
Janet Kaiser - Waiting for the snow forecast tonight
and recovering from unblocking the main drain... That
should teach me not to brag about womanly skills around
here!
The Chapel of Art . Capel Celfyddyd
Home of The International Potters' Path
8 Marine Crescent . Criccieth LL52 0EA
Wales . GB . United Kingdom
Tel: (01766) 523570
E-mail: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
URL: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
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