Beading and back pain

Beading and back pain ?

Why this topic?

You may wonder what does jewelry making has to do with back pain. Well, an informal research done by me( in our beading club where I go informally to meet with other beaders in our town once a month) finds that 75%-80% of the jewelry making artists suffer from some type of back pain. They are chronic to acute. Mostly these are low back pain and the reasons and symptoms do vary.

I think that the reason for this is jewelry making is a very absorbing activity and it takes us to such a creative state when we might forget to getup and take a break. Then again the online presence demands a lot of sitting with the computer which makes it worse. Beading and back pain thus come hand in hand.

Prolong sitting can bring enormous stress on the gluteus maximus- the muscle in our thighs which may permit more stress to be placed on the spinal discs and facets that cause the joints in the spine (lanbo sacral joints –where the bottom of the spine meets the sacrum) to break down prematurely. The weak muscles on those areas plus weak abdominal muscles may bring such imbalance that our posture suffers and causes more low back pain.

My Individual case:

My Case and my experience:

This winter and early spring for various reasons my walking and regular exercise were suffering. On the other hand I was really very productive in my jewelry making. Beading and back pain thus were settling in me which I did not care at that time. I did not realize it to be this dangerous.

Early in June, I felt some pain in my low back but not that bad. This started getting worse over the days and weeks until from July 4 through July 22 I could not sit at all.I had to eat dinner standing up.

Driving and riding to doctor's office were tear jerking.

I felt excruciating pain in the morning to get up to go the bath room (in a pain scale 9 to 10). I had extreme pain on my nerves from buttocks down the legs up to the feet with violent tingling sensation.

I could walk very slowly or stand for 5 to 10 minutes with lots of pain but I could lie down with no problem on my back or tummy and could sleep fine.

My life just stopped. No jewelry making. Had to cancel a three day craft show and I am hesitant to make plans. I don’t know what to do.

More of this is described regarding Beading and back pain in my

blog

MRI results finds that I had herniated disc which are irritating my sciatic nerves.

Lots of pain killers Mortine 600, Vicodin, Nuropine for nerves and finally another nerve drug were given. Still there was extreme pain.

Eventually an epidural injection is given on July 22, 2010. I am feeling much better. Getting up in the morning now is at a pain level 5/6 in contrast to 9/10. Over all I am 4/5 all day for the last three days.

My research and studies on Beading and back pain:

Doctors have focused on pain management and gave me lots of pain killers that really do not help much. I am trying to wean me from those using other methods which I will come to later on.

Exercise or movement is crucial which I found first hand. On days when I walked just five to ten minutes (pacing back and forth in the hall way) before going to bed, even with lot of pain, it made a significant difference in the pain to get up next morning. The days when I spent mostly lying down, standing up was extremely painful.

High doze of Vitamin D helped in my case and another friend who was almost scheduled for surgery. He was relieved after taking high dose Vitamin D for a month and did not need the surgery after all. So ask this to your doc.

Find out what has happened to you and which exercises may help.

The following site helped me understand many things. http://www.sciatica-pain.org. Check it out Sciatica FactsSciatica Facts

Walk at your own pace and gradually increase the distance.

Walking in the water is an option which I have not tried yet but have heard from friends that it works.

Book Review:

I came across a valuable book that I have mentioned in the Amazon Carousal with some other from her reference Debra WeinerM.D. in What your Doctor May Not Tell You About Yout Back Pain mentions the following that is worth listening:

* Keep a pain diary to help your doctor to diagnose acurately

* Integrate safe and effective exercise programs Think of Yoga, Tai – Chi etc.

* Mind –Body Approach like meditation, bio-feed back, cognitive behavioral therapy, breathing techniques and visualizing and imagery methods to cope with pain management and wean yourself from pain killers.

* Know when it is time to consider surgery and should know and when to avoid it too.

The authors have discussed them in details.

This book has valuable resource list for DVD , CD and other books too.

I am looking into a e book:

Click Here!

Other products to consider that may give some relief:

Ergonomic chairs

Chair pads- the Reflexo Bak pads are giving me some relief and allowed to have a sit down dinner yesterday!

Therma belts and so on.

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try Occupatinal Safety for jewelry artists page

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