Oh My Aching Back - What to do on vacation
 

While jogging last fall my hip started hurting. Dr. says it's my back. (Take 4 Motrin and don't call him - don't you love HMOs). <BR><BR>What do you do to avoid back pain on planes (coach), and hotel beds? I am sleeping with a heating pad flat on my back. Should I bring the heating pad with me or buy one in Switzerland when I arrive (voltage issue).<BR><BR>Do you bring any kind of pad for the airline seat? Just sitting in the car for any length of time makes my back hurt.

I have always been told to put ice on my back to reduce the inflammation. I know it's the opposite of what you want to do, but I don't think the heat is good. Sorry, but I have no tricks for travel though moving around helps me.

GET OUT OF YOUR HMO. Pay more for health care. (Good health care should be the most important thing in your life.)<BR><BR>Use fee for service doctors. Go to the best orthopedic M.D. tht you can find. Ask about mild exercise, especially to strenghten abdominal muscles. Use both heat and ice (alternate them). Get a precise and accurate appraisal of your condition. HMOs stink.

I've got a great spinal column (bless you, oh God of Vertebrae), but even I get squirmy on a long flight. Biggie - keep your back warm. Not necessarily heated, just warm (wrap a blanket or sweater around your lower back/kidney area so the Arctic winds that occasionally swirl through the cabin are blocked). Get yourself a travel pillow - Walgreen's has them on sale for $1.99 (they're about 18" long, 9-10" deep) - and tuck that between the seat and your lower back, or under your thighs. Depending upon what's exactly wrong with your back, one or the other will help to relieve the strain. Do some gentle stretches; several websites have easy-to-do "exercises" for airplane prisoners - er - fliers.<BR><BR>I'd contact the hotel and ask if they have heating pads (upscale places just might) and maybe boards to put between mattress and boxspring (if you need a firm mattress). If not, then buy the heating pad overseas. Even with converters and adaptors, appliances that heat up can burn out - I don't think I'd want to be asleep on a heating pad when that happened. If your back is bad enough, you might have to sleep on the floor (most hotel mattresses, except in upscale accommodations, are pretty soft). Again, if you need a firm mattress, convey this to the hotel and ask what they suggest.

Ronda, My back killed me for years, especially when trying to sleep. Our own bed was bad enough, but hotel beds, forget it. My back would get so stiff and inflamed and I couldn't sleep through the night. <BR><BR>During an acute episode, I had an MRI. My back has plenty of things wrong with it that explain the pain and I thought I'd just have to live with it, with anti-inflammatories (which caused me to bruise too easily so I used them sparingly).<BR><BR>I exercise daily, but I recently, started taking yoga classes. I could not believe the difference. The day I left my first yoga class, I felt like the stiff parts of my back that hadn't gotten blood for years were actually being fed. Now, if I miss yoga for about 1 1/2 weeks, my back starts getting sore again and I am hunched over when I get up from the car. <BR><BR>Just suggesting you get a yoga tape and give it a whirl. You never know. This might not solve your immediate problem, but it might help a lot in the long term.

Use a neck pillow on the plane, and maybe even in bed. Try to avoid carrying heavy things on one side only: either switch to a back pack or carry two bags, one in each hand to make the exertion balanced on each side. (Backpack is best, and may actually make your back feel good if it isn't too heavy, because it helps keep your posture balanced). Do not cross your legs or slouch or sit sideways in your airplane seat. Sit with your weight balanced. If you're talking to your travel compoanion, switch seats every hour or two so you're not always turning your head and neck in the same direction. Get out of your seat as often as possible. Do mild stretching exercises, either in your seat or standing. Walk as much as possible once you land. Sit as little as possible. Next time you have a back problem when you are home (unless you have reason to suspect that it is a result of a disease or a defect of your bone structure), try to find a good chiropractor.

It depends on the type of your back problem. I have both spine related and muscle related problems. For spine related back problem, sitting is a horrible thing to do, if must, use correct cushions to keep the lordosis, especially in lower back. For muscle related problem, keeping warm is about the only option available.<BR><BR>I am in PPO but it is just as bad. I think basically anyone with MD title has no interest in your case unless they can prescribe medicines or perform a surgery. The Physical therapists have much better idea on what to try that might work to alleviate pain and what not to do make it worse. The MDs were hesitant to refer me to a PT, but I was a pest enough for them to do this to get me out of their hair.

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I use a neck pillow and using one behind my back would probably be good, too. Does anyone bring things like egg crate foam pads with them? I was thinking I might get one and cut it down to sit on in the airline seat and then use on the bed. Probably take up lots of room, not very classy looking. <BR><BR>Yes, I need to go back to the DR. and complain again and insist on x-rays and pt. Just hoping it would go away. I do back exercises and have done yoga for years and get back massages every now and then.

