The day my brain forgot where my back was • Hacker News Board

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#21

Post by frankus » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 12:01 AM UTC

noelwelsh wrote: post #4

Taking a bigger picture: Muscle atrophy is one of the biggest causes of reduced quality of life in the elderly (and also the not so elderly). Women in particular are susceptible to this due to their smaller amount of muscle mass to begin with and the general cultural aversion to women undertaking resistance exercise. My own experience (as a man and admitted gym rat) is that resistance training sorts out my back probl…

I'm in!

I spent years under the misconception that being skinny (but not scrawny) meant I was fit. It wasn't until I started a proper weight/interval training routine that a) I realized how out of shape I was and b) my lower back stopped being so damned fragile.

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#22

Post by a-priori » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 12:09 AM UTC

CWuestefeld wrote: post #15

noelwelsh wrote: post #4

Taking a bigger picture: Muscle atrophy is one of the biggest causes of reduced quality of life in the elderly (and also the not so elderly). Women in particular are susceptible to this due to their smaller amount of muscle mass to begin with and the general cultural aversion to women undertaking resistance exercise. My own experience (as a man and admitted gym rat) is that resistance training sorts out my back probl…

My experience matches this as well. I used to see a chiropractor for back pain, and honestly it did help a bit. But I started exercising for other reasons, and that marked the real change. I felt better, even without going to the chiro. I can still feel the difference today. If I go on vacation, say, and skip exercise for more than a few days, I can feel soreness and stiffness returning. But once I pick back up the e…

I used to see a chiropractor for back pain, and honestly it did help a bit.

The real question is not whether it helped, but rather whether it helped more than the equivalent time to heal and possibly a massage would have.

And that's ignoring the risk of injury from a chiropractor's "corrections".

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#23

Post by seldo » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 12:21 AM UTC

noelwelsh wrote: post #4

Taking a bigger picture: Muscle atrophy is one of the biggest causes of reduced quality of life in the elderly (and also the not so elderly). Women in particular are susceptible to this due to their smaller amount of muscle mass to begin with and the general cultural aversion to women undertaking resistance exercise. My own experience (as a man and admitted gym rat) is that resistance training sorts out my back probl…

I strained my back a couple of years ago, causing a cascading pain reaction that locked up all the muscles in my back and resulted in a trip to the ER, pumping me full of muscle relaxants.

The simple, best and most effective treatment has been ab crunches and back extensions, a couple of times a week at the gym. As long as I do them, I'm perfect. If I skip them off for even a few weeks, I get the warning twinges of another cascade.

You don't have to be a crazy gym person, kids: just do something, anything, physical with your body on a regular basis, and it will repay you many times over.

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#24

Post by cracki » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 1:13 AM UTC

when i was in high school, i had problems with my back and neck.

we were referred to a doctor about this. he sized me up in 5 minutes. then he revealed to us his chiropractor nature and said he'd do his thing. i wasn't asked if that's what i want. it didn't occur to me either, because he's an authority figure, right? so he did his thing. and it got worse. my neck felt bent out of shape and weak.

we had to see another doctor who prescribed muscle strength work. because that was the problem. fucked up muscles.

why the heck do people still believe in chiropractors? they're all frauds, every single one of them.

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#25

Post by miri » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 1:19 AM UTC

rayval wrote: post #10

amalcon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This does not seem unusually high for me. I live in the U.S, in a city with some of the best hospitals in the country, and it looks about median.

Agree. I live in a mid-size city with a couple of world-class medical facilities. The waits for specialists are about 3 months.

Which is about the same time (well, a little bit more) as the wait times in public hospitals in awfully socialist Norway. State covers 62% of the cost up to a maximum copay, after that they'll pay the rest for you. Having various chronic illnesses, I don't mind this at all.

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#26

Post by cracki » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 1:21 AM UTC

and what is it with "waiting months to see a doctor"?

i live in germany (socialized health care) and if there's something wrong with you, you either see your GP or walk into the next (teaching) hospital. whatever further referral you need is just days away, if not just an elevator ride and a knock on a door.

waiting months, docs who dismiss your opinion, trusting chiropractors... what is wrong with you?

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#27

Post by noonespecial » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 2:04 AM UTC

lotharbot wrote: post #18

thaumaturgy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. My former technician, who I still keep in touch with, needed surgery to remove a long shunt that had been surgically implanted when he was a child, due to hydroencephaly. It took months for him to even get the first appointment, an x-ray which did little for diagnosis. Months later, he got an MRI, which supported the diagnosis of calcification of the shunt, but wasn't completely conclusive. More months later, a…

It's also preposterous to pretend our system is "free market". It's a highly regulated market with significant barriers to entry, as well as substantial government intervention. It's sad that whenever the topic comes up, half of all people seem to think the blame lies with the "free market", while the other half seem to think "at least we're not socialist". We can do so much better. We can make sure that more of our…

A better way to measure a health care system might be "how many stops does the money make on its way from patient to doctor?". You can name it socialist, capitalist, or Dr. Suess, but if the money has to go through dozens of thieving and incompetent hands on its way to the doctor, the system is a failure.

My fear for the "new" US health system is that we're just trading one set of middle-men for another (likely equal) set. People already trained in 2-party thinking will decide that neither works and health care is actually impossible and give up.

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#28

Post by naner » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 3:00 AM UTC

Well I was going to make some comments on specific parts of this blog post but there is just too much crap. Don't do anything the woman did in this article. Not even what she settled for at the end. She kept looking to quacks for quick-fixes where she didn't have to do any work when in reality all she needed was some physical therapy (which is hard work and a longer process and actually fixes your dysfunction).

If you don't want to get into this situation in the first place there are even preventative physical therapy programs like egoscue and specific types of yoga. Avoid joint/bone "manipulators" and all that other new-age BS, though.

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#29

Post by donw » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 4:43 AM UTC

noelwelsh wrote: post #4

Taking a bigger picture: Muscle atrophy is one of the biggest causes of reduced quality of life in the elderly (and also the not so elderly). Women in particular are susceptible to this due to their smaller amount of muscle mass to begin with and the general cultural aversion to women undertaking resistance exercise. My own experience (as a man and admitted gym rat) is that resistance training sorts out my back probl…

I've just got to chime in with an oo-rah for the deadlifts... they hit your whole body, and really improved my climbing performance.

The clean-and-jerk with Olympic weights was awesome, too... anybody know of a place in the bay area where one might find some used rubber weights, cheap-ish?

Re: The day my brain forgot where my back was

#30

Post by dwwoelfel » Sat, Apr 17, 2010, 6:34 AM UTC

thaumaturgy wrote: post #12

tjic wrote: post #5

The treatment she got from the government doctors was horrible. This bit gives me chills: "We were told that we would wait at least four months for an NHS appointmen" Uggh. I'm glad that we still have free market doctors here in the US. Well, at least for the next four years.

Yeah. My former technician, who I still keep in touch with, needed surgery to remove a long shunt that had been surgically implanted when he was a child, due to hydroencephaly. It took months for him to even get the first appointment, an x-ray which did little for diagnosis. Months later, he got an MRI, which supported the diagnosis of calcification of the shunt, but wasn't completely conclusive. More months later, a…

Where in the US was this?

I ask because the health-care system varies from state to state,