I've had tremendous help from acupuncture and yoga classes. All natural and you're not pumping your body full of drugs that can harm your liver. Give yoga a try - I don't know anyone who doesn't feel more relaxed after a class.

Find a chiropractor when you get home. If he does not take x-rays on your first visit, he is not a good chiropractor, find another. X-rays will tell him if you have a fracture, tumor, etc. and he will refer you elsewhere if so. <BR><BR>Do not use a heating pad, it will give immediate releif but longer term worsening as it increases vascularity in the area. Ice reduces swelling in acute conditions. More chronic conditions can benefit from MOIST heat, ie, hot bath, warm/moist towels, etc. Sleeping on your back is OK, but try piling pillows under your knees.<BR><BR>Don't sit on a wallet in your back pocket.<BR><BR>Carry two gel ice packs with you on the plane. See if you can talk the stew. into keeping one cold while you tuck the other in your waistband. <BR><BR>Good luck...my husband is a chiropractor who has been managing his own lumbar disc protrusion for 20 years. He has a hard time sitting for long periods also.

Hot water bottles work too -- and they pack flat.

I had an unstable sacroiliac joint for years (now stabilized finally with orthotics) and had a lot of trouble with the soft beds. I have put the mattress on the floor many nights and have learned to ask for 2 beds instead of a single double bed. Another thing that helped was a pad made of thermofoam (from a Relax the Back Store)about 20" long, 10" wide and 1/2" high that I placed under my hips to firm up and flatten the bed. It also served as a mini-mattress between shoulders and hips in an emergency. It folded in half and fit easily in a small suitcase but the foam is very dense so it is a bit heavy. I had the most help for my problem from a chiropractor and a physical therapist, both covered by my HMO.

Depends on how serious your problem is. My lower back started hurting out of the blue...standing at the ironing board or kitchen counter seemed to trigger it! I've been doing yoga for the last two months and it has stopped. Go really slow and never force a stretch. (I've also lost weight (20lbs) with a managed diet program, and built up stamina by walking 2 miles at least 3 times a week.) Don't forget good shoes.

definitely get a chiropractor. Do not rely on what your doctor says. I did that for years and he frequently gave me the wrong advice.The worst piece being use a hot water bottle! Apart from tne manipulation of my spine he also said to use a bag of frozen peas on my back and ( obviously the advice was specific to what was wrong with ME) hang from the nearest door!! A bit difficult on a flight I know. After 6 or 7 sessions my back pain disappeared and has not reappeared since (10years ago). No short term solution I know but going to a chiropractor certainly transformed my life!!Carol's advice for the plane was good and also danna with the gel ice packs.

I always bring my blow up donut ring pillow on long flights. I use it all day at work too.Something about the floating that helps out the lower back pain.

Try sleeping on your back with a pillow under your knees and thighs. It helps me.

Thanks one and all. Lots of things to try. The pillows under the knees helped, switched to ice, and gotta find that back store. <BR><BR>The donut sounds interesting. Sounds like you sit on it or rather than put it behind your back? Have to look into it. And back to the doctor. lol

Oh, this all is too familiar to me!<BR><BR>First, heating pads are meant to go on top of you; don't sleep on it; could short out. Use ice, 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off, once or twice an hour until it feels better.<BR><BR>Try sleeping on your side with a FLAT pillow (or a couple towels folded) between your knees. This helps to keep your spine straight. I think you should avoid sleeping on your back unless you have support under your knees.<BR><BR>On the plane or seated anywhere, take a folded towel or small blanket and place it at the rear of the chair and sit on it. It's amazing how this changes your posture and helps!<BR><BR>Wear good walking shoes and don't carry a heavy purse or backpack.<BR><BR>Advil works great for me when I'm in pain.<BR><BR>These are all tips from my orthopedic doctors and physical therapists. Hope the suggestions help!

Thanks, Mandy, I'll try the folded towel trick. The car seat is killing me when I drive.

For more than 12 years, I have worked in the radiology field and chiropractic x-rays are frequently NOT diagnostic quality. For one thing, they are often actually taken by their assistants, who need only 10 (!) hours of training in many states for a limited license. Compare that to the training of a registered radiologic technologist (an x-ray tech in layman's terms)--they have 2100 (!) hours of training in a hospital setting. BIG difference. Chiros themselves get only modest training in radiology. I know chiros who buy very old equipment and still wet process their films. Chiros may be good for some things, but don't count on their interpretation of some mediocre quality two view films to give you a real diagnosis of spinal problem. <BR>Yoga is a great suggestion, as is this simple exercise recommended by a rehab specialist: lie flat on your back. SLOWLY bring your right knee to your chest, hold it there for the count of 10-20, then slowly bring your leg down. Then do the same with the left knee. Repeat 10 times for each knee and relax. It's a good slow stretch of the back--do it morning and evening before, during and after your trip